Castrating Superman: Rachel Pollack’s Transgender Mutant Cyborg Superhero in Doom Patrol

Castrating Superman: Rachel Pollack’s Transgender Mutant Cyborg Superhero in Doom Patrol

This essay argues that in her run on the serial DC comic Doom Patrol Rachel Pollack, transgender activist and science-fiction author, seizes on the figure of the mutant superhero to explore an affirmative account of transgender subjectivity. Pollack’s depiction of Coagula, one of the few transgender...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Modern fiction studies 2021-12, Vol.67 (4), p.714-737
Main Author: Nagy, Peter
Format: Article
Language:eng
Subjects:
Aesthetics
Allegory
Anthropomorphism
Apathy
Authenticity
Authorship
Biographies
Embodiment
Epic literature
Feminism
Gays & lesbians
Heroism & heroes
Intersectionality
LGBTQ people
Literary devices
Misogyny
Non-binary gender
Publishing
Publishing industry
Readers
Science fiction & fantasy
Sexuality
Subjectivity
Superheroes
Transgender persons
Writers
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Summary:This essay argues that in her run on the serial DC comic Doom Patrol Rachel Pollack, transgender activist and science-fiction author, seizes on the figure of the mutant superhero to explore an affirmative account of transgender subjectivity. Pollack’s depiction of Coagula, one of the few transgender women to appear in mainstream comics, responds to concurrently emergent discourses about trans subjectivity, specifically the anti-identitarian formulations of gender, sexuality, and embodiment through which modern transgender studies countered the essentialist roots of antitrans feminism and began to radicalize understandings of gender subjectivity.
ISSN:0026-7724
1080-658X
1080-658X