old.

It was 1979 and my Bishop was interviewing pre priesthood ordination at 12 to become a deacon. I was just shy of 12.

He was imposing and scared me already.

I was convinced at that point in my life that God or Angels were watching my every move, and I often wondered if they watched when I was going to the bathroom.

I was hell-bent on being perfect.

But, I knew nothing about sexual issues and when he asked if I ever masturbated, I asked him what that meant.

I remember he was flummoxed and said..."you know, jack off". I had heard the second term for it, but honestly had never gotten the full picture of what that meant either.

I'm not writing this because it messed my life up or anything close. (Although my teen years were a living hell every six months as he dragged me into his office and asked about masturbation and much more until I was 18 and left town).

I'm writing this because looking back, it really seems to be another indication that the LDS church as all about control, mental and physical.

It was a cult in 1979.

It has lightened up quite a bit. I don't know that they are so direct about asking sex questions to teens but I do know that if they could, they would.

I remember my TBM dad giving my older brother and I the "M" lecture. I was maybe 9 years old, my brother would have been about 12 years old.

When he was telling how sinful it was and asking us if we did it, I recall my brother sheepishly answering with a low toned almost mumbled "no".

I actually didn't know what he was talking about, so he used a different metaphor, which I understood, but had never indulged in, so I said "no"...honest answer. Didn't start till I was 12 ;)

Anyway, looking back, the whole thing was rather weird and creepy.

Good post, masterrator

It wasn't as bad as some perverted practices, but for someone in the clergy to do it made it rather despicable.

I'm glad it didn't mess up your life, bad enough that it caused you unnecessary grief.

1. I was not raised as a Mormon.
2. I was probably near college age before I ever heard the word though I did...
3. No-one ever said it was wrong.
4. I was shocked when, on this forum, I learned about how the TSCC queried my sons and daughters as they never told me.
5. The first time I was asked about it was after 32 years as a member and I thought it was absurd. The bish decided that was why I was apostate.

If you don't ejaculate are you a "true" masturbater?

I was quite chagrined to learn that what I had discovered on my own was already quite a well known phenomenon. I totally and completely thought I'd stolen a march on humanity, that I was in possession of a secret so precious that I just knew I would take it to the grave rather than allow the unwashed masses make a mockery of it's sublime pleasure.

Yes, yes, I was quite the heroic little masturbating genius. And then the bishop spoiled it by giving it a name and telling me it was evil. Bullshit!

Same situation here (I'm 52) so around the same era...

Bishop asked, "Do you masturbate?"? I didn't know what that was either.

He then asked, "Well, I mean do you play with yourself"? my answer, "Sure, when none of friends or sister or brother aren't around to play with. I just pretend mostly".

He then rubbed his forehead, "No I mean do you play with your penis"? Silence from me, because I thought maybe there was some sort of "smack-a-mole" or "stick ball" game that I hadn't been taught ...and all my friends were playing with their penis'??? I just said "No". Yet, he could tell I was confused, confounded and bewildered.

It never really occurred to me to play with myself. Good thing the Bishop brought me up to speed so I could try it.

I started playing with the equipment when I was about four years old. My buddies showed me some new ways when I was about six, which was also when I learned about circumcision and the fact that I was uncut. I don't remember whether I was asked about masturbation in my baptism interview, but I remember thinking it was one of the sins that would be washed away. My father was my bishop during my Aaronic priesthood years, and he was as uncomfortable asking me about masturbation as I was lying about it. I lied about it in all my mission interviews.

I read about it in health class in about grade 8. Never knew the word but was already an old hand by then....

RB

I have a Little Factory, but for the first dozen years I didn't know what it was or what it did except for one very basic function. Never really paid much attention to it. As I entered my teen years I became aware that this Little Factory would sometimes make itself known in small subtle ways. On occasion it seemed to want to start up on it's own with the morning shift being the most active. Every now and then the graveyard shift would go to work and manufacture a little surprise too.

In my mid-teen years the Little Factory was almost always in the fore front of my thoughts. I was curious about it and wondered why it acted the way it did. About this time the Bishop called me into his office and talked to me about the "M" word. I didn't know what it was so I said "No". I had no idea the grief I had avoided simply by being naive.

Girls don't have Little Factories, they have Loading Docks. Their Loading Docks are also multi-function but their biggest purpose is shipping and receiving. They also have more paper work to deal with than Little Factories. Most Little Factories need a Loading Dock nearby and most Loading Docks prefer to be close to a Little Factory. Occasionally a Loading Dock would rather be by another Loading Dock, the same with Little Factories. Local Zoning Laws try to regulate these placements and much is discussed concerning this issue. Hopefully someday, Little Factories and Loading Docks can situate wherever they darn well feel like it.

Even though magazines were around, I had never actually seen a real Loading Dock until I was married. Then there was a flurry of activity at this particular Loading Dock. The Little Factory now had a license for full production. After a decent amount of receiving, the shipping part started up. This continued for years with unabated shipping and receiving. We had many urgent Morg orders to fill you know.

After six packages had been shipped we decided we needed to Unionize. We needed the protection of the Union even though we knew that the Morg was against this protection. The parties at the Loading Dock continued, but we had enough packages and didn't want any more. Don't get me wrong here, we still did lots of receiving, just tried to stop the shipping.

Some years later we severed the lines of communication between shipping and receiving. We also cut ties with the Union and went without their protection with much delight. Union protection was a good thing, we just didn't need their protection anymore. We frolicked without Union protection.

Many years later now, the Loading Dock is gone and the Little Factory has mostly shut down. The boiler fire isn't as hot and the conveyor belt barely runs. The packages we delivered have their own Little Factories and Loading Docks now. It's their time to flourish. It was a good run but reluctantly I will have to shut this Little Factory down and lock the doors. The tours are over. Good bye Little Factory.

Industry On Parade

Holy shit. I wrote something just like this a year or two ago, but couldn't retrieve it once to post it. I think it's back in my documents file again. I'll have to post it and compare notes. (Mine might be bigger, better, and un-cut, which is why we have to compare them, yours next to mine.)

I'd never heard the word before I was 17. The missionaries were interviewing me for baptism. They said, "No masturbation, no petting, no ..." this or that. I didn't even know what petting meant either, but gathered that it had something to do with sex.

I figured that if I didn't even know what it all meant, then I was probably not doing it, so I was safe.

Once I figured it out (age 12) no box of Kleenex was safe for years thereafter.

As far as masturbation vs. petting, I leave the pets out of it. I figure they're not able to give informed consent, so it just wouldn't be right.

LOL Just quoting the missionaries on that one. I thought it was an odd word to use. At first I wondered if it did have something to do with my pets, which was confusing. "What on earth are they talking about," I thought to myself.

I first encountered the word “masturbation” in a sex education pamphlet I found in the house one day when I was eleven. The pamphlet was written to guide parents in talking about sexual topics with their children. It simply referred to masturbation as a sexual activity that involved only one person. I didn’t understand at all what that could be, but I did remember the word. A few months later I quite by accident discovered how to masturbate – I immediately realized that what I had done must be what the pamphlet called “masturbation”.

Church interviews had nothing to do with my learning about this – I was never asked about it in any interview. No bishop, stake president or mission president ever referred to it in any interview with me.

Ok, I get the no sex before marriage teaching. I don't necessarily agree with it, but given STDs and pregnancy, I get it.

The church's policy on masturbation makes absolutely no sense. Sending a sexually frustrated teenage boy out into the world is like sending a starving boy into a buffet.