Breaking the Patriarchal Grip:

an argument for governance equality through sacred disobedience

Sonia Johnson, LDS Feminism Activist

By Brad Carmack
First drafted in May, 2012

Table of Contents
Breaking the Patriarchal Grip: ....................................................................................................................... 1
an argument for governance equality through sacred disobedience ............................................................. 1
Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 4
Part I: Gendered Theology ............................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.

The Problem ........................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Sexism in Zion ............................................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
The Closed Door Problem .......................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
You can buy anything in this world with assumptions .......................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Boy or Girl? ................................................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
We decide a persons spiritual sex based on appearance ..................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Harm to the dignity interest of women ................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Conclusion .............................................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.

2.

A Philosophy of Anatomy, Mingled with Scripture ................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Why all the dog whistles? ...................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Putting our trust in the arm of flesh .......................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Stop hiring astrologists to manage your theology!.................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
We can still identify as male or female .................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Legal astrologists.................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Politics at the COB .................................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
A plug for gender freedom..................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
A plug for marriage equality .................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Annotations............................................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Political neutrality ...................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
ERA ......................................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
GAA ........................................................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
GAA and the English Language Lobby ........................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
We are all intergender; we are all intersex ............................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Sex v. gender .......................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
We are all intersex ................................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Sex and gender are spectral, not binary ................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Gender performance ............................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
The curse of Cain .................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Mormons strange bedfellow: why the obsession with genitals? ......... Error! Bookmark not defined.
1

Why only one appearance-based spiritual judgment? .......................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Keeping tabs on the losers ..................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Post-hoc justificaturbating ..................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Never confuse certainty for proof ......................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Conclusion .................................................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.

LDS, Inc. .................................................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.

Corporate succession ................................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.

Part II: On Activism......................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

4.

Towards LDS Feminism .......................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Rebuttals to Common Anti Equality Arguments ........................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Women make great bishops .................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Why are we behind the curve? .............................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Some more iniquities inequities ............................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Get mad already! ................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Lessons from Bottgate ............................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Future PR Department Statement: We Arent Sexist Anymore............. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Further light ............................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Conclusion .............................................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.

5.

Why Sacred Disobedience? .................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Can we still have Relief Society though? ............................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
The rising generation ............................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Authority- its all in your head ............................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Media = power ....................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Try something different ......................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Tactics analysis: sacred disobedience and direct action ........................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Death by a thousand cuts ...................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Just be patient ........................................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Think in decades..................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Direct action and Satyagraha ................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Nows the time ....................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Conclusion .................................................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.

6.

Why 2012 is the year to act, plus some tangible activism proposals .... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Ordaining women .................................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Suggested acts ....................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Why not stick with soft tactics? .......................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
2

Prepare for the consequences ............................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

7.

Why I Believe ......................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Why I care about this issue .................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Why I stay............................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Willing to bear one anothers burdens .................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Activism Rsum .................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Appendix A: Sex Determination ..................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Sex Determination ..................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Epigenetics ............................................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Appendix B: Female Ordination Debate ........................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
In opposition to female ordination: ........................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
In support of female ordination:................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.

Introduction
On December 1, 1955, a woman boarded a bus after her workday at the department store. The woman was 42 years
old, and the bus, #2857, was just a normal city bus that normally brought workers to and from their normal jobs in a
normal city. The normal bus was driven by a normal man with a normal name: James Blake. The woman boarded at a
normal time, about 6 pm on a normal Thursday, paid her normal fare, and did a very normal thing: she sat down in an
empty seat. Part way through the ride, she moved to the window seat. That was all very normal: until she got arrested.

Rosa Louise McCauley Parks boarded bus #2857 as a normal passenger, and disembarked a heroine of the civil rights
movement. Her city of Montgomery had passed an ordinance half a century earlier empowering conductors to enforce
racial segregation by assigning seats. Usually the first four rows were reserved for white people, and black passengers
could sit in the middle rows until the white section was full- then they had to stand, move to the rear, or get off. A
simple, movable "colored section" sign could be moved based on the passenger profile. On December 1, the bus filled
up, and a few white men were left standing. In harmony with custom, long-time bus driver James Blake moved the sign
back one row- the row where Rosa Parks and three other black people sat. James said, "Y'all better make it light on
yourselves and let me have those seats." Three immediately complied. Rosa did not. The rest, as they say, is history.

And it is that "the rest" upon which I will focus in this work. Rosa's act accelerated the progress of the civil rights
movement. Analogizing to her act of disobedience, I will argue that consensus objectives of the Mormon feminist
movement (such as governance equality) will be realized earlier if more LDS feminists perform meaningful acts of
sacred disobedience1.

I borrow the term sacred disobedience from Lorie Winder Stromberg

Structure
Part I: Gendered Theology contains three chapters. Chapter 1 will discuss the problem of governance inequality;
Chapter 2 LDS reliance on the gender binary; and Chapter 3, why I use the term, LDS Inc.
Then I begin Part II: On Activism. In Chapter 4, I discuss evidences of sexism in the LDS tradition and argue for
governance equality. Chapter 5 illustrates why sacred disobedience is important and effective. In Chapter 6 I suggest
specific activism campaigns. Chapter 7 contains my heterodox testimony, Appendix A a primer on sex determination,
and Appendix B an extended debate about ordaining women.