Read The Stories

Warning: Sexually Explicit content.

Legend for Consequences Suffered (CS):

Inappropriate shame and guilt
Childhood self-loathing
Adulthood self-loathing
Normalizing children to sexual questions by adult men. (Grooming)
Sexual abuse. (Pedophilia)
Impaired sexual relations after marriage.
Years of recovery from childhood shaming. Often lasting decades.
Suicide Ideation
Attempted Suicide
Suicide of a loved one or friend.

#221 Name Hidden. CS: 1,2,3,7,8

I grew up very active in the church and quite believing. I tried to do everything right. To the outside I was a model member, seemingly obeying the commandments, being…

#220 Name Withheld. CS: 1,2,3,4,6,7

My story I remember being really nervous at bishops interviews as a youth because the prevailing belief was that bishops could ask ANY question they wanted because they were Gods’…

#219 Name Hidden. CS: 1,2,5,6,7,8,9

Ugh, this is hard. I’m not really used to telling my story. But if I can help one child… I was born into an extremely devout Mormon family. Extremely devout.…

#218 Name Hidden. CS: 1,2,3,6,7,8

I hesitated to write my story because I wasn’t sexually abused. I decided to write it though, because my experience around these interviews has been a big contributor to my…

#217 D. CS: 1,2,3,4,6,7,8

The mission and stories of this website have validated my pain and my experience. This validation has brought about so much healing in my heart. This validation has empowered me…

#216 Lindsay S. CS: 1,3,6,8

I was a young woman in college when a young, LDS man forcibly groped me, kissed me and exposed himself to me. Afterwards I didn’t process that it wasn’t my…

#215 Curtis C. CS: 1,2,7,8

Bishop and church GA’s shaming over masturbation caused me such self loathing over my inability to remain “pure” that I suffered from deep depression and frequent contemplation of suicide for…

#214 Name Withheld. CS: 1,2,4,7,8

I was born in Salt Lake City, raised LDS. I’m 34 now. I have been atheist for almost a decade. Around 14 I experimented with another boy. I had my…

#213 Name Hidden. CS: 1,4,7

My boyfriend and I had sex at the age of 17 for the first time after being together for almost a year. Before that I had never so much as…

#211 Name Hidden. CS: 1,2,4,8

My bishop was hardcore on the masturbation interviews. They started at 10 because he wanted to be sure that he could “identify worthiness issues” before we became deacons. In my…

#210 Landon H. CS: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10

Sam, July 2nd of 2017 was the first day I had been sober in over a decade. Between drugs and alcohol I had a heavy regiment of self-medication. There was…

#209 Melissa B. CS: 1,2,3,6,7,8,9

I was eight years old when I was sexually abused, I didn’t even understand what had happened really, I just knew it felt wrong and scary. I was very confused…

#208 Name Hidden. CS: 1,2,3,6,7,8

Growing up LDS, sex and sexual topics were a taboo topic that we never talked about in our home. When I began to experience sexual feelings, I felt like I…

#207 Marissa S. CS: 1,2,3,6,7

By all accounts, my childhood was pretty perfect. I grew up in the church, had awesome friends, leaders, and experiences. My dad was my bishop until my early teens, then…

#206 Name Hidden. CS: 1,2,4,6,7

I had a Bishop that I went to after being sexually assaulted, as a child. My parents thought that this interview would help me, as nobody wanted to report what…

#205 Name Hidden. CS: 1,2,3,6,7

As a young man I felt incredibly guilty about masturbation. I felt like I was the only one with this “sin” and that it made me a horrible person. The…

#204 Michelle. CS: 1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9,10. Other: Self harm

My story starts with me realizing early in my elementary years, that I liked boys and girls. I was also sexually abused by an older child during first grade. I…

#203 Name Hidden. CS: 1,2,3,7. Other: Extreme fear of Hell and punishment for normal developmental processes; anxiety disorder (OCD)

Some LDS readers might turn a blind eye to stories that don’t fit their worldview of ‘ultimate authority’ and blind trust in leaders. The gospel is the product being distributed…

#202 Name Hidden. CS: 1,2,3,6,7,8

Growing up a girl in the church I was never told that masturbation was wrong; I guess they thought only boys did it. So I started masturbating very young to…

#201 Name Hidden. CS: 1,2,7,8,9

This is a difficult story to tell. I am sharing it now in the hope that it’ll help put pressure on the church to change these horrid policies, or maybe…

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