Going Out of Our Minds: The Metaphysics of Liberation

Women's Studies, Politics, Spirituality

The Citizensstet Party candidate for president in 1984, Johnson here discusses the path that took her from Mormon housewife to outspoken proponent of radical feminism. After being excommunicated from the Mormon church in 1977 for supporting the Equal Rights Amendment, she became increasingly involved in the women's movement (to the extent of participating in a 38-day fast with seven other women in Illinois while state legislators considered and rejected the ERA). After that and other failures, Johnson renounced working within the system and came to believe that women must be "out of their minds" and should work outside the "patriarchy" to effect societal change. To bolster her case, Johnson provides evidence of what she considers men's crimes against women over the past 5000 years. Although her writing is repetitious, Johnson raises trenchant points about contemporary society and the directions it might take. Women fond of men will find her strict lesbian viewpoint a bit excessive.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.