Trust, Obey, Endure: How Mormon Conditioning Makes Abuse Harder to Recognize
About this episode
The episode explores how Mormon teachings may condition members to recognize and resist abuse.
What happens when a religious system spends a lifetime teaching you to trust authority, obey, forgive, sacrifice, endure, distrust your own doubts, and fear the consequences of leaving? In this episode of Mormon Discussion, Teresa Hobbs leads Bill Reel and special guest Wendi Wilcock Jensen through a difficult question: Can LDS teachings and institutional structures unintentionally condition members with some of the same psychological habits that make coercive control and abusive relationships harder to recognize, resist, disclose, and escape? We trace these patterns across the Mormon lifespan—from Primary lessons about obedience and following the prophet, to teenage worthiness interviews and sexual shame; missionary obedience and surveillance; BYU’s institutional controls; temple marriage, gender hierarchy, forgiveness and divorce stigma; and finally the enormous social, familial and spiritual costs that can accompany dissent or leaving the Church. We also examine how these dynamics have affected women, LGBTQ and transgender members, racial and ethnic minorities, and others whose personal judgment or identity has sometimes collided with institutional authority. The…
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