I grew up in an abusive home. I was raped for the first time when I was 7. I spent decades trying to convince my “leaders” that it wasn’t my fault. They insisted that I must have done something and I needed to repent (after all, what’s the point of a worthiness interview if you…
Of my own experience, I wish to say that it is not remotely as appalling as many of the personal stories bravely posted on the website. I have experienced abuse in the LDS church – the law was broken, I naively thought the Church would take meaningful action but that did not happen. I did…
The first time I ever masturbated was on my Mission at age 21. I knew I had to confess to my mission president, but I sat there in silence for what seemed like a few minutes unable so speak. Finally, I blurted it out. My Mission President responded with, Do you think that is why…
This story is about my daughter and it only happened a couple of years ago. My 18 year old daughter decided she wanted to follow some of her sisters examples and decided she would like to go on a mission. She felt the need to speak to the bishop as she had some inappropriate experiences…
My experience with interviews has been all over the map. It ranges from mildly intrusive to absolutely inappropriate. At one point the proceedings of a church disciplinary council made me consider ending my life. I grew up in Utah as a member of the church. I remember first being asked questions of a sexual nature…
I was born into and grew up in a very strict Mormon family. My mom had this view of the world that the less you knew about sinful, harmful stuff, the better. So when I was 11 and I got “the talk”, it lasted about 4 minutes. I knew what sex organs were, and roughly…
I started attending the LDS church when I was eleven years old right after my parent’s divorced. Growing up in the church I was given many lessons likening my sexual purity to my worth as a person. I was given an object lesson at the age of twelve where my beehive leader held up a…
My story isn’t necessarily traumatic (I’ve read FAR worse on here), though it can vouch for the negative effects that private worthiness interviews and shame culture have on developing youth and young adults. As a young girl in elementary school, I stumbled across pornography through unrelated internet searches. I didn’t know exactly what I was…
I was in my teens when I started masturbating. My bishop at the time was very much interested in emphasizing how sinful masturbation was. He regularly visited my Young Women’s classes and instructed us on the importance of seeing a priesthood leadership should we ever do it. I felt immense guilt and shame and avoided…
I was 11 when a cousin 4 years older than me began sexually abusing me. It went on every summer for 3 years, worsening each year as he viewed stronger porn and got braver about his demands for me. He began to threaten me with physical pain if I wouldn’t comply. He was an “upstanding…