Sonia Johnson

A Mormon Feminist

Christine Talbot

• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Year: 2024
• ISBN:
  9780252047244
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Few figures in the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints provoke such visceral responses as Sonia Johnson. Her unrelenting public support of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) made her the face of LDS feminism while her subsequent excommunication roiled the faith community.

Christine Talbot tells the story of Sonia's historic confrontation with the Church within the context of the faith's first large-scale engagement with the feminist movement. A typical if well-educated Latter-day Saints homemaker, Sonia was moved to action by the all-male LDS leadership's opposition to the ERA and a belief the Church should stay out of politics. Talbot uses the activist's experiences and criticisms to explore the ways Sonia's ideas and situation sparked critical questions about LDS thought, culture, and belief. She also illuminates how Sonia's excommunication shaped LDS feminism, the Church's antagonism to feminist critiques, and the Church itself in the years to come.

A revealing and long-overdue account, Sonia Johnson explores the life, work, and impact of the LDS feminist.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword to the Introductions to Mormon Thought Series
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter One “Patriarchy Is a Sham”: A Short Biography of Sonia Johnson
• Chapter Two “Well, I’m About to Find Out”: Disciplining Mormons, Disciplining Feminism
• Chapter Three “A Compromise with Integrity that It Simply Cannot Afford”: The Gendered Ethics of Revelation, Religion, and Politics
• Chapter Four “The Grossest Misuses of Women’s Religious Convictions”: Gender, Honesty, and Accountability
• Bibliographic Essay
• Notes
• Index
• Back Cover