The copy that I have includes an introduction by Michelle Tea about her own experience with SCUM Manifesto. As she put it, “women who think a certain way are SCUM, men who think a certain way are in the men’s auxiliary of SCUM.” It makes sense that she would have strong negative feelings towards men, which also makes the book a cathartic read for like-minded folks.
As an adult she financially supported herself by having sex for money, and trying to sell her art: SCUM Manifesto.
Earlier in her life she was abused by both her father and grandfather. She lived mostly in solitude until she died broke and alone, having emphysema and pneumonia in a welfare hotel at age 52. Solanas was not respected amongst her feminist peers, and was mostly unheard of until she shot, and nearly killed, Andy Warhol in 1968.Ī lot of her backstory is tragic and complicated. In 1977 when Village Voice wrote that she was not a lesbian, she said, “I consider the part where you said, ‘she’s not a lesbian’ to be seriously libel.” Solanas was college-educated but filled her writing with a lot of crassness which isolated her from academia and made her more in line with artists and proto punks. Valerie was known to be a butch lesbian, often wearing baggy masculine clothing, cursing, and smoking. All of the following information I gathered from SCUM Manifesto, its introduction, and the film I Shot Andy Warhol which was based on her life (and definitely worth watching for anyone interested in knowing more). In doing research about her, a lot of what I found wrote her off as “crazy” or “insane,” and while there may be truth to her suffering from mental illness, there were reasons behind what she did that are worth examining. Valerie Solanas is most well known as “the woman who shot Andy Warhol.” But as with all underrated women, there is a lot more worth knowing about her than her relationships with, and to, men. In any case, it is part of the feminist canon and deserves a worthwhile, albeit critical, read.
I have since recommended it to many of my friends but I always preface it by explaining that parts of it are very outdated while other parts are still extremely revelatory. From one page to the next I found it shocking, relatable, freeing, cringe-worthy, and healing. I did not know a lot about it but I read the text (as shown above) and felt instantly understood. I first bought a copy of SCUM Manifesto at Wooden Shoe, the anarchist bookstore in Philadelphia in 2013.
0 kommentar(er)
