Whenever I was in a romantic relationship in high school and college, I dreaded worthiness interviews. I hated being asked by the bishop if I was worthy and feeling compelled to confess that I had done things that were inappropriate. Looking back on it now, 20+ years later, I want to laugh and rage at…
My story began growing up not only being molested by an older neighbor, but also in a house full of siblings who had all learned throughout their childhood how to masturbate with themselves and with each other. It was a sickness that slowly trickling down to every child born into the household. I was the…
My sister was asked by her bishop if she masturbated before she was old enough to know what the word meant. Her husband (who is not LDS) has been so horrified by this story he will NEVER set foot in the church or allow his kids to be baptized. I was a student at BYU…
When I was 16, I started dating a boy in my ward. I fell hard and fast, and really believed I was in love with him. 3 months into our relationship, he started pushing the envelope sexually. He kept pushing me and pushing me to have sex. One day, he picked me up from school…
Local church leaders conduct worthiness interviews with their members, even the children. Every child in a Mormon congregation will have at least one interview with the presiding member of their congregation (Bishop or branch president) at age 7-8, and several more from the age of 11 to 18 prior to temple attendance or full-time missionary…
“’You asked me once,’ said O’Brien, ‘what was in Room 101. I told you that you knew the answer already. Everyone knows it. The thing that is in Room 101 is the worst thing in the world.’” -1984 by George Orwell. Those words hit me to my core when I read 1984 in my senior…
I support the stories shared here, and am now willing to publicly share my own. After just turning 12, I was scheduled for my first “worthiness interview” with my bishop before becoming a deacon and receiving the Aaronic Priesthood. Having already been molested by a close Mormon relative at the age of 10, I was…
Like most teenagers, I masturbated. During a worthiness interview, I was asked if I had masturbated. I was honest and admitted that I had. I don’t remember the details of everything the bishop said, but remember him telling me I couldn’t take the sacrament for two weeks and that I needed to read the Miracle…
I did not realize until I started typing how difficult this might be to share. I am flooded with so many emotions. I grew up in a very devout Mormon family. I was never sexually abused, but for some reason I discovered my sexuality in my childhood and began masturbating even before I was a…
I was a 14 year old child. I was raped. Had just had a lesson on “virtue”, the week before. I was so traumatized. I didn’t tell my parents because of the whole “it would be better to have your child come home in a pine box than to lose their virtue”, rhetoric. I went…