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Hello from Wonder Media Network. I'm

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Jenny Kaplan and this is Womanica.

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This Pride Month, we're talking about wordsmiths,

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women who used language to create community,

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gave voice to change, and inspired future generations

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to do the same. Today's

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Womaniquin refused to play the cards she'd been

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dealt, both literally and figuratively.

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She didn't let traditional narratives around gender

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and sexuality box her into a way of living

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and writing that was an authentic. Instead,

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she reshuffled the deck and changed the rules

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of the game. Let's

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talk about Rachel Pollock. Rachel

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was born in nineteen forty five in Brooklyn, New

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York, to a middle class Jewish family. Not

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long after, they moved upstate to Poughkeepsie.

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Her father managed a lumberyard and her mother

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was a for terry. As

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a child, Rachel's father would make up stories

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in the car to keep her quiet in the backseat.

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Growing up in the nineteen fifties, Rachel

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loved reading the original Captain Marvel comics

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and diving into the other worldly lives

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of superheroes. She delighted

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in these alternate realities. As

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she grew into her love of stories and writing,

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Rachel earned a degree in English at New York University

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and a master's in English at Claremont Graduate

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University. Then,

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in nineteen seventy one, Rachel published

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her first story, Pandora's Bust.

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That year, nineteen seventy one was

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a big year for Rachel. For

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one, she came out as trans and a lesbian.

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Then she moved to Europe, where she would live

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for nineteen years. While

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abroad, she openly explored womanhood and

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radical feminism. She was known

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for hosting gatherings for trans women to meet

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at her home in London. The

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gay liberation movement was in full swing,

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and Rachel was inspired by the idea of being

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completely open about who she was. In

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nineteen seventy six, she underwent gender

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affirming surgery.

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In the early nineteen seventies, Rachel also

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became very interested in tarot cards.

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What drew her to taro was not the promise

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of fateful predictions, but the moments

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captured on the cards themselves. In

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her own words, the cards originated

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as images, not doctrines or the set

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of meanings we attached to them. This

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allows them to pull together strands and possibilities

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to create stories that are meaningful in people's

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lives. In

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nineteen eighty, Rachel published a book called

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seventy eight Degrees of Wisdom.

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The book explored the history of tarot cards

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since their creation in the fourteen hundreds.

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No traditional taro reading could be rigid in its

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interpretation of gender, Rachel

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reimagined the practice through a feminist

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lens. The book was

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a hit. It became a well regarded

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resource in the tarot reading community, one

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that was much more expansive and inclusive. In

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nineteen eighty eight, Rachel came out with one of her

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best known books, Unquenchable Fire.

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This novel told the story of a divorced woman

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in New York who becomes pregnant with the Messiah.

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In it, Rachel borrows rituals

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and themes from several different religions, weaving

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together an insightful narrative about sexuality,

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spirituality, and society.

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The book won the prestigious Arthur C. Clark

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Award. Rachel

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also made a splash in the world of d C comics.

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In nineteen ninety three, she took over the d C

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comics Doom Patrol series, which

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centers around a team of heroes with strange

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powers who were all considered freaks and Misfits.

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As the writer, she introduced a new character

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named Kate Godwin, the first

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trans lesbian superhero

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in Doom Patrol. Kate's superhero name

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is Coagula. Coagula

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is able to dissolve substances with one hand

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and bring them back together with the other. At

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first, Coagula tries to join the Justice

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League. After being turned away,

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Coagula declares, I suspect

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they liked my powers but couldn't handle me.

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Another panel follows up with the close up of

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a button on her jacket. The

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button says, put a transaxual lesbian

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on the Supreme Court.

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Rachel used Doom Patrol as an opportunity

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to highlight the resilience of trans women and the

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constraints of the gender binary. In

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the series, Coagula is a former computer programmer

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and sex worker. She fights a

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villain named Codpiece, who's ashamed

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of his own sexuality, a

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character symbolizing male insecurity and

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toxic masculinity. Unlike

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Codpeace, Coagular represents someone who's

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overcome shame to embrace her identity.

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Her story is one of acceptance and fluidity

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in the face of stigma and rigidity. Over

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the course of her long and varied career. Rachel

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wrote more than forty books across different genres.

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She covered everything from Greek goddess worship

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and Jewish mysticism to the spiritual

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nature of queerness.

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Her writing continues to be a safe space for

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people to celebrate who they are without shame.

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Rachel died in twenty twenty at the age of seventy

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seven. All

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month, We're talking about wordsmiths. For more information,

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find us on Facebook and Instagram at Wamanica

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Podcast special thanks

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to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co creator.

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Talk to you tomorrow.