What fetishes have you developed since leaving the church?

[_The Nehor]

Was this based on my post a few days back?

It was a joke mocking apostates who sexualize things about the Church and it's members in a usually vain attempt to offend members.

I wasn't being serious.

[_Fiannan]

Apparently, one of the "wages of sin" (read: the fruits of apostasy) is the development of weird sexual fetishes that we are likely to drone on about.

This has me thinking: has anyone's sexual interests changed since leaving the LDS church? [Please, let's keep this PG-13 per board rules.]

What I've noticed is that sex seems to occupy a lot of Mormon minds. My daughter came home from church on Sunday with a "Pledge to Fight the Plague" of pornography. Both Sunday School and Relief Society were dedicated to a discussion of pornography and how to escape it. She said they were told that they should ask any prospective spouse about their pornography use; any boy who denied looking at porn was lying, they said.

But the pledge thing did prompt a good conversation with my daughter about how it is appropriate when getting serious with a young man to discuss expectations about sexuality in marriage.

Sometimes I think the shame and guilt built up around sexuality in the church gives some people a warped outlook. I've mentioned, for example, that my picture has shown up on several sexually oriented message boards, and I very much doubt that it was an exmo who did that. It's well known that "deviant" sexual practices are more prevalent among those who were raised to see sex as shameful and sinful. We know that Utah is the number one porn using state in the country; I don't think that's coincidental.

As for me, my sexual interests haven't changed much since I lost my faith (unless you count the Troy McClure problem I struggle with). I'm about as boring as ever.

Anyone who knows about Roman culture the time of the Bible is aware that there were bloody gladiator games and orgies (in larger metropolitan areas these places could accommodate hundreds if not thousands of participants. So in ancient days one could indulge in being a spectator of violence that makes the Saw series tame in comparison and sex that makes anything at the Playboy mansion look insignificant on the societal scale of things.

Yet the scriptures generally just say that people should fill their lives with positive thoughts and deeds and avoid fornication and adultery. The sins of the day are not mentioned over and over and over again. Maybe there is a wisdom in that.

If I come home every day and tell my daughters not to smoke, and to not associate with anyone who smokes because they are of the devil, and I harp about it constantly, then I would expect two results -- some of my daughters would become hard-core rabid anti-smoking zealots and the others would wind up smoking a couple of packs a day.

As for porn, I suspect every male who can still get it up, and most females, at least occasionally are tempted by porn. If that is indeed the case then an anti-porn campaign as you describe will result in establishing a mental guilt complex. Combine this with easy accessibility of porn and you set the stage for some troubled people.