Did the bishop ever ask you if you masturbate

[_selek]

I was asked about it once as far as I recall. I think I've mentioned this before. I was somewhere in the15 to 18 range when I had an interview with the bishop and he simply asked, "do you have a problem with masturbation?"

I was more concerned that I didn't really know what it was, how it worked, than that he asked me. I'm pretty sure I sat with a blank stare after the question while I tried to figure out what exactly he had asked.

I may be misreading you here, so correct me if I'm wrong. Are you saying you didn't know what the term "masterbation" meant, or are you saying you never masterbated when you were 15-18?

If it's the latter, I find that hard to believe, unless you have an incredibly weak sex drive or hurculean will power.

When I was 12, my bishop used the word "masterbation" in my interview. I asked 'what's that", he replied "playing with yourself". I was pre-pubescent and had not yet discovered it, so I truthfully answered "no".

I was asked specifically about masterbation in every church interview from junior high through high school, on my mission, at BYU and up until I was married in the temple at age 25.

[_selek]

I don't see the need to masturbate and never have. I ain't expert enough to know whether I'm some exception or not.

So, what are people's thoughts?

You may have just answerd my previous question.

I don't have any scientific data to back me up here, but I think you are a rare exception. I would surmise that the vast majority (99.9999%, perhaps) of boys of sexual maturity with no physiological impairment have masterbated at least once. I would surmise that 95+% of boys masterbate on a regular basis. The exceptions might be those who abstain for religious purposes, like I unsuccessfully tried to when I was TBM. Other exceptions may be boys who are having actual sex regularly.

EDIT: After I posted I saw Buffalo's link to http://www.iub.edu/~kinsey/resources/FAQ.html

My estimates were high, it seems. I'm also wondering if my sex drive was higher than most. I would estimate that I fapped about 7-10 times per week from the age of 14 through adulthood, the exceptions being whenever I had a regular sex partner and when I was trying to abstain as a TBM. In my 20s, I was having sex at least once a day with my (now ex) wife. Even then I masterbated a few times a week. (By that time, I gave up on trying to quit...)

[_Brackite]

Here are the Current Poll Results:

Did the bishop ever ask if you masturbated?

Yes a lot! 41% [ 17 ]
Sometimes 24% [ 10 ]
No 17% [ 7 ]
I'm a girl and I didn't get asked 4% [ 2 ]
I'm a girl and I did get asked 9% [ 4 ]
What's masturbation? 2% [ 1 ]

Total votes : 41

[_sock puppet]

Here are the Current Poll Results:

Did the bishop ever ask if you masturbated?

Yes a lot! 41% [ 17 ]
Sometimes 24% [ 10 ]
No 17% [ 7 ]
I'm a girl and I didn't get asked 4% [ 2 ]
I'm a girl and I did get asked 9% [ 4 ]
What's masturbation? 2% [ 1 ]

Total votes : 41

Nine respondents have so repressed the traumatic interviews so much that they think they did not occur? I wish I could repress them too.

[_mentalgymnast]

As it is, I was asked about it only once as I recall, throughout my life.

I grew up in the church. Many interviews. Went on a mission. Married in the temple. Interviews since then for callings, etc.

Never was asked. Not even remotely, except when asked if I obeyed the law of chastity. I have four brothers, and I'm not aware of this subject being brought up in any of their interviews along the way. Not to say that it didn't.

I do find it disconcerting to hear that those on this forum who were repeatedly asked about masturbation during interviews are also those that, in many cases, are disaffected from the church. Not sure that I see a connection at all, but it's interesting.

I only read through the first couple of pages on this thread, so I may be leaving something out or simply repeating something that has already been said by others. Also, I have to agree with Mattie, there does seem to be an ongoing fixation or interest with masturbation in this forum and also the church's purported fixation on the practice and the frequency in which it is supposedly brought up during regular interviews.

The only place that I've EVER even heard it brought up at all is in online venues such as this.

I suppose maybe I've lived a relatively charmed life in the church.

Regards,
MG

[_sock puppet]

the church's purported fixation on the practice and the frequency in which it is supposedly brought up during regular interviews.

The Church's fixation is in print. BKP's For Young Men Only, SWK's Miracle of Foregiveness, MEP's tips for stopping masturbation. Apostasy might correlate with having been grilled by bishops, stake presidents, mission presidents, etc. about it. The correlation with being so questioned might be with where you were geographically, but I doubt that because this questioning was universal by the three bishops I had from age 12-18 in my 'home' ward, in the 6 different student wards I was in at BYU, and by my mission president--he even told me it was a standard question mission presidents were instructed in their training at the MTC to ask of all missionaries at every zone conference interview. Maybe the correlation is when you turned age 12--if that was in the 60s or 70s, the Church was obsessed with masturbation. It was the era of BKP's For Young Men Only, SWK's Miracle of Foregiveness, MEP's tips for stopping masturbation.

I haven't been a Mormon for 25 years. Can't say how it has been since, but I can tell you that the Church's hard-on about masturbation scarred many of us.

[_Themis]

I grew up in the church. Many interviews. Went on a mission. Married in the temple. Interviews since then for callings, etc.

Never was asked. Not even remotely, except when asked if I obeyed the law of chastity. I have four brothers, and I'm not aware of this subject being brought up in any of their interviews along the way. Not to say that it didn't.

I do find it disconcerting to hear that those on this forum who were repeatedly asked about masturbation during interviews are also those that, in many cases, are disaffected from the church. Not sure that I see a connection at all, but it's interesting.

I only read through the first couple of pages on this thread, so I may be leaving something out or simply repeating something that has already been said by others. Also, I have to agree with Mattie, there does seem to be an ongoing fixation or interest with masturbation in this forum and also the church's purported fixation on the practice and the frequency in which it is supposedly brought up during regular interviews.

The only place that I've EVER even heard it brought up at all is in online venues such as this.

I suppose maybe I've lived a relatively charmed life in the church.

Regards,
MG

I have gotten used to defenders describing a totally different church then the one I was in. I wonder why that is. My MP asked every interview, and it was not just me. He asked every elder because there was joke on how asked. Why is it only here that this happens. While masturbation is not a topic that comes up between members often, it does come up, and it being asked in interviews was very common in the 80's and earlier. I think they asked much less today. I don't fixate on it any more then defenders do that also have participated in this thread.

[_mentalgymnast]

BKP's For Young Men Only, SWK's Miracle of Foregiveness, MEP's tips for stopping masturbation.

That's the thing. These sources which talk about masturbation were not even on my radar until I saw them mentioned and referred to when the internet came on the scene back in the nineties. It may well be that some wards and some stakes in the church took it upon themselves to focus on masturbation frequently enough and with enough force that memories were imprinted upon those of you that are now bringing it up.

All I know is that as I turned 12 back in 1966 and from there on out in the area where I was raised, Southern Calif., it wasn't something that I grew up with hearing or being concerned about.

But I can only speak for myself.

Regards,
MG

[_just me]

My dad was asked. He is still TBM.

My husband was asked. He is still TBM.

I would wager they aren't the only TBM's who were asked. Oh, and my bishop told me he asks. so....

Shoot! Forgot to add. My visiting teachers have brought up masturbation in the course of conversation at my home. We also had our bishop send an email to the entire ward about the 5th grade health ed because their was brief mention of masturbation being normal and that everyone should be aware in case they wanted to yank their child from the class since it went against gospel beliefs.

[_sock puppet]

My dad was asked. He is still TBM.

My husband was asked. He is still TBM.

I would wager they aren't the only TBM's who were asked. Oh, and my bishop told me he asks. so....

Shoot! Forgot to add. My visiting teachers have brought up masturbation in the course of conversation at my home. We also had our bishop send an email to the entire ward about the 5th grade health ed because their was brief mention of masturbation being normal and that everyone should be aware in case they wanted to yank their child from the class since it went against gospel beliefs.

Just a bunch of wankers, huh?