As most young boys, I was asked about masturbation during priesthood and worthiness interviews. I lied, as I am sure most adolescents did.

What happens if you confess that you DO masturbate? How do they handle a kid who openly confesses to being a sexual being, and doing what everyone does?

The first time I confessed I was about 13. My Bishop at the time told me that if I did it again between then and the next youth temple trip (in about two weeks) I couldn't go. I guess that was meant to be incentive to not continue masturbating. He also commended me on being so forthright.

The second time I confessed was for my mission interview at 19. Very similar situation... warning to not do it anymore after that, advice to read scriptures more, commended for being forthright...

All the other interviews I lied in, after the initial question, the conversation just moved right along.

Over all I guess they weren't bad experiences for me. I don't know if either Bishop expected me to confess either time, they didn't make me feel like a monster or terrible person, but there did seem to be a guilt trip game going each time: IF you do it AGAIN there WILL be consequences!

I would guess my experiences are very tame compared to the norm. I live in southern california, both those Bishops were converts and perhaps slightly more open minded, although still attempting to toe the line.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2014 05:28PM by nonsequiter.

What about grown men? Like 35 or 40? Do they actually say "do you masturbate?" Or do they just say "do you keep the law of chastity?"

If so, why do they specifically ask kids if they masturbate and grown men if they keep the law of chastity?

This is only for Temple Recommends and renewals, right? The worthiness interview, I mean.

It's like anything else with mormonism... as much as they try to standardize, a lot is left up to individual leaders.

Some bishops may only ask vaguely about the law of chastity, some may ask directly about masturbation... Some may feel the need to switch it up because they feel like they are "getting revelation"

One of my Bishops asked me directly during a temple recommend interview... he then asked if I even new what masturbation was.

In my experience the majority ask only vaguely about the law of chastity because they follow the exact questions in their handbook.

My MP was much more sinister. He would point blank accuse you. sometimes saying that your companion had told on you and he KNEW so you should just confess already.
He did this to try and 1)get you to confess or 2) attempt to rat out your companion and save face.

So yeah, there really isn't any standard answer to your questions other than: Because none of them are trained clergy and have no clue what they are doing.

Slightly off topic, but still funny . . .

I remember back in high school my favorite class was physiology (studying the human anatomy). The instructor was fun and intense. The class moved at a rapid clip with weekly quizzes from each chapter in the course text book. Sometimes the instructor would hold a rapid-fire round where he would ask a quick question and have anybody in the room shout out the answer. Usually it lasted about five minutes.

In one such rapid-fire session we had just learned about the various movements of the head, specifically the jaw. The teacher asked, "What is the technical term when the jaw moves to chew food?" A gal raised her hand and shouted out, "masturbation." Everyone had a roaring laugh, even the two LDS gals sitting across from me.

The answer was "mastication."

Reminds me of the time my TBM brother told us at the dinner table he had a problem with his vulva.

He meant uvula.

It happened to me when I was about 13. First they took my temple recommend. I couldn't go do baptisms for the dead. Then, later that week, I was taken to a therapist who tried to hypnotize me. I really wanted to change that behavior because ultimately I trusted the ecclesiastical authorities in my life. It changed a little bit, for a small amount of time, and soon I got the temple recommend back and was able to go with my friends to do baptisms for the dead.

Brainwashing is a hell of a thing. It is weird to think back and realize that I thought all of this was normal. If you do let your kids be active in Mormonism, make sure to let them know that this is a boundary an adult should never cross even if they think they are helping.

don't do it.
You'll put your eye out !

I must have it blocked from my memory but I don't remember being asked that question. I would have lied, guarandamnteed though. Nobody's business but my own.

Ron Burr

What I find so disturbing about this particular thread is this:

Do young women ever get asked if they masturbate? I don't know but my guess is that they don't.

So, why the double standard?

Certainly, women are sexual beings too and have the need for self-gratification, just as the boys do.

So, is the LDS leadership so out of touch that they don't realize that women masturbate?

i confessed, could go to do baptisms for the dead anyway.

guess the bishop was a mastuerbater too…

in the temple i felt like in jail though

Actually, I was never asked. Perhaps because that was because I was a really good kid (at least externally) and I wouldn't have been high on their of possible suspects. (If only they knew...) Or perhaps the bishop was too embarrassed to ask those things. I have been to the temple and am the *proud* holder of the Duty to God award. I had to be interviewed every year for that, as well as to go to the temple. My SP at the time was a really nice, grandfatherly type of man.

I really, really hated the interviews. Growing up in a house with ten people, I was fighting for every inch of privacy I could get. I went along with the interviews as best I could, but it was not something I enjoyed.

The worst thing with regards to masturbation was having to listen to Boyd K. Packer's To Young Men Only.