Bi-Weekly Masturbation Thread, here
Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 7:46 pm
Did Joseph Smith invent the masturbation interview?
Did Joseph Smith interview fourteen-year-old Helen Marr Kimball about her masturbatory habits…before he married her?
Apparently not, according to the article in the link that follows:
http://www.mormonstudies.net/pdf/Mormon ... bation.pdf
According to HISTORICAL DEVELOPENT OF NEW MASTURBATION ATTITUDES IN Mormon CULTURE: SILENCE, SECULAR CONFORMITY, COUNTERREVOLUTION, AND EMERGING REFORM, Mormons ignored the topic of masturbation until long after Joseph’s death. Early Mormons took no official position on what contemporary society described as “self-abuse”. To Joseph Smith, masturbation wasn’t a problem--if the utter absence of any discussion on the topic is any indication. Indeed, official Mormondon continued to ignore the topic until 1870 when it was briefly addressed in the Salt Lake City School of the Prophets, but only in connection with the ongoing controversy of polygamy. (“Plaural marriage,” said Apostle Lorenzo Snow, “would tend to diminish this evil of self-pollution.”) Apart from this brief, tangential discussion of “self-pollution” the First Presidency maintained its official silence on the subject until the 1950’s.
That was when everything changed. (Hint: it has to do with the Kook Faction’s rise to prominence among the Brethren in the 1950's.)
This article is probably old news to most of those who post here, but I came across it only recently and found it very interesting. Equally interesting (at least to me) is that fact that I am somewhat acquainted with two of the specialists quoted therein--William Gardiner and Carlfred Broderick. Specifically, the article identifies Carlfred Broderick, a family therapist (and occasional guest of Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show), as a member of the Church’s anti-masturbation clique who perpetuated and reinforced its harmful views on human sexuality.
This, in all fairness, is not necessarily true.
Dr. Broderick served as a bishop in my ward in Cerritos California where he frequently addressed the topic of sexuality in Mormonism. As bishop, he also conducted personal worthiness interviews with young men and woman, wherein he made it clear that masturbation per se, was not a sin. Rather, it was masturbation to excess that he considered inappropriate and potentially harmful.
Dr. Broderick does not exemplify the Church’s damaging attitudes regarding human sexuality. This, in my opinion, is the only flaw in an otherwise enlightening article.
Did Joseph Smith interview fourteen-year-old Helen Marr Kimball about her masturbatory habits…before he married her?
Apparently not, according to the article in the link that follows:
http://www.mormonstudies.net/pdf/Mormon ... bation.pdf
According to HISTORICAL DEVELOPENT OF NEW MASTURBATION ATTITUDES IN Mormon CULTURE: SILENCE, SECULAR CONFORMITY, COUNTERREVOLUTION, AND EMERGING REFORM, Mormons ignored the topic of masturbation until long after Joseph’s death. Early Mormons took no official position on what contemporary society described as “self-abuse”. To Joseph Smith, masturbation wasn’t a problem--if the utter absence of any discussion on the topic is any indication. Indeed, official Mormondon continued to ignore the topic until 1870 when it was briefly addressed in the Salt Lake City School of the Prophets, but only in connection with the ongoing controversy of polygamy. (“Plaural marriage,” said Apostle Lorenzo Snow, “would tend to diminish this evil of self-pollution.”) Apart from this brief, tangential discussion of “self-pollution” the First Presidency maintained its official silence on the subject until the 1950’s.
That was when everything changed. (Hint: it has to do with the Kook Faction’s rise to prominence among the Brethren in the 1950's.)
This article is probably old news to most of those who post here, but I came across it only recently and found it very interesting. Equally interesting (at least to me) is that fact that I am somewhat acquainted with two of the specialists quoted therein--William Gardiner and Carlfred Broderick. Specifically, the article identifies Carlfred Broderick, a family therapist (and occasional guest of Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show), as a member of the Church’s anti-masturbation clique who perpetuated and reinforced its harmful views on human sexuality.
This, in all fairness, is not necessarily true.
Dr. Broderick served as a bishop in my ward in Cerritos California where he frequently addressed the topic of sexuality in Mormonism. As bishop, he also conducted personal worthiness interviews with young men and woman, wherein he made it clear that masturbation per se, was not a sin. Rather, it was masturbation to excess that he considered inappropriate and potentially harmful.
Dr. Broderick does not exemplify the Church’s damaging attitudes regarding human sexuality. This, in my opinion, is the only flaw in an otherwise enlightening article.