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Home » Joe Rogan Podcast: #2460 w/ Rachel Wilson (Transcript)

Joe Rogan Podcast: #2460 w/ Rachel Wilson (Transcript)

Editor’s Notes: In this episode of the Joe Rogan Experience, Joe sits down with author Rachel Wilson to discuss her provocative book, Occult Feminism: The Secret History of Women’s Liberation, which explores the hidden origins and unintended consequences of the feminist movement. Wilson details how Marxist and occultist influences aimed to dismantle the traditional family unit by pushing women into the workforce under the guise of progress. Together, they examine the paradoxical decline in women’s happiness over the last several decades and the personal experiences that led Wilson to challenge mainstream narratives. It’s an eye-opening deep dive into a side of history rarely discussed in the public sphere. (February 26, 2026) 

TRANSCRIPT:

Rachel Wilson on Growing Up Between Two Worlds

JOE ROGAN: Hello, Rachel. What’s happening?

RACHEL WILSON: Hello, Joe.

JOE ROGAN: Very nice to see you again. So when your husband Andrew came in here, he told me about your book. And then I talked to you, and you seemed very interesting, and you gave me a little brief synopsis of it. And so then I listened to it on audio tape, and it’s fing crazy. It is The Occult, Feminism, the Secret History of Women’s Liberation.*

You know, I didn’t really have much of an opinion on feminism. My opinion was, unfortunately, you run into some feminists that just seemed to not like men for whatever reason. And there’s a lot of people in this world that aren’t happy with their position or station in life. But I didn’t really think too much into how this all got started until I listened to your book, and I’m like, this is kind of bonkers.

So before we get into your book, how did you decide to write about this? What was your journey?

Rachel’s Childhood: A House Divided

RACHEL WILSON: Yeah, it’s kind of a big journey. So when I was growing up, I was in all the advanced kid classes. And from the time I was in kindergarten, it was just pounded into my head like, you’re going to college. You’re going to have a career. You know, you’re smart, and you have to do something with that. It was the only option that was put before me.

And so I followed that path all the way through school. And by the time I got done with 12 years of regular school, I realized a couple things. One is school is not where you go to learn things. Public school is not so great for smart people for the most part. And that I really didn’t like — another four years of school just sounded like hell to me. And I really just wanted to get married and have kids. That’s kind of what I always wanted to do, much to the horror of my Marxist feminist mother, who did not —

JOE ROGAN: Indoctrinated at an early age.

RACHEL WILSON: Well, she tried, but I was the “why” kid. I was the kid that’s just like, why? Why? But why? And I had a Rush Limbaugh dad. They got divorced. Shocker. Who could have seen it coming? So they got divorced when I was like nine. And I grew up in two worlds. I had Republican business owner Rush Limbaugh dad, and I had Marxist feminist crazy mom.

JOE ROGAN: Was the mom always a Marxist feminist? And was the dad always like a Rush Limbaugh Republican?

RACHEL WILSON: Yep.

JOE ROGAN: How did they fall in love? How did all that happen?

RACHEL WILSON: They didn’t. I was an accident.

JOE ROGAN: Oh, so they just fell in lust.

RACHEL WILSON: Yes. I was like an oops baby. And my dad said that when he saw me, he was like, “Well, I don’t want anybody else. This is the only thing that matters to me, so I’m going to make this work.” And he tried his best.

JOE ROGAN: How did they even hook up with such radically different ideologies?

RACHEL WILSON: I don’t think they were talking about that sort of thing when they got together. They were probably hanging out at a bar.

JOE ROGAN: So they didn’t really know each other very well.

RACHEL WILSON: Not really. They were kind of like — they worked in the same place and met at work and then had a fling. And then I was born. Yeah. So I had divorced parents. It was really rough because my mother hated my dad. She could never tell you anything he did wrong.

JOE ROGAN: Yeah.

RACHEL WILSON: It was just like, “He’s an evil white patriarchist. Bad, bad Republican man.” One of my earliest memories is them fighting over the Bush-Dukakis election in ’88, threatening to lock each other in the house so that one couldn’t cancel the other one’s vote. Fun. It was fun.

The Kitty Dukakis Tangent

JOE ROGAN: Was this before or after Kitty Dukakis drank mouthwash? What did she drink? She drank something like that — aftershave or mouthwash to try to get drunk.

RACHEL WILSON: Yeah.

JOE ROGAN: The pressure of the election must have been so insane. And this is pre-social media. This lady was already struggling with alcoholism, and I think she was hospitalized for drinking something that was not a drink. Do you remember that?

RACHEL WILSON: I just remember that whole election being pretty nuts. As far as the Democrats versus Republicans — this was when Democrats were more like how Republicans are right now.

JOE ROGAN: They had him riding in a tank to make everybody think he was a pro-war tough guy. Remember that?

RACHEL WILSON: Yeah, yeah. And I remember “Read my lips, no new taxes” and all that stuff. So I had this going on as a kid. I think my brain was already thinking about this sort of stuff from the time I was little.

JOE ROGAN: Rubbing alcohol. That’s crazy.

RACHEL WILSON: Nail polish remover.

JOE ROGAN: Oh my God. She drank nail polish remover. Holy —

RACHEL WILSON: She couldn’t just huff paint like a normal person.

JOE ROGAN: “Very open about her struggles with alcohol and addiction to amphetamines to reduce the stigma surrounding these issues.