On the outside and even in everyday interactions, I’m just a regular person. While I’ve fallen in and out of activity, I’ve never spoken out against the church and I’ve only shared my story of abuse with very few close people. Internally I fight a raging battle as to where I stand with my faith…
I served as a full time missionary for the church. After my mission I soon afterward married an incredibly faithful and loving fellow stake member. I had known her before my mission. She had waited for me. We married in the temple. My life has been deeply influenced by my private closed door so-called worthiness…
I don’t know if this one counts. Maybe it’s not a big deal, but it changed my life. I was 17 years old, oh gosh where do I start… I guess we should start with my young women’s president, and the lessons she taught me when I was 16. I was taught that I would…
My story starts outside of bishops interviews. When I was in preschool on a play date, I was raped by two boys a few years older than me while their grandfather watched. They threw me on a bunk bed, covered my face with a pillow, and removed the bottom half of my clothes. I had…
This is a story about one of my children whose life was impacted in a huge way due to explicit sexual worthiness questions by clergy. Growing up in the church, the gospel was a large part of his identity and self-worth. All of that changed upon turning 17 years old and being disciplined by the…
Starting at a very young age, I dealt with many family issues and depression which soon led me at a young age to seek love and approval from boys. At the age of 13, I participated in sexual activity but not actual intercourse. My father was actually the bishop at the time when my parents…
I was eleven years old. I had been called in for a pre-YW/Primary graduation interview. Towards the end of the interview, the bishopric member asked me if I obeyed the law of chastity. When I responded in the affirmative, he asked if I knew what it meant. I responded in an age-appropriate way, something along…
It wasn’t until recently that I realized I was a “victim” of these interviews. Up until I learned about your movement I went along with them because I didn’t know these types of interviews were out of the ordinary. I thought they were normal. I realized that the interviews played a part in my teenage…
My first recollection of being asked morality questions was for my 8th birthday baptismal interview-I didn’t even know what masturbation was and when the bishop probed me with more questions to be sure I wasn’t lying about my answer I became withdrawn, flushed and embarrassed with the more explicit way in which he asked me-…
During interviews with the bishop, I was shamed into believing that I had to share sexually explicit details of intimate relationships that I had with boys. I was made to believe that I would never be able to go on a mission, let alone ever go to the temple. Years later, I still struggle with…