Sonia Johnson: A Mormon Feminist by Christine Talbot is a provocative and insightful entry in University of Illinois Press’s Introductions to Mormon Thought series.
The subject of this biographic monograph—Sonia Johnson—was and is an individual who inspires strong reactions and many different emotions among Latter-day Saints, and any biography of her is likely to evoke those same reactions. Sonia was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who came to believe that patriarchy was a sham and advocated for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in the United States in the 1970s and early 1980s. That advocacy came into conflict with the Church, which, under Spencer W. Kimball’s direction, opposed the ERA and organized its members in efforts to fight ratification in states across the country. Sonia believed that some of the tactics the Church used to do so were underhanded or dishonest and went to the press to expose these, much to the chagrin of Church leaders. As a result of some of her activities and statements, Sonia was excommunicated in 1979. Given her high-profile status, this not only affected Sonia, but had a chilling effect on Latter-day Saint feminists and signaled that they were not welcome in the Church (much as the excommunication of the September Six or Kate Kelly would do later on).
Unlike other entries in the series, this one is unique in that the subject is still alive. Thus, Christine Talbot not only had access to primary documents and secondary sources, but also the subject herself. The book follows the standard format for the series of an introductory chapter that offers a brief biographical sketch, three body chapters that focus on major themes in the figure’s thought (in this case, chapters on disciplining Mormon feminists; the gendered ethics of revelation, religion, and politics; and gender, honesty and accountability), and a short concluding chapter that provides a reader’s guide or a bibliographic essay that introduces readers to the figure’s most important works. In doing so, it provides a very accessible introduction to a key figure in 20th century Latter-day Saint history.
Given the historical nature of Sonia’s impact on Latter-day Saint thought, Sonia Johnson: A Mormon Feminist shares some common content with other books dealing with Latter-day Saint feminism, Church discipline and boundary maintenance, and 20th century Latter-day Saint history. For example, The September Six and the Struggle for the Soul of Mormonism by Sara M. Patterson shares some discussion of the ways in which Sonia Johnson’s excommunication highlighted some boundary maintenance processes employed by Church leaders and how those have continued in examples, like the September Six. Ben Park’s American Zion covered Sonia Johnson’s excommunication as an aspect of 20th century Latter-day Saint history and the struggle over the position of women in the Church. And the anthology Mormon Feminism: Essential Writings, edited by Joanna Brooks, Rachel Hunt Steenblik, and Hannah Wheelwright offers some coverage of the life of Sonia Johnson and includes a few key essays that she wrote as an introduction to her thought and its impact on Latter-day Saint feminism. By virtue of its exclusive focus on Sonia, Sonia Johnson: A Mormon Feminist is able to dive deeper into the her life and thought than these other books, but it does share some of the same content.
As I mentioned up front, Sonia Johnson is an individual who inspires strong reactions and many different emotions among Latter-day Saints. I view myself as a moderate feminist and I felt a range of emotions as I engaged with this book. I felt frustration over the Church’s anti-ERA and anti-feminist position that it staked out at that time and the ways in which that position was enforced (including the questionable methods behind the excommunication of Sonia). At the same time, I also felt repelled by some of the more radical positions that Sonia staked out in response. Such reactions, however, can be seen as a testament to Christine Talbot’s well-researched and well-written work in capturing Sonia’s life and thought in this excellent, if at times disturbing, book.
For more of my reviews and copost about entries in the University of Illinois Press’s Introductions to Mormon Thought series, see the following:
The inclusion of a “brief biological sketch” probably precludes orthodox members from buying this book.
Yeah, typo. I’ll fix it.
I think it was Sonia’s outspoken condemnation of the brethren–more than anything else–that led to her excommunication.
So how did her post LDS life turn out?
Jack, that was a lot of it, but still lends itself to an oversimplification of the issues.
RL, it’s had ups and downs, as most lives do. She advocated for the ERA until it officially failed, got divorced from her husband, and ran for president on a group of third-party tickets in 1984. Afterwards, she focused her efforts on institutions that existed to help women, like Casa Feminista, a hotel catering to feminist women. She’s had a few long-term lesbian relationships as well.
Cool, thanks for the update.
I just finished this book and strongly recommend it as an examination of the issues and practices of Sonia and Mormon supporters of the ERA and the church itself. It is so much more than a biographical entry.
I’ve read many church histories where Sonia Johnson was a peripheral figure, and I also sometimes qualifiedly lament that we stood up the ERA as much as we did. But after this post I went to look at the Wikipedia article on Johnson and…wow. The rest of her life was pretty chaotic, bordering on outright strange. She married a woman, apparently not because she was a lesbian or otherwise attracted to women, but because men are horrible. She preached that all sexual relationships between men and women are equivalent to “slave ships” and thereafter started her own female-only commune. She preached that anyone supporting American democracy was the equivalent of the mentality of a battered wife since patriarchy is baked right in. And she wrote that “as long as men were on the planet, neither peace nor justice would ever be possible.”
Anyway, I need to read the book, it seems. Serious question for Chad: is this an accurate representation of her post-Mormon life? And if so, does it color your view of her earlier crusade against the church’s ERA position? Sometimes humans will dismiss well-placed criticisms by claiming that the messenger is a little radical or nuts (ad hominem), or erroneously claim that there’s a slippery slope the messenger wants to push us down with this current moderate change. But in this case, it turned out she probably fit that bill. Can you separate the messenger from the message?
You always can separate the message from the messenger to some degree, especially when looking at results. I believe that Sonia’s work did push the Church to be more conscious and cautious about involvement in politics, raised awareness of ongoing discussions about feminism that have born limited fruit over time (especially in recent years), etc. I am grateful for those changes and progress.
Yes, she was far more extreme in her views about patriarchy than most people and those views and her experiences earlier led her down some interesting paths that I would not be interested in following. But that doesn’t mean that her views are completely without merit or that anyone who critiques patriarchy is going to go down the same path.
It was around 1991 that a Santa Fe alt weekly paper did a cover story on Sonia Johnson after she had moved to New Mexico. (Two separate people who saw it on a table in my apartment at first thought they were looking at a photo of Paul McCartney.) The memorable take aways from her interview were: 1) Lesbianism is worse than heterosexual intercourse because there are TWO victims. 2) She rejected being her children’s mother. I wonder if her children have since restored a relationship with her.
Going back to the Washington Post articles from ’79, ’80, and ’85, it was curious to note some similarities with a more recent person also insanely in love with the sound of her own voice, and considering how much of a performed put-on the Kate Kelly Experience was, more than coincidence may have been at play.