I was born and raised in the Mormon Church along with my older sister and older brother. The brainwashing began for me at a very early age. Monthly testimony meetings and being led to believe that the bishop had a direct line of communication with the Lord molded my brain to believe that the Bishop…
First, I want to thank Sam Young for doing what I could not: stand up in front of LDS leadership and put the focus on this horrible practice. When I, like so many others, are completely saddled down by the detrimental shame and self-loathing that come from childhood trauma followed by prying worthiness interviews and…
As a child I had a problem with pornography and masturbation. It started when I was 10 and I hid it until I was 16 years old. At 16 – after feeling super guilty at EFY – I finally decided to go see my bishop. I had done my research – or I thought I…
I grew up in a strong LDS family. My parents never talked to me much about sex and I took every teaching from the church as “the only way” to live. As a teenager and young adult, I felt a lot of shame about masturbation but was too ashamed to even talk to a Bishop…
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…
I was a recently baptized teenage convert, unfamiliar with the ways of the church. Invited to a Thursday youth activity night at my ward building, I was asked to meet with a man in the building I didn’t know. I would find out the man I was meeting with served on my stake’s high council.…
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…