Talk:Sonia Johnson
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I reverted Johnson a change by User:Davefl79 in which he changed the phrase, "later became a lesbian" to "later came out as a lesbian." The phrase "came out" implies that she was a closeted lesbian all along who "came out of the closet." This is certainly the experience of many lesbians, but in Sonia Johnson's case, she was an active heterosexual for decades. Her writings and public statements prior to becoming lesbian made it clear that she self-identified as heterosexual and felt attracted to men. I happened to know Sonia during this period, and in our personal conversations she was rather emphatic about saying that she saw nothing wrong with lesbianism but didn't happen to feel attracted to women. Obviously, that changed, but it doesn't mean that she was a lesbian from birth, so this article shouldn't impose that interpretation on the facts. --Sheldon Rampton 18:42, 2 August 2006 (UTC)
I removed links to "universities" and the "English language" as they seemed a little excessive. There are some serious problems with the paragraph dealing with Sonia's divorce, particularly with the unsourced statements allegedly coming from her ex-husband's home teacher. I am also troubled by the changes Sheldon refers to--in my experience, people do not start out heterosexual and become homosexual--but I'm not in a position to back that up. There probably ought to be a parenthetical note, end-note, or reference on that sentence. I'm not an expert editor and I don't know how best to address these problems.
Naptastic 04:54, 8 February 2007 (UTC)
- I don't know that the article itself needs a footnote to support this small difference in wording. (The entire difference here is between the word "became" vs. the phrase "came out as.") However, if documentation is needed to support this point, Sonia's own autobiography, From Housewife to Heretic, states on page 16 that until her 1978 divorce from Rick Johnson, she regarded their 20-year marriage (which produced four children) as "one of the best I knew." Later, on page 224, she describes an argument with Rick over his decision to end their marriage:
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- "It's all right for you," I cried. "The minute the going gets rough, there are always some woman's warm arms to shelter you. But what about me? ... What man would dare come all the way with me, care about me and the future of love between men and women enough to give up the patriarchal promises of the good life? ... What man is going to come with me out onto the frontiers of the known social world to pioneer what it means for men and women to be peers, what it truly means to be partners, colleagues, friends, lovers?"[1]
- From Housewife to Heretic was written after Sonia Johnson's excommunication and before her public declaration that she was a lesbian. It amply documents that she lived until her mid-40s as a heterosexual and considered herself one even after she had become a vocal feminist. The passage above shows that even amid the bitterness of her divorce, she continued to want (and lament the perceived unavailability of) a man to be her "partner, colleague, friend and lover."
- It's possible, of course, to interpret her statements from this period as deluded thinking from a woman who was "naturally" lesbian but still so thoroughly indoctrinated in the norms of her patriarchal, homosexuality-hating religion that she was not yet able to face her own true nature. (Perhaps Sonia herself would apply that interpretation today.) However, that's only one possible interpretation of the facts, and to impose it on this article would be POV.
- --Sheldon Rampton 06:36, 8 February 2007 (UTC)
- ^ Sonia Johnson, From Housewife to Heretic: One Woman's Struggle for Equal Rights and Her Excommunication from the Mormon Church (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co., 1981).
