By James Weber
On September 6, 2014, the body modification industry lost one of its pioneers. After a long battle with cancer, Raelyn Gallina passed away.
In the early days of modern body modification, it was definitely a man’s world. Doug Malloy, Jim Ward, and Fakir are credited as being the “fathers” of the modern piercing movement, but while they were servicing a primarily male clientele, Raelyn was blazing a trail among women, offering piercing, branding, and scarification in the lesbian BDSM community. While Doug, Jim, and Fakir get the lion’s share of the credit for what modern piercing has become since it emerged in the late 70s, Raelyn’s name has often been little more than a footnote—and that’s a shame. (It is called “his-story,” after all.)
While she made her home in California’s Bay Area (the center of the modern body modification resurgence in the U.S. through the late 70s and 80s), Raelyn also had a tremendous impact on early body modification on the East Coast thanks to her travels. In the early 90s, she would see clients and do workshops in and around the Philadelphia, Washington D.C., and Baltimore areas, offering not only piercing, but also branding and scarification. At a time when feminists were leading the movement to politicize the body, she was creating a safe space for lesbians, leatherwomen, butches, femmes, the queer-identified, and even the occasional man. She presided over a women’s space, but welcomed everyone from the local queer communities.
Raelyn battled inflammatory breast cancer over ten years ago, and last May she found herself dealing with a recurrence that affected parts of her brain, bones, mediastinum, and lungs. She finished a course of 25 radiation sessions in June of 2013, and spent the fall and winter recovering. Although that radiation did a good job on many sites, Raelyn was still undergoing radiation treatments. Sadly, she lost that long, final battle.
Her partner of many years, Babs, was requesting help with medical bills, and with Raelyn’s passing, funeral costs have added to this expense. To anyone who is able to give even a small amount: any donation is useful and appreciated. You can send funds through the GoFundMe site (gofundme.com/8z2314), although they do take a percentage of all donations). PayPal donations can be made to the email address 2gardenhens@gmail.com, or checks or money orders can be sent to:
Babs McGary
1271 Washington Ave., #640
San Leandro, CA 94577
Raelyn was a pioneer in piercing, branding, and scarification, and even one of the early organizers of the APP, and without her influence our industry would not be where it is today. The world is poorer for her passing.
