On many occasions spanning over a century, leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) have taught that adherents should not masturbate as part of obedience to the code of conduct known as the law of chastity.[1]: 94–109 [2][3] This denomination within Mormonism places great emphasis on the sexual behavior of Mormon adherents as a commitment to follow the law of chastity is required for baptism,[4] and adherence is required to receive a temple recommend,[5] and is part of the temple endowment ceremony covenants devout participants promise by oath to keep.[6][7] A 2011 church manual quotes former church president Spencer W. Kimball who taught that the law of chastity includes "masturbation ... and every hidden and secret sin and all unholy and impure thoughts and practices."[8][9] Before serving full-time missions, young adults are required to abandon the practice as it is believed to be a gateway sin that dulls sensitivity to the guidance of the Holy Ghost.[10][11] The first recorded public mention of masturbation by a general church leader to a broad audience was in 1952 by apostle J. Reuben Clark,[12][13] and recent notable mentions include in 2016,[14] 2019,[15] and 2021.[16]
In their overview on the topic, Mark Mallan and Vern Bullough describe Mormon community attitudes and teachings on masturbation as having gone through four major stages while various official church publications and new opinions of leaders have emerged throughout the church's history:
Although rhetoric has softened and become less direct, the prohibition on masturbation remains in place, but its enforcement and the opinions of local leadership vary.[1]: 118 During regular worthiness interviews LDS adherents—including preteens and teenagers—[17][18][19] are required to confess of any sexual sins like masturbation to church leaders in order to be deemed worthy to participate in the weekly sacrament or in temple rites like baptisms for the dead.[1]: 118 [18] They are sometimes asked explicitly about masturbation.[20][21][22] Church leaders are instructed that masturbation is not grounds for holding a church membership council.[23] Masturbation is potential grounds for informal church discipline from a leader of a local congregation such as a bishop. Potential disciplinary restrictions include temporarily losing access to temples and/or a ban from receiving the weekly sacrament.[24]: 86 The majority of church adherents' views are at odds with those of top church leaders on the morality of masturbation.[1]: 118 The church's website contains numerous mentions of masturbation in a negative light.[a]
A majority of never-married respondents to a large 2019 survey of LDS people reported never having masturbated,[24]: 87 but one LDS therapist believed the self-reported numbers were too low,[34] and underreporting due to the social-desirability bias is a common issue even among anonymous surveys of many stigmatized sexual behaviors.[35][36] A different survey taken over several decades in the mid-20th century found nearly 80% of LDS-identified men self-reported having masturbated.[1]: 110 [37] A large 2019 survey found 78% of American women and 91% of US men masturbate.[38] Other studies find most American adults have masturbated.[39]
Below is a timeline of events, publications, and speeches on the topic of masturbation in the LDS community.
As far as masturbation is concerned, Mormons consider it an impure practice that thwarts self-discipline, dulls spirituality, and can become a gateway to other sins, including pornography and homosexual activity. ... Mormons say it requires repentance—in fact, young people aren't cleared to go on missions until they're free of the practice.
You should avoid any thought or action that would separate you from the Spirit of God. This includes but is not limited to adultery; fornication; same-sex activity; oral sex; arousing sexual feelings; inappropriate touching; sending or receiving messages, images, or videos that are immoral or sexual in nature; masturbation; and viewing or using pornography.
First is when the Mormon lay leader of a congregation (usually the bishop and always a male) calls in the boys and girls in his flock from age 12 on up for an annual interview to ask about their ... adherence to the law of chastity. Some bishops pose pointed questions about moral cleanliness in these conversations, perhaps quizzing about masturbation, heavy petting or fornication, while others keep their queries more general. The other type of interview is when penitent churchgoers go to their bishops to confess actions the church deems to be 'serious sins.' This exchange may also delve into details of intimate sexual behavior. ... [T]he 'For the Strength of Youth' booklet [says,] 'Do not do anything else that arouses sexual feelings. Do not arouse those emotions in your own body.' Though the church's own Handbook ... never mentions 'masturbation,' many bishops read the above sentence to mean just that. Some LDS leaders routinely ask both boys and girls about it in every interview.
32.6.4.1 ... A membership council is not held for the actions listed below. ... Masturbation. ... Using pornography, except for child pornography ... or intensive or compulsive use of pornography that has caused significant harm to a member's marriage or family ....
Share the following information with [your bishop]: ... What related behaviors you engage in, if any, such as masturbation, sexual involvement via the Internet, fornication, and adultery.
Many schools teach masturbation as normal and acceptable. Parents can take a stand over what is being taught.
Does the therapist share the individual's value system? Some therapists do not consider viewing pornography and engaging in related activities (such as masturbation) as problematic behavior.
The first time I told anyone about my struggles with pornography and masturbation was when I was 19 years old.
There are several signs that may indicate a problem with pornography or other related behaviors. ... 8. Preference for masturbation over sexual relations with spouse.
Pornography ... [leads to] masturbation, which causes release of the naturally occurring opioids. It does what heroin can't do, in effect.
Much of the issue with teenagers reflects the broader social reality that pornography has gone mainstream. ... At the same time, programming aimed at teenagers, such as MTV, routinely shows young people engaged in sexually charged situations and casually discussing once-taboo topics such as masturbation and 'hooking up.'
I remember, very much, the first time I sat down with my son and said, 'We're now going to talk about masturbation.'
A woman at the college stood up in front of all of the women, the female students there, and said, 'We know some of you struggle with pornography and masturbation, and we're going to help you.' ... It was right there that I just sort of said, 'Hey, this has been my struggle. The internet, pornography, masturbation, this is—man, I'm in trouble here.'
However, indirect evidence indicates that under-reporting (e.g., of a number of sexual partners, receptive anal intercourse, condom use) is common. Among the general population, several studies have now reported that even with anonymous responding, there are significant correlations between a variety of self-reported sexual behaviors (e.g., use of condoms, sexual fantasies, exposure to pornography, penis size) and social desirability, with evidence that extreme under- or over-reporting is as common as is found in other fields.
[Thursday, 27 March 1902] Salt Lake City ... Meeting at the temple. ... At this point Pres. Smith referred to a report made by Elder Jos. M. Tanner at the church board of education meeting yesterday, in which he stated that the practice of masturbation was indulged in by many young people in the church schools. Pres. Smith remarked that this was a most damnable and pernicious practice, and the face of every apostle, president of a stake, and high councillor should be set as flint against it. The priesthood should be called together at the stake conferences and the brethren and parents should be instructed and warned in relation to this matter.
By 1980 costs for the proposed defense of church teachings had reached close to $150,000, and some church authorities had become "squeamish' over the issue ... Bergin eventually bowed out of the project, and the completed work, a more general treatment of 'Human Intimacy: Illusion and Reality', published in 1981, listed Brown as its only author.
Another example of the lust illusion is careless acceptance of masturbation as an inconsequential natural function. … For example, a current myth claims that masturbation is both therapeutic and necessary. … Thus, habitual, obsessive results in a self-focused addiction that can be detrimental to intimacy. It is an emotional narcotic; like a drug-induced high, it creates a temporary escape but leaves the person depressed. … Unable to obtain physical and emotional rewards in other ways, the habitual masturbator resorts to self-manipulation. … Habitual masturbation, whether practiced alone or jointly in an emotionless but technically skilled mutual orgasm, is lust. It permits the person(s) to avoid the complexities and forces him to forego the rewards of intimate relationships. Allied with fantasy it creates a world in which reality never requires an accounting. This is well known to publishers of such soft-core pornography as Playboy and similar magazines, long used as literal visual aids to masturbation. As a consequence the individual cannot develop the attitudes and behaviors which will help him develop and retain close and rewarding relationships. Masturbation's consequences are social-emotional isolation and erotic obsession.
A priesthood holder is virtuous. ... He will not commit adultery "nor do anything like unto it." (D&C 59:6.) This means fornication, homosexual behavior, self-abuse, child molestation, or any other sexual perversions.
The use of pornography is a basic sin that leads to self-abuse, homosexuality, fornication, adultery, child and spouse abuse, incest, rape, and cruelty. No love ever develops out of pornography, only self-gratification. ... Although repentance is possible, it must be sincere and requires a considerable period of time to make that change permanent.
[A virtuous priesthood holder] will not commit adultery 'nor do anything like unto it'. This means fornication, homosexual behavior, self-abuse, child molestation, or any other sexual perversion.
Failure to Comply with Some Church Standards: A disciplinary council should not be held to discipline or threaten those who do not comply with the Word of Wisdom, who are struggling with pornography or self-abuse, or whose transgressions consist of omissions, such as failure to pay tithing, inactivity in the Church, or inattention to Church duties.
It got to the point now where I realized that the [LDS Addiction Recovery] program was not working for me ... I decided to disfigure my body to never feel sexual feeling again. ... I started looking for seedy doctors ... I didn't have money to go out of the country. So, based on those two facts I'm pretty sure those two facts kept me from going all the way. And I ended up finding a couple podcasts ... and finding a community of people that had the same pain that I did, and because of that I am not disfigured today.
He said he was surprised when he later learned that many churchgoers had been asked explicit questions about masturbation or sexual relationships in their youth. But he said the biggest shock came when he asked his now adult daughter if she had ever been asked by a church bishop if she masturbates. ... The interview questions inadvertently led his daughter to finding pornography after she looked up the meaning of masturbation ... others shared their own experience confirming that they were asked in their youth about sex and masturbation by church leaders.
... [S]ome Mormons question whether the current interview system is the safest and soundest way to instill and enforce the faith's moral standards—or whether it constitutes harassment itself. An online petition with more than 6,000 signatures urges [the LDS Church] 'to immediately cease the practice of subjecting children [ages 10 to 17] to questions about masturbation, orgasm, ejaculation, sexual positions or anything else of a sexual nature.' It further insists the Utah-based faith 'publicly disavow this practice.' Young believers talking about details of their sexual experience with bishops 'is intrusive, inappropriate and sends a mixed message regarding boundaries around sexual conversation with adult men,' says Julie de Azevedo Hanks, a Salt Lake City therapist, mom and wife of a newly named LDS bishop. 'In no other situation would a parent allow or encourage their minor child to have sexual conversations with an adult.'
