I first discovered masturbation around 6 years old. I had no idea there was anything wrong with it and I simply called it “getting butterflies”. I remember at 8 being asked in my baptismal interview if anyone touched me on my private areas or if I touched myself. This caused anxiety within me. Was it…
I masturbated only once (yes, ONCE) as a young man growing up in the Church. I was 14 years old. I didn’t really understand what I was doing or feeling, but my LDS upbringing made me quickly realize that I had committed a line never to be crossed, not even once. I was so horrified…
I thought I just couldn’t remember things clearly. I questioned myself. I thought I had heard the questions wrong. But I didn’t Sixteen and alone with a man of authority, my heart rate picked up and I stumbled over my words as he asked me if I got sexually aroused when I was around boys.…
When I was twelve years old a male leader came to our Sunday School class. One by one, he took each child out of class to have a talk with the bishop. No parental permission. No “voluntary” confession (these assembly-line interviews with probing questions are at odds with the practice of voluntary “confession”). I can’t…
I didn’t know what masturbation was until I was a teenager, but found out that I had been doing it since I was six on an off again. At young women’s some girls introduced me to erotic novels and I ended up reading a few. I felt horribly guilty afterward and talked to the bishop.…
Protect LDS Children: My Story, Trevor Cobb, March 25, 2018 Around 1992-1993, when I was a deacon in Olney, Maryland, my mom caught me looking at a Playboy in the bathroom. Since I was 7-8 years old I had been riding my bike with the Mormon neighbor boy, _______, who was four years my senior…
The earliest I have a memory of abuse was at the age of 6. At age 7, I remember preparing for baptism, I was excited, I was optimistic that my sins would now be washed away, so now I could start a new life. Such a fairy tale I told myself!…
Many years ago during a family trip to San Francisco where we walked across the Golden Gate Bridge, 11-year-old me stopped and peered down into the still, gently swirling water and tried to talk myself out of throwing my body into the soothing void. It seemed such an easy way to release the suffering that…
To begin, I will say that I was three when a man first took away my sexual agency. My father, a pedophile, showed me porn that included Rape, origies, and children. Fast forward, to age 12, when I had my first worthiness interview. Somehow, it felt normal, because it was for a group youth trip…
When I was 14 I reported my rape to my bishop. Except since I was 14 I didn’t know it was rape. I wasn’t even really sure what happened. My bishop, a man who I believe was doing his best, was untrained in such matters. I repented. For my rape. My rape went unreported and…