Valerie Solanas

[[File:SCUM ad.png|thumb|right|165px|An advertisement for a SCUM performance as it appeared in ''The Village Voice'' in 1967]]
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'''Valerie Solanas''' {{lived|1936|1988}} is considered by some people to have been an influential [[United States|American]] [[lesbian]] [[radical feminism|radical feminist]] who tried to kill the American artist Andy Warhol as the result of a [[Persecution complex|tragic misunderstanding]] on her part about a play she had written.

==Early life==
Solanas was born on April 9, 1936 in [[New Jersey]]. [[Child sexual abuse|Sexually abused]] by her father, and physically [[Child abuse|abused]] by her grandfather, she ultimately became homeless, but graduated with a degree in [[psychology]].{{fact}} Later, she supported herself largely by begging and [[prostitution]].{{fact}}

==The SCUM Manifesto==
{{cquote|Life in this society being, at best, an utter bore and no aspect of society being at all relevant to [[women]], there remains to civic-minded, responsible, thrill-seeking females only to [[Revolution|overthrow the government]], eliminate the [[money]] system, institute complete automation and [[Genocide|destroy the male sex]].<ref name=scum>[http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/shivers/rants/scum.html The Scum Manifesto] by Valerie Solanas</ref>|4= Opening paragraph of the ''SCUM Manifesto''}}

In 1968 Solanas published her ''SCUM Manifesto''.<ref name=scum/> In this text, she described men and women as natural [[Conflict theory|class enemies]], a situation that only violent revolution could resolve.  Unlike most proponents of revolutions of that general type, she recognized and stated boldly that this effort would require a mass slaughter of men, otherwise known as [[Genocide| gendercide]], and setting up an all-female society; her response was, "Bring it on!"<ref name=scum/> Solanas initially objected to the assertion that "SCUM" was an acronym for "Society for Cutting Up Men",<ref>Jansen, Sharon L. (2011). ''Reading Women's Worlds from Christine de Pizan to Doris Lessing: a Guide to Six Centuries of Women Writers Imagining Rooms of Their Own''. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 159-160. ISBN 978-0-230-11066-3.</ref> but later used the phrase in a ''Village Voice'' advertisement.<ref>Fahs, Breanne (2014). ''Valerie Solanas''. The Feminist Press. p. 85. ISBN 9781558618480.</ref>

There was a distinct [[Satire|satiric]] tinge to this text, so it is probably best not to take it too seriously; though she initially called it "dead serious", later in life Solanas claimed the manifesto was not meant to be taken literally.

==Attempted murder of Andy Warhol==
{{cquote|I consider that a [[moral]] act. And I consider it immoral that I missed. I should have done target practice.|||Valerie Solanas, on her assassination attempt on Andy Warhol<ref>"Valerie Solanas replies". ''The Village Voice''. New York, NY. XXII (31): 29. August 1, 1977.</ref><ref>Third, Amanda (2006).'' 'Shooting from the hip': Valerie Solanas, SCUM and the apocalyptic politics of radical feminism''. Hecate. 32 (2): 104–132.</ref>}}
She palled about considerably with Andy Warhol, even getting a bit part in one of his films in 1967. At one point, she gave him the manuscript for a play, engagingly titled "''Up Your Ass''", which she wanted him to stage in his art gallery; but the play was so packed with obscenity that Warhol, in [[Poe's Law]] mode, mistook it for an attempt at entrapment by the police. He also mislaid the manuscript, which was found thirty years later and produced in San Francisco.<ref>[http://www.sfweekly.com/2000-01-19/culture/a-shot-at-the-stage/ A Shot at the Stage: Up Your Ass] by Michael Scott Moore (Jan 19 2000) ''SF Weekly''.</ref>

Solanas, who at that time was launching into a full-blown bout of [[paranoid]] [[schizophrenia]], thus [[Persecution complex|concluded]] that Warhol was actively out to get her. Furthermore, she was a glutton for attention, and when Warhol did not provide her enough, she felt neglected by him. Consequently, on June 3, 1968, Solanas registered her objection to what she later called "too much control" on Warhol's part by shooting him. In the process she also shot art critic {{wpl|Mario Amaya||,}} who happened to be there as well, and then attempted to shoot Warhol's manager but decided to leave when the gun jammed.

The attack crippled Warhol for life, and Solanas was charged with attempted murder. Due to her schizophrenia, she was found not liable for her actions and placed in a psychiatric hospital for three years.

==Later life==

Upon being released from the hospital, she resumed stalking Warhol and was arrested again.{{fact}} Thereafter she drifted in and out of mental institutions until she died of pneumonia in 1988.{{fact}}

==Legacy==

A disturbing number of high-profile feminists have expressed support for Solanas.  The National Organization for Women (NOW) once campaigned for her release from the mental hospital. Ti-Grace Atkinson, the then chapter president of NOW, described her as "the first outstanding champion of women's rights." Shortly after this, Betty Friedan, who elected Atkinson as chapter president, expressed extreme disapproval of the support of Solanas by the organization, and successfully lobbied to have her removed from this position.

Her celebrity lawyer, {{wpl|Florynce Kennedy||,}} said that she was "one of the most important spokeswomen of the feminist movement."  To which we can only reply that it is not exactly good [[PR]] to have violent, criminally insane spokespersons who openly advocate genocide.

Friends of Andy Warhol, on the other hand, understandably took much exception to the way in which she chose to go about promoting her ideas of women's rights. Lou Reed and John Cale wrote a song about Solanas entitled "I Believe", the belief in question being that "something's wrong if she's alive right now."

==See also==

* [[Andrea Dworkin]]

==References==
{{reflist|2|90%}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Solanas, Valerie}}
[[Category:Authors]]
[[Category:Convicted felons]]
[[Category:Political activists]]
[[Category:Feminists]]
[[Category:Sexism]]

Categories: Authors, Convicted felons, Political activists, Feminists, Sexism