When I was a teenager, my bishop asked me if I was involved in masturbation. I had no idea what that meant. He explained it to me in detail. At my next interview, he asked me about masturbation again. I still did not understand. So he proceeded to describe it again. I was very uncomfortable with what he was saying. I felt bad for something I had never even done and he made it clear that I should never do anything like it.
Later in my life, I talked with a medical professional. Not only was the conversation that my bishop had with me deeply disturbing; it was inaccurate.
It was not the bishop’s right to have that conversation with me. That was a conversation that I was not ready to have. That was a conversation that was only appropriate for a parent or someone trained to discuss sexuality in a safe and respectful manner with adolescents.
Bishops have no right to have these conversations and they are dangerously unqualified to do so.