Protect the children: The aggressive interrogation of children about masturbation and sex by Mormon church officials constitutes child abuse.

The Mormon church has a dirty little secret most outsiders know nothing about: Children as young as eight years old are often aggressively interrogated by local church officials about masturbation and sex. These interviews are almost always conducted by an older man, alone, with a vulnerable and frightened child.

The interrogation and shaming of children and teenagers by the Mormon church is a routine ritual conducted in semi-annual “worthiness interviews.” In these interviews children are pressed to discuss their sexuality while alone with an untrained church elder, who is almost always an older man.

A new petition calling for an end to this alarming and dangerous practice reports:

For decades, it has been common practice for Bishops, Bishopric Counselors, Stake Presidents, and Stake President Counselors to pose questions of a sexual nature to children. There are reports of this happening to children as young as age 8. These questions are being asked by an older man, all alone with the child, behind closed doors and often without the knowledge or permission of the parents. Almost universally, these men have no comprehensive training.

The Mormon Curtain reports similar findings concerning the dubious but widespread practice:

Children as young as 8 years old are asked if they masturbate. Children as young as 12 years old are asked if they masturbate or have “petted” or have “necked” with a partner. Many Mormon children have no idea what any of these terms are. If the child has committed any of these “sins”, they are pressed for details. Many are then scorned and told that their acts will lead them to hell. Those who have masturbated are then denied the sacrament and must then be interviewed by the Bishop on a weekly basis until the masturbation has stopped. Mormon children grow up sexually repressed and many grow up emotionally insecure about their own sexuality. Parents are not allowed in the room at the same time these sexual questions are asked. Mormon parents are not allowed to question Mormon Priesthood authority and do not hesitate to turn their male and female children over to men behind closed doors. The Mormon Curtain firmly believes that adult men asking sexual questions of minors behind closed doors is a criminal act.

The new petition calling for an end to the Mormon masturbation interviews reads in part:

Here is a list of potential harm. All the risks below are actual consequences that have been experienced from sexual interviews with LDS children. Suicide. Attempted suicide. Suicidal ideation. Inappropriate shame and guilt. Childhood filled with self loathing. Adulthood filled with self loathing. Normalizing children to sexual questions by adult men. (Grooming) Sexual abuse. (Pedophilia) Impaired sexual relations after marriage. Years of recovery from childhood shaming. Often lasting decades. Society-at-large recognizes that the Mormon practice of sexual interviews with children is wholly inappropriate. It’s a dangerous and damaging practice. It’s time for us, as Mormons, and friends of Mormons, to stand up for our children…to stand up and require that children be protected.

The petition concludes:

We call on the LDS Church to immediately cease the practice of subjecting children to questions about masturbation, orgasm, ejaculation, sexual positions or anything else of a sexual nature. This applies to all children up to and including age 17. We call on the LDS Church to publicly disavow this practice. We call on the LDS Church to insure that all congregational leaders, as well the general membership, are informed that this practice is prohibited.

Bottom line: Mormon masturbation interviews damage children. They are inappropriate, and perhaps even criminal in nature. They must be stopped. It is time to protect the children.