Barriers to Entry volume 3: A man in a man's world

The best way to ensure you never meet women? Never be around women.

With the skill of a well-trained engineer, I have mastered this art over the past 8 or so years of my life.  

From ages 19-21 I served an LDS mission to the beautiful country of Uruguay. I spent every day walking and talking with another man. I slept in the same room with another man.  I am not going to say there were not beautiful women in Uruguay, because there were. Unfortunately, as a missionary, they were not available and I would have been oblivious even if they were.

At age 21 I returned to BYU, land flowing with milk and beautiful women. Of course I was studying engineering. In all my engineering classes there were about three women, all of which had friend-zoned me within about 1 month of my first semester. 

I also took some math classes, which I will admit did have numbers slightly higher than engineering classes. Unfortunately where the quantity was a bit higher, the quality had suffered some as well. Most the girls were married not interested in me or visa versa.

However in the land of mathematics is where I met the one girlfriend I ever had. 

She was perfect. And that is all I am going to say about that, or else I will cry. Actually I already am.

After graduating from BYU I decided to take a few classes at Salt Lake Community College (SLCC). I thought I would take some art classes, because you know for sure there would be plenty of women in art classes right? 

Wrong again. I walk around campus and there are beautiful women everywhere, literally everywhere. I try not to drool, but I would not be surprised if I have a few times while zoned out on campus. So I was all excited going to my film class, just waiting to count the girls. None. Literally none. Oh wait there was one, but it was hard to tell if she was a girl or a guy honestly. So yeah, that sucked. 

Politically I hang out close to the Libertarian camp. In case you were wondering, there are about as many female libertarians as there are female American football players. Well actually that might not be a good comparison, there is a female kicker or two that come up every once in a while.

As there is little hope in the political sphere it is finally time for the go to for finding women, religion. This is the standard place to find beautiful women. And it works if you are Mormon. Singles ward are rank with elegant white females. Every time I think about how few dates I went on with Mormon girls it makes me cry. It also makes me cry with how many beautiful women have yet to have their eyes opened, but I digress.

Religion is not on my side either. Mormon men in their twenties leave the church at about double the rate of Mormon women. Basically post-Mormonism is a giant sausage fest with few melons to sweeten things up. 

So I am left, a twenty-six year old virgin, eager to find someone to love, but unable to find. If I can fix this problem, I will let you know, but there are still many more “barriers to entry” to cover. 

Until next time, 

Yours in virginity, 

The Mormon Virgin.

Helping people stay in the Church

For anyone that follows Mormonism, you know that hundreds of people are leaving the church.  It seems as if the tide of people leaving is not slowing, and is in fact growing. Marlin K. Jensen has noted, “Maybe since Kirtland, we never have had a period of, I’ll call it apostasy, like we’re having right now.” 

So what can members do? How can members plug the holes? By many estimates the number of active members is decreasing at a steady rate. Can this be reversed?

As one who has recently left the church, and one who has talked to scores of others who have left, here is a small suggestion to active members of the church who desire to keep members in the fold.

Do not be critical or judgmental if a member joins or shows support for a liberal element of the Mormon Church such as Ordain Woman, Mormon Stories, etc.

Many members don’t feel at home in mainstream Mormonism. This is a fact. Because of political viewpoint or whatever other reason, many members feel isolated. The question is do these people have a place in the church? That is the question many ask themselves regularly.

Often these members go to Sunstone, or post support for Ordain Women on social media, or read D. Michael Quinn not because they hate the church, but rather because they are looking to find a place in the church. They don’t want to leave. They just want to feel comfortable. They want to feel part of the Church they love. 

 Furthermore often it is not these organizations and people that cause them to lose their faith; it is the reaction of their Mormon friends to their involvement in these groups. Many ex-Mormons I have talked to lost their faith not because of Sunstone or Ordain Women, but rather because of hateful and bigoted responses from members of the church. 

One ex-Mormon I know posted support for Ordain Women on her Facebook page, the comments and messages she received were so negative, hateful, and bigoted that she was out of the church within a week. Literally a week.  It wasn’t the Ordain Woman movement that took her out of the church. When she discovered Ordain Women it actually made her feel more at home in the church, feel like she actually had a place. The Ordain Women movement was keeping her in the church. The comments on her involvement are what drove her out. 

Similarly when people read D. Michael Quinn, or go to Sunstone or participate in the Mormon Stories podcast. These are things they seek out to find a place in the church. Often it is Church Members hostile emotions toward these faithful or semi-faithful groups that drive people away, not the groups themselves. 

Basically the take away is love and support anyone who joins a Gay Mormon, Feminist Mormon, or Intellectual Mormon group. If Members do this perhaps the tide of people leaving will be able to be stemmed, if not the Church will become an ever-shrinking group of people with a very limited ideological view.

Gadgets for site

Esteemed readers,
I hope you are doing well. I am trying to figure what gadgets to include on the site. It seems to be a tossup between "Hot models" "phases of the moon in real time" "Horoscopes" and "quotes from twilight's breaking dawn."  So if you have any suggestions let me know!

And make sure to add me to your feed so you don't miss any important updates about my quest to lose my virginity!

Sincerely,
The Mormon Virgin

A little fantasy

Yeah, so this is what it is going to be like my first time, complete with the red sports car, the gorgeous girl, guys in suits chasing us, dancing Bachata, singing in Spanish, and creating a ring of fire with alcohol. This isn't twitter, but #Awesome.

Barriers to entry: Volume 2, femininity

I’m emotional. I admit it. I am convinced that if you were to record my thoughts and line them up with a whole slew of other people’s recorded thoughts and tried to guess which ones were male thoughts and which ones were female, you would put mine squarely in the female category.

I am feminine in many ways. I like to sing and go to plays and musicals and go dancing. I even write poetry and short stories for God’s sake. And though I feign to admit it, I am kind of into fashion and interior design.

But, just to clarify, I took the test and I am a 0 on the Kinsey scale. That is right 100% completely straight. So straight that arrows admire me.

How is this a “barrier to entry?” Because I am acting like a girl. And girls want the man who is a man. I am the “nice guy” who never goes home with anyone.

I am working at changing this and starting to assert my will more. If it works out I may stop writing this blog, but don’t count on it, as I still have many other “barriers to entry.” (stay tuned!)