I grew up in a small farming community in Oregon. Fifteen years ago there were (and still are) many LDS members in my home town. I remember being 11 years old and getting ready to leave primary (finally!) I don’t know if this was a stake wide thing or just our ward…but my Bishop held…
I was raised in the church. I was seventh generation Mormon – something often boasted about in our family. We were the picture perfect LDS family. Every Sunday you’d find us planted in our pew 20 minutes before sacrament started so we could listen to the prelude music and “get spiritually readied.” My family was…
A lot of other people’s stories are a lot more impactful then mine. Truth be told I was one of the lucky ones. My parents never taught me about sex. Being a small embarrassed child I never wanted to have the talk, but soon enough puberty set in, and I began to start masturbating. Truth…
Adeline This is my second child, born so quickly, with a head so round, that folks would ask if I had a c-section. I’d take revenge by telling them about the 32 stitches in my backside. This is my toddler who would get so excited about hugs that she’d curl up in a ball and…
It is difficult to express the damage that is done to children who are, in all other aspects of their lives, protected by laws that rightly prohibit adults from inappropriately questioning a child to protect their innocence. Yet, when it happens at a church we shy away in fear of being called persecutors of the…
My family moved frequently as I was growing up, so my twelfth birthday was spent in a new ward. My family wasn’t in this ward long and moved within the year, so I never endured more than one interview with this man. But I remember the extreme hatred and fear I felt after my interview…
20 Years. That’s how long it took for me to unravel the mess created by my Young Women’s President. I won’t go into a lot of detail about that, because this is a place for inappropriate Bishop’s interviews. But if you’ll bear with me, It DOES involve a Bishop’s interview that ended with the cold…
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…