I will tell my story anonymously as it the internal and external impact Church teaching around sexuality and expectations of worthiness evaluations by Church leaders still impacts me substantially. If a leader in the Church takes seriously these stories including mine, and wishes to communicate with me about the harm they have done, I will…
When I was 12 years old (F) I went to see my bishop for my first temple recommend interview. I was so excited! The bishop at the time was the father of one of my best friends. He was a nice man and I never felt uncomfortable around him. The interview was completely normal, up…
When I was 15 we had a sleepover at our Mia Maids leaders home. We were in the basement with her two teenage sons. I had a crush on her 19 year old son about to go on a mission. Everyone was asleep and I was up reading. He came out of his bedroom and…
It took me reading so many stories to gather the courage to tell my own. While the suffering felt by all is incalculable, my story is nightmarish. When I was 12 or so, my family moved to Idaho right around the exact time anew bishopric was called. Of course, we didn’t know any of them…
I am not comfortable telling everything, but I will say I was asked the following questions in an interview when I was 15 or 16 when I confessed to looking at porn and masturbating. This isn’t a complete list. This was 15 years ago or so: What kind of porn was it? Did you watch…
I never thought my story would be important but now that I see others standing up to protect children from these harmful interviews, I feel I cannot be silent. When I was 8 years old a friend I did not play with much came over to my house. We went in my room and she…
I still struggle putting this down on print and still have the shame that the church issued to me with my abuse. When I was approximately 7/8 years old I walked the few blocks to my cousins house to play. We lived in a very safe are of Sandy Utah and this was a common…
How do I even begin to try and explain the damage being abused as a child has caused me. I was 6, we had been friends with this family for a few years, our families did a preschool co-op together. My friend was the same age as me. We had play dates, saw each other…
My story starts outside of church. From the age of seven, I experienced sexual assault and harassment from multiple sources. Other children, adults I knew, perfect strangers. As an example, without revealing some of the more traumatic experiences, when I was eleven or twelve, I was out shopping and the proprietor of the store approached…
When I was a cute newlywed I was asked probing questions by a young bishop (whose sweet wife was pregnant with their 9th child) about what I enjoyed in the bedroom, which positions and techniques brought me pleasure, etc. Being young and naive and conditioned to answer personal sexual questions posed by my priesthood leaders,…