Don’t Call Me Mister
Doing some research on Rachel Pollack, I found this article, “Don’t Call Me Mister You Fucking Beast”, a piece written by the Transvestite, Transsexual and Drag Queen group of the GLF at some point in 1972. It was transcribed to hypertext from Come Together – The Years of Liberation 1970-1973 by Autumn. According to Morgan Page, the authors include Rachel Pollack and Roz Kaveney. The site notes: “No copyright claimed on any of the transcriptions uploaded here. Please enclose transcription credits and remarks where possible. This is a community effort. IP is bullshit.”
Before you get upset about the language in the article, remember this was written in 1972, with the vocabulary available at the time.
What leapt out at me:
“Certainly one thing becomes more and more clear as we come together; pass or not pass, we can’t let anybody tell us what we are. One sister said that after six months of psychiatric treatment she discovered that no one knew her like herself. We can’t let anybody tell us we’re men, when we know we’re women. As Holly Woodlawn once said in New York, ‘Don’t call me mister, you fucking beast!'”
I can hear Rachel reading these words out loud, proudly, calmly, and fiercely.
Thank you, Rachel, for inspiring people everywhere to be their authentic and best selves.
