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

Just like many other young women in the church, I was specifically taught from a young age that my worth was dependent on my purity. Young women are taught that we are responsible for young men’s thoughts and actions. I was taught that if I dressed immodestly that I was “walking pornography” to the men…

#53 Name Hidden. CS: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8. Other: Sexual abuse by the bishop

Trigger Warning * Sexual assault involving a bishop* **If you are a survivor of molest, be very cautious about being triggered reading my story!!!** * Sam Young, THANK YOU for Holding THIS TORCH. I cannot begin to tell you how much your work in shedding light on these interviews means to me!!! This post contains…

#52 Ryan W. CS: 1,2,3,4,6,7

Bishop’s interviews are so damaging to young people. And adults. The damage I suffered because of these interviews and the teaching that masturbation is a sin, has been severe and has carried into my adult life and into my marriage. I’ve been married for 8 years and because of the church’s teachings and bishops interviews…

#51 Carianne W. CS: 1,2,3,4,6,7

I am a girl and I remember as early as 4 or 5 years old casually feeling slight sexual feelings that were immediately followed by shame and guilt. I was on my bed in my room and had already had doctrine ingrained into me that I was bad for feeling those feelings. Feeling like you’re…

#49 Name Hidden. CS: 1,2,5,6,7. Other: Intentional Self Harm

I first experienced orgasm as an 8 year old girl, at the hands of a teacher. I didn’t understand the sensation I had felt nor had I wanted it. It was in discussing it with a friend (who was also being abused) and her “older” sister (who was 10) that we were told that what…

#46 Dave S. CS: 1,2,3,4,6,7,8,10

I’ve lived with decades of shame, guilt and anxiety due to dozens of private worthiness meetings with LDS leaders when I was as young as eleven years old. The questions were always sexually-based and completely inappropriate. As a father and now a grandfather, I cannot fathom how this perverted system still exists. There is no…

#44 Name Hidden. CS: 1,7. Other: Nightmares, shame, rejection

This is the story of my two children. One MIA night, my son, 17 and my daughter 14, were called into the bishop’s office separately. This couldn’t have been a birthday yearly interview because their birthdays were months apart. One in March and the other in May. It was an unscheduled, no appointment, impromptu interview,…

#39 Name Hidden. CS: 1,2,3,4,6,7,8 Other: Ideation about self-mutilation

On average, from age 5 to 28, I considered suicide and/or self-mutilation roughly once a week, in part because I was subjected to these interviews. I encountered some of the church’s teachings about sexual sin early on, and as early as age 5 (I was molested by another child a few years older than me—as…