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Whitney Woodruff was shocked when President Rob Ferrell extended the call for her to serve as the stake Relief Society president in her young single adult stake. This was a calling typically reserved for older, married women with much more experience. As a young single adult herself, she solicited the help of three other incredible women; Kaylyn Crawford, Stacie Leavitt, and Kimberly Webb. In this episode, Kurt Francom discusses with them their unique approach of visiting each Relief Society in the stake to discuss the complex topic of female pornography use and how individuals can fight through the shame and get the help to overcome this temptation.
Highlights
- 4:45 Introduction of each participant and the story of how they were called to the stake Relief Society presidency
- 8:30 How they began to consider addressing the issue of pornography use of those in Relief Society
- 15:00 How they organized and formatted their lesson about avoiding pornography to the Relief Society
- 18:00 What feedback was received after their lesson
- 21:00 How this lesson impacted their presidency
- 24:00 Why it is important to be direct and clear in lessons about avoiding pornography
- 28:00 How they prepared for the lesson
- 30:30 The role of priesthood leaders during this lesson
- 32:00 How pornography is different for women compared to men
- 42:30 How girls/women typically learn about pornography (especially in their developmental years)
- 45:20 The most important topic of the lesson, the Atonement of Jesus Christ
- 48:00 A powerful question to begin a discussion about pornography use with men and women
- 50:00 How to create safety so that individuals want to talk to someone about their pornography use and get help
- 58:00 Advice for male priesthood leaders to effectively approach this topic
- 1:03:00 How to create local resources to help women struggling with pornography
- 1:05:00 General encouragement for other Relief Society presidencies
Links
“I am a Young Single Adult Advocate” | An Interview with Rob Ferrell Protection From Pornography—a Christ-Focused Home, by Linda S. Reeves Read the TRANSCRIPT 
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Thank you for being so vulnerable on a challenging subject and for focusing on the doctrine of Jesus Christ. This will open many doors. Wonderful example of collaborating with young adults. We need to trust this generation more and watch the impact they will have in the church. These young adult sisters are some of the best saints that I know and love!! Well done!!!
Kurt & Rob- Thank you SO much for this opportunity and for all this has taught me. You two are such great men and examples to me! I appreciate each of you! Such a neat experience for me and an opportunity to be more vulnerable! I could not have done it without the three amazing sisters I served with! I hope that this will be able to help others in many ways!
I listened to the podcast. Thank you for being so open in your discussion. I heard a lot that I want to re-listen. The ladies mention that when they would meet with the Ward R.S. group, first off you would clearly define what pornography is. Did you ever run into problems with sisters feeling judged because you identified a “don’t do” that they do? Or did some sisters disagree what the definitions saying that what has been defined as pornography does not cause arousal in them and therefore is not pornography? For instance, I would guess that some portion of the room is comfortable watching PG-13 and R rated movies while others no longer watch non-Church movies because of the suggestive material inserted into almost everything now days.
This was so helpful. I am a on the high council and oversee the ARP in the stake. I had felt inspired to visit all the Relief Societies and Elder’s Quorums in the stake to talk about the ARP, and just presented to the first RS last Sunday.
Looks like I’m from the same generation as the sisters who were interviewed in this podcast, and I think that made it easier for me to be frank and open. So much from this podcast was just for me right now to better serve the sisters.
After the presentation, I was approached separately by 4-5 sisters asking why we didn’t have a pornography ARP meeting for sisters, and telling me we really should have one.
I am also so grateful for your message about opening up and sharing a bit of our personal stories. I had felt so strongly that I needed to move beyond the impersonal discussion, and be open with the sisters about the fact that I had personally been deeply affected, and had worked hard to get through recovery myself. I felt that people all know that, statistically speaking, everyone is impacted, but because people aren’t open, we feel strange thinking that many bishops, RS presidents, high councilors, and likely leaders at every level have had their struggles with addiction in the past, and found true and lasting healing. I felt that sharing my own story, in an appropriate way, could help both remove the shame and taboo that perpetuates isolation, and inspire hope that full recovery is a reality.
Thank you so much for this inspired podcast – it was just what I needed. I’m going to invite all the relief society presidents in the stake to listen to this in preparation for my presentations.
This was incredible. Is there a way to get the information that the sisters compiled so that it can be used in future presentations by others? Mainly the idea of not reinventing the wheel, so to speak. I realize that personal study and inspiration is needed with this, but having their information to include in personal study would be amazing. Thank you.