Digging in to Season 3 of Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, and I've got to say, most of these women are extremely capable of growth, and it shows.

It's been good practice for me to test my ability to spot red flags of people who are genuinely toxic, and probably always will be, vs. those who are just mimicking unhealthy behavior they learned within a toxic culture.

And when people do change, seeing if it sticks or if they're just manipulating people.

And I'm watching passive women conditioned to capitulate and defend bad behavior eventually come into their power.

I'm really proud of most of these kids as they come into their own. I'm cheering them on. Yes, even *that one,* who is maybe(?) starting to show some glimmers of self-awareness and being genuine.

These are the kinds of cultural forces swiftly changing LDS culture, and why I say Therapy Culture is the biggest secret threat to the institutional abuse culture within religious authoritarianism and fascism.

Though it often makes me uncomfortable, I unironically love this show.

🧵

#RealityTV #SecretLivesOfMormonWives #MomTok #RVLife #exmo #exmormon #ReligiousTrauma #AbuseCulture

🎶freedom's just another word
for nothing left to lose🎶

#solarpunk #exmo #exmormon #ReligiousTrauma #exvie #exvangelical #USPol #Antifa #resist #humanism #atheism

There definitely seems to be a vibe shift. From powerlessness and helplessness to empowerment and determination

I'm not the only one. And it's not just here on Mastodon.

Nothing is forever. No trend continues ever upward. We're learning the skills and fortitude we need. We're self-organizing against the shape that collective trauma has forced us into.

This too shall pass.

Then imagine the world we'll be able to build with the momentum.

#solarpunk

#exmo #exmormon #ReligiousTrauma #exvie #exvangelical #USPol #Antifa #resist #humanism #atheism

Inspiring.

#exmo #exmormon #ReligiousTrauma
#exvie #exvangelical #USPol #Antifa #resist #humanism #atheism

https://youtu.be/WfM_KhzxAwo

The "it was the 90s" gay chuch-trauma storytelling comedian guy has this gentle banger of a political anthem.

🎶You might ask yourself,
Am I next?
And if you have to ask
The answer is yes...

Let's join together
A collective rage...
And stop those motherfuckers...

History has shown us
they won't stop until they stopped.🎶

https://youtube.com/shorts/tCGXYxkhLEI

#GenX #ReligiousTrauma #pol #resist #resistance #antifa #lgbtq

Kid in Sunday school asking why Jesus had to die for a sin committed thousands of years earlier. Even children see the absurdity of inherited guilt theology. #OriginalSinNonsense #ReligiousTrauma

#OriginalSinNonsense #ReligiousTrauma

A study on how media coverage of cults affects the recovery of former cult members. Via the ICSA.

https://icsatoday.substack.com/p/cults-and-media-stereotypes-does

#cult #exmo #exmormon #ReligiousTrauma #ICSA

Wow. See here is why I love the Mormon people. When they end up cutting past the propaganda that keeps them hampered, they show up with the kind of energy and moral correctness that we were taught to have, that surpasses any modern church I've ever seen.

LDS Corp has left the ICE issue up to individual wards to decide. The wards that have decided to protect their own are *going hard*. This is a fantastic model for mutual aid. This is some City of Enoch level bravery and righteousness.

They're protesting detention centers, holding services online, locking down church entrances against potential ICE raids, planning escape routes, providing information about rights and how to handle ICE, feeding people, picking up kids,

“It is my divine obligation to … be politically aware and pass along information,” [Osorio Reyes] said, “to make sure the people in my ward are informed and safe.”

The Stake President is collecting extra fast offerings to help affected families with material needs.

This is the shit I was raised on. This is the shit I was told we were to be doing. And then... we simply never did. Our energies were redirected to useless time-wasters, and more priority was placed on "sexual" righteousness and whether or not someone drank Coke. Our minds were filled with barely coded racist interpretations of the world.

This is why, for my activism focus, I chose to work with exmormon populations. Because for all the dysfunctional ways we were conditioned to be, we were also instilled with a fire. Helping exmormons (and open-minded progressive Mormons) dump the dysfunctional baggage frees us up to be a real force for good in this world. We gave a majority of our time and money to the LDS Church, so when we stop doing that, our energies are free to go elsewhere.

One note on the geopolitics of the situation: unlike other brands of Christianity in the US, the LDS Church is interestingly torn on the immigration issue, because outside of the USA, their majority membership is in Latin America.

I've got one more thing to say about top-level leadership, next post.

Archive:

https://web.archive.org/web/20260205222627/https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2026/02/03/how-latter-day-saints-la-responded/

Original (paywalled still):

https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2026/02/03/how-latter-day-saints-la-responded/

#exmo #exmormon #ReligiousTrauma #MutualAid #LDS #Mormon

#PersonalUpdate #deaf #HearingLoss #HighFrequencyLoss #HearingAids #Disability #DisabledVoices #Therapy #Trauma #cPTSD #ReligiousTrauma #exJW

And about a year, (I'll have to do some birthday math) I will have been out of the Mormon church for as long as I was in.

#exmo #exmormon #ReligiousTrauma #exvie #exvangelical

I have finished my final draft of Sexcommunicated!

This is, oddly, within two days of my 25th anniversary of deciding to be done with the LDS Church for good, on Jan 26th 2001.

Natasha Helfer, my client, has lined up a publisher! Her and the publisher will do the final edits. It should be a printed book within a year or two. I will have co-byline.

That's about all the details I'm authorized to release.

Sexcommunicated tells the story of Natasha's life, her journey towards becoming a sex therapist, the splash she made in the Mormon world with her therapy blog in 2012, and the events that led to her excommunication in 2021.

I will keep you updated on publishing news as the manuscript rolls through the process.

#exmo #exmormon #ReligiousTrauma #exvie #exvangelical

The same people who taught me “Jesus Loves the Little Children” are cheering on ICE. Make it make sense. 🤷🏻‍♀️💔 #deconstruction #religioustrauma #therapist

God and the Church are not synonyms.

It is possible to walk away from a toxic institution without walking away from your faith. Don't let the flaws of people ruin your connection to the Divine. Healing begins when you separate the two.

Watch here: https://youtu.be/84IgPOhH8js

#ReligiousTrauma #Deconstruction #ChurchHurt #SpiritualHealth #healing

In Episode 67, Bill and Jumelle speak with Rev Heather Foy about her upcoming podcast, The Awakening, focusing on stories of religious trauma and recovery.

Subscribe, download and listen today! https://linktr.ee/bwabits

#evangelical #exvangelical #deconstruction #atheism #religioustrauma #recovery #podcast

https://youtube.com/shorts/ijaXlFyVB3Q

#ReligiousTrauma #exmo #exmormon #trauma #PTSD #TheBodyKeepstheScore

https://www.brainzmagazine.com/post/the-god-they-praised-the-monster-i-survived

If you get through Season 3 of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, you might be tempted to think that Mormon men are disproportionately more likely to be controlling and abusive towards their wives.

And you'd be right.

#exmo #exmormon #ReligiousTrauma

The LDS Church is like, "Nooo, we never said the Lamanites in the Book of Mormon were Native Americans! How shocking and insensitive, and historically inaccurate and difficult to prove given the ample scientific evidence otherwise! Wherever did you get THAT idea??"

But then they still illustrate children's stories from the Book of Mormon like this.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/book-of-mormon-stories-for-young-readers/the-stripling-warriors

#exmo #exmormon #ReligiousTrauma

(I don't typically go looking for this stuff. I just stumble upon it while looking up other things.)