Mar 19 2009
“From Housewife to Heretic” by Sonia Johnson
I picked up From Housewife to Heretic: One Woman’s Struggle for Equal Rights and Her Excommunication from the Mormon Church by Sonia Johnson because it was recommended by quite a few different people as being a great book to read after leaving the LDS Church.
I just finished it, and I have to say, I am on the fence about this book. On one hand, it was an eye-opening book for me because I was born much too late to hear anything about the struggle in the 70’s for the Equal Rights Amendment. By time I was old enough to understand any of that, it wasn’t being talked about on the news anymore, and they certainly weren’t bringing it up in Sacrament Meeting, lol. I had literally never heard the name Sonia Johnson before, so her story (and even the struggle towards ratifying the ERA) was all new to me.
When I was reading From Housewife to Heretic, I was surprised by how many parallels there were between the ERA story and Proposition 8 in California last fall. When I was watching the news this past fall, I was upset and appalled by how much the LDS Church was sticking its nose into politics - a church should not get involved in politics that way, period. And if it does, then it ought to have its nonprofit status taken away from it.
But as upset as I was about Proposition 8, I would have blown my top if I had known that the Church had done it before. The LDS Church did the same thing in the 70’s when it fought against the Equal Rights Amendment, and I am absolutely shocked that as a true-believing member of this church, I was completely ignorant of that fact. How is that possible? How could I attend years and years of meetings and lessons and the temple sessions, and have no clue? How did I miss it?
It’s simple - the Church carried on as if it never happened. Pretty soon, another story takes its place, and the world moves on. The Church moves on. And the new members are left in the dark. This makes me really sad because the idea of the young children being raised in the Church today not having any idea of what the LDS Church did in California when they get older is depressing. We have to fight the same battle as each new generation rises up. Uggh.
So what made me conflicted about the book? Well, I’m not sure I’m going to explain this very well, but I will try. I was bothered by Sonia Johnson’s extremism. That is just me - when I read a book extolling the virtues of the Republicans and talking about how the Democrats are just a hair short of the devil in disguise, I have to roll my eyes and sigh. And when I read a book talking about how Democrats are amazing and how the Republican party is nothing but a bunch of liars and idiots, I have to roll my eyes and sigh.
The truth is usually somewhere in the middle, which is not where Sonia sits in her book.
I am a woman, so when I read page after page after page of how wonderful women are, and how Sonia feels like the sun shines brighter and food tastes better now that she’s found out how wonderful women are, I just have to roll my eyes and sigh. Women are just women. Men are just men. Your sex does not make you wonderful. Your individual actions make you wonderful, whether you are a man or a woman.
Johnson also talked about how she had the whole Western Civilization stolen away from her (art, music, etc) because all of it was done by males, and therefore it isn’t her history after all. Whatever. That makes no sense to me. When someone in England writes, say, a huge seven volume set of fiction about a boy who is a wizard, I can love those books, even though the person who wrote them lives in England (and I live in the US).
Do I love them more because they are from England? No. Do I love them less? No. Do I love them more because they are written by a female? No. Do I love them less? No. I love the books because they are great books. I couldn’t care less if they were written by a two-fingered asexual being who lives in the wilds of the Amazon and only comes out once a year to give the publishing house another book. None of that matters. The books matter.
So to me, Johnson’s stance on womanhood and women and all of that jazz was a little over the top. There were parts that made me go, “Hey, you’re right; I had never thought about that!” - don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that I disagreed with the whole book. There were just parts that made me shake my head and go, “What? What are you talking about?”
I thought it was interesting that when she discusses her marriage with her husband (and how it was that they got divorced right in the middle of her excommunication from the LDS Church) she says something about how wonderful women are, and that it’s too bad that she’s irrevocably heterosexual. When she said that, I thought, “Really? Are you sure?” She was giving off a definite homosexual vibe to me.
Well, when I finished the book this afternoon, I decided to do a little Googling to see what I could come up with. And sure enough, according to Wikipedia, Sonia Johnson is a homosexual. She has a partner who she runs a business with down in New Mexico (Casa Feminista).
I have zero problems with that - I absolutely believe that homosexuals have every right to their lifestyle that I have to mine. I was 110% behind the defeat of Proposition 8 in California, and was disgusted that it was passed. I just thought that it was interesting that she had so strongly given off that vibe to me, and that she wouldn’t have even realized it herself at the time. But this book was written 28 years ago - plenty of time to discover new sides to yourself that you didn’t know before.
While I was reading the Wikipedia article, I found out that Sonia really has jumped off the deep end when it comes to other beliefs, though. She has since decided that the Equal Rights Amendment is wrong, along with a lot of other important laws, because she believes that all laws are wrong.
Yes, you read that right - all laws. She believes that women should leave the United States (and other countries too) and form their own government with no men in it at all. Oh, and that all governments are bad because they are all inherently patriarchal. Therefore, you should separate from the US and form your own government where there are no men.
See what I’m saying about the whole “too out there for me” thing? Sonia was absolutely right when it came to the ERA - the Mormon Church should have NEVER stood in the way of its passing, and certainly should not have excommunicated her for fighting against it. I agree with all of that 100%.
What I don’t agree with is her more extreme viewpoints, and since the book was peppered throughout with that, it made for a difficult read. I am a very fast reader but it took me about a week and a half to finish this book, when it would normally only take me a day or perhaps two to finish a book of this size. But I had to read it in chunks because anything more than that was too much to handle.
Johnson has three sons and I wonder what they think about her extreme views when it comes to males. Aren’t they hurt or upset that their own mother wants to start a country that excludes all males? It’s just so bizarre to me.
All of that to say that I certainly would never recommend this book to someone who is just tentatively questioning the Church because they would walk away with an extremist view of ex-Mormons. But if you have already left the Mormon Church and you are a strong feminist, then I think you’ll really adore this book.
Speaking of, the phrase “feminist” has always bothered me. I have always thought of a feminist as being a female who hates males and thinks that they are not equal to males - that females are better than males. But according to Sonia, a feminist is simply someone who thinks that females and males should be equal. Under that definition, I am most definitely a feminist.
So what is the phrase for someone who thinks that females are better than males (which is Sonia’s viewpoint now)? Certainly there is a phrase for that, right? There’s gotta be. If you know, please leave a comment below - thanks. 
So that was my take on the book. Have any of you read it, and if so, what were your feelings? I’d love to hear about it below. And while we’re speaking of the stories of ex-Mormons, be sure to submit yours via the submission page. Thanks!
Holy crap! That women has some definite issues to work through. I don’t care that she’s gay, but come on! An entire country of only women without a organized government?!?! What the hell are they going to do? Besides, government would naturally form, that’s just human nature….there are followers and leaders. Eventually groups would form under strong leaders, wala! Government. How can you hate men so much, but at the same time have two sons? Does that mean you hate your own children? She’s a a little too extreme for me. You’re right when you said that the truth usually lies somewhere in the middle.
Thanks Chris - I’m glad that I’m not the only who looked at this askance.
About the whole government thing - I should probably clarify that she doesn’t think that the idea of government itself is evil, just that any of the governments that currently exist on the planet are evil.
Since all of those governments were formed by men (she apparently does not give any credit to any women anywhere) they are all inherently patriarchal, which in her mind is evil.
So she wants to start her own country with a government and a country comprised of ONLY women. No men allowed.
So yeah, I have to ask what her sons think about this.
Oh, and another question: Is it possible to take chromosomes of two females and create a baby, or do you need the chromosomes of a male? I heard a long time ago in passing that it was possible to create a baby just from two female eggs but I never followed up on it and that could be 100% wrong. But either way, it’s hard to imagine how long a society would last that realistically cannot reproduce easily (even if they can reproduce with just female chromosomes, the cost has got to be prohibitive, and thus not easily done by everyone in the society).
Men need women; women need men. That’s life. Literally life. Get over yourself, KWIM? Breathe in, breathe out, it’s gonna be okay.
~Lyoness
It’s extreme feminism or feminazi, if they’re way over there on the issue.
What’s interesting to me is that I was baptized in 1976. Even as a teenager, I was already quite the little feminist, feeling that girls had the right to do anything that boys did. I spent my teenaged years right in the heart of the fight for women’s rights.
And yet, I knew nothing about the ERA. I think I might not have joined the Church if I’d found out that they were actively fighting it. Perhaps I didn’t hear about it because I was in Canada and that was a U.S. Amendment.
The only thing I remember was a huge scandal buzzing through the Church when some women in the Tabernacle raised their hands in opposition when we were sustaining the Prophet. They shouted out, “ERA!” and there were reportedly tears in the Prophet’s eyes. But at the time, I remember going, “ERA? What’s that?” wondered why someone would be so stupid as to not sustain the Prophet and then let it go in my mind. I guess I figured that if the Church didn’t support whatever it was, it must be bad.
I didn’t know about Proposition 8 either, until they mentioned it on CNN, right before the election. I went, “What?” as they mentioned the Church, and looked it up on the internet. That’s when I became an ex-Mormon.
When I found out that the Church had actively fought against the rights for blacks and the fight for women’s rights previously, I was stunned and furious, all over again.
The book doesn’t sound like something I’d be interested in. I’m glad you read it and reviewed it, because I might have bought it.
Hey Lyoness!
I enjoyed your review of Sonia’s book, and I will not likely buy it — thanks to you.
As Rainfeather mentioned above, I remember the Sonia Johnson bruha back in the seventies. That little thing that happend in Gen Conference created quite a stir around my little ward.
She is certainly an extremist, but I have to admit that I feel a tremendous amount of empathy for her and other women who fought so hard for equality. Sonia’s cause was a good one, and a lot has changed because of what she and other feminists did.
For instance:
- Until I was in 6th grade, little girls were REQUIRED to wear dresses to school — 1972.
- My own mom could not apply for certain positions in her company because they were considered suitable only for men — mid 70s.
- There were public and private organizations that were allowed to openly prevent women from joing, attending or participating until the mid 70s.
- Girls in my age-groups in jr high and high school were OPENLY steered toward taking classes for girls — mid to late 70s.
I know it sounds crazy that our society would do that, but it’s sexual bigotry that caused and allowed this kind of crap.
Today things are different.
In my opinion, polygamy is a horribly evil practice that subjugated women in a most obscene way. That was certainly an extreme condition, but some day we’ll wonder why anyone could ever believe in a religion that treated one gender as subjects to the other.
NOTE: I am very tired, so this comment is not the most lucid I have ever written. I apologize in advance for that.
Rainfeather, I am under the distinct disadvantage of not seriously paying attention to world events until about the year 2000 or so. Anything that happened before that, I’ve had to learn about it in the past couple of years. I was an oblivious child in a lot of ways, and it’s coming back to bite me in the butt.
So if I had heard the whole commotion in General Conference over the ERA, I would have been right there with you. ERA? What’s that? Oh well, time to go on with my life.
I wouldn’t have known either.
I feel like there’s so much more I still need to learn. I guess that’s why I am constantly reading.
I should say that Sonia Johnson was not overtly against all males in her book. This is a long time ago, and in the book she is very pro-Church (she talks a lot about how much she believes the Church is true, which made it harder for me to read, since I obviously believe the Church is one big pile of crap) and she also doesn’t have her extreme “Let’s secede from the US” point of view yet. All of that has happened since she left the Church and wrote the book.
But even so, in the book she tends to still be pretty extreme, at least from my viewpoint. She just spends SO MUCH of the book talking about how horribly men have treated women, and how wonderful women are, and how she doesn’t trust any men anymore…it’s like one giant speech against all men everywhere. *sigh* But at the same time, she says things like I’m not against men; I don’t hate men; etc. It’s kind of confusing, actually.
Jim, my mom told me that she had to wear a dress for all of her school years, and I always thought, “Yeah right. How could they honestly expect all girls to wear dresses 100% of the time?” But they really did. ???
I think that’s why I wasn’t necessarily the best person to review this book, and I probably shouldn’t have stuck my nose where it doesn’t belong. I was raised in a world without those prejudices. I was lucky enough to benefit from the hard work that Sonia did.
I am in no way saying that I am not grateful for what she and others did, because if it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be living the privileged life that I am. If there was a God(s), I’d be thanking ‘em for the life I’ve been blessed to have, and much of that has come about because others before me have had the guts to fight the system.
I think it’s interesting that you brought up polygamy. If there is anything that says sexism to me, it’s the idea that one man is worth 10 women (or more!) Everything in me screams that is wrong, and even when I was a true believing Mormon, I shied away from polygamy as much as possible. I didn’t think about it, I didn’t contemplate it - in my mind, it almost didn’t exist.
Once I did start looking at it more and found out what actually happened with Joseph Smith and all of his many wives, that was one of the biggest strikes against the LDS Church and one of the reasons that I told my mother was NEVER going back. No how, no way. Polygamy is evil, the end.
Michelle, I am right there with you. If believing that men and women should be treated equally makes you a radical feminist, then that’s what I am - a radical feminist. I don’t really see how this is radical, but instead is just the way it ought to be, though.
My father was in the military for 20 years, so believe me when I say that I was not raised the same as my brothers - some of the differences were in my favor, and some were not, but there was definitely a difference.
But just because my father believes one way doesn’t mean that I think the same as him. There has always been a part of my heart and mind that simply said, “Men are better than women? Screw that.” I may have believed the Church was true with all of my heart, but I also always believed that men and women were on equal footing.
Oh, one thing I forgot to mention above - how much Sonia skips around in this book. Was anyone else confused by that? I had a hard time keeping track of where we were at, time-wise. She started at the beginning of the book towards the end of the story, and then she jumped back in time and then forwards and then backwards and then forwards…I was not impressed with that either.
I did like how much the book opened my eyes to certain patriarchal attitudes that I hadn’t noticed before. There are certainly a lot of things to recommend this book. But there are also a lot of things that go against the book. I guess it would be a good one to check out of the library (like I did) and read it and decide for yourself if you liked it or not.
~Lyoness
I didn’t wear pants to school until I was in Highschool, when we could wear jeans. I just used to wear shorts under my skirts, because boys liked to lift up our skirts. And then cullots came out. They were sort of like shorts, but so wide that they looked like a skirt. You really couldn’t tell the difference.
In the winter time, we used to wear long pants under our skirts or dresses, and then once we got to school, we’d take off the pants and hang them up with our coats. I didn’t wear any pantyhose until I was 12. Before that, we all wore leotards. I hated those things. LOL
Now that I’m out of church, I only ever wear a dress to maybe a wedding or a funeral.
Lyoness,
I read a fascinating book, “Leaving the Saints,” by Martha Beck. (I would guess you are familiar with it but I only just ran across this website and have not poked around to see the various topics on which you have written. If you have not already read it I highly recommend it).
Martha Beck was on the faculty at BYU in the early 1990’s (as was I, though I was in a different department and do not personally know her). In her book she reports that she once went to the BYU library to do some research and was looking for information about Sonia Johnson. What she found was that every published reference to Sonia Johnson (of which there had certainly been many: newspapers, magazines, books) had been removed from that library. Somebody went to great lengths to make sure that one could find nothing related to Sonia Johnson. That just seems to be how things are done in the Mormon church. It is no wonder you had never heard of Sonia Johnson when you were younger.