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"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 overthrow the government, eliminate the money system, institute complete automation and destroy the male sex."—Valerie Solanas
The definitive edition of probably the finest polemic in the world. It contains a new afterword detailing the life and death of Valerie Solanas.
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Reading through the SCUM MANIFESTO, it's fairly evident that Solanas was determined to hate Man, at a cost of all common sense. Her ideas are stupefyingly ridiculous - the sort you'd expect from a mind literally curdling in rage - and though I won't ruin any surprises for those who've yet to read, believe me when I say you simply can't help but laugh at her many of her anti-man assertions. Even so, throughout it all, her keen-edged fury is almost palpable and literally wafts off the pages in a pungent rush of angry words and ideas, distinct evidence of her talent as a writer. And yet, the innate foolishness of it all is inescapable. Try as you might to see this as work of high satire, Solanas meant this as God's Own Truth, a call to arms for her fellow feminists. That one fact makes completion of the SCUM MANIFESTO a bittersweet thing indeed, leaving the reader with a distinctly bad taste in his or her mouth, and pity for the poor, furious woman who wrote this angry little pamphlet.
How sad.
An interesting thing to consider is: how would it be if the genders were reversed and we had instead (and this is, I think, where I have to choose my words carefully) and man who proposed to eliminate women from the earth, and then gave reasons why. I console myself by thinking that this manifesto would still be funny and absurd and disturbing and thought provoking.
I have never got much into the whole anarchy thing before, but I think that it's interesting and intelligent to consider it, and especially to clarify why you might be against such a path of action.
This pamphlet describes what Valerie Solanos believes in. I do not question her sincerity, given her history. I must say, when I consider the world that she must have perceived from her position and her experiences; then it is possible to see why an intelligent and brave woman could reach such conclusions (although I heartily disagree with them of course). I strongly recommend this book, because it's very much outside the normal way of writing and thinking.
... Read more ›This book is witty, bitter and an enjoyable read, but I view it in the same way as I'd view a racist, homophobic or xenophobic text - I realise that it's the product of a disturbed mind. Her life of prostitution and being abused by men explains her bitterness towards them, but it's no excuse for her violent hatred towards the entire male gender. As many reviewers have pointed out, if the roles had been reversed (a man writing about killing all women) it would never have been published, and would be considered extremely sexist: why should it be any different for a female author?
For the said supporters who seem to understand nothing of her politics: Sure, it's full of good quotes to use when your boyfriend's being an [jerk], but you can't seriously support her idea of a perfect world (devoid of all men) Not only are her theories blatantly discriminative, violent, intolerant and (what I consider to be) antifeministic; he idea of a perfect world just isn't practical.
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