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maddslib 's review for:
SCUM Manifesto
by Valerie Solanas
fast-paced
A little satirical bioessentialism, just as a treat…
Quick read that I totally loved. Whether you think it’s the ramblings of a psychotic lesbian or the inspired word of a visionary too ahead of her time, SCUM manifesto is definitely an interesting experience. My takeaway is that it’s a little bit of both. Very interesting to get into this woman’s head. As someone very trans-affirming in my feminism, the reduction of gender as very binary and the discussion of chromosomes is a little eye-roll inducing in 2025, but it’s a time capsule written by a woman taking very astute societal observations and bringing them to the most extreme conclusions and solutions possible.
Something I found really incredible is the way I identified with her observations of the male-female gender flipping/projection. Through my adolescence, I always felt confused by traditional gender roles, as I wasn’t raised in a misogynistic household with strict gender ideals (or the Daddy figure who would have imparted them onto me, according to Solanas). As a child, I based my beliefs about the differences between boys and girls on my peers, and came out of it with an almost inverted perspective on men and women at an early age that has stuck with me. My stereotypical ideals were that women are strong, intelligent, and successful, while men are typically passive, insecure losers. This reading weirdly validated my childhood experience and subsequent conundrum when contending with what traditional gender stereotypes actually are later in life.
All in all, strange little text by a fascinating Butch. I derive the most enjoyment by looking at it as weirdly prescient satire by an early queer figure than as the actual manifesto of a mentally ill woman.
Quick read that I totally loved. Whether you think it’s the ramblings of a psychotic lesbian or the inspired word of a visionary too ahead of her time, SCUM manifesto is definitely an interesting experience. My takeaway is that it’s a little bit of both. Very interesting to get into this woman’s head. As someone very trans-affirming in my feminism, the reduction of gender as very binary and the discussion of chromosomes is a little eye-roll inducing in 2025, but it’s a time capsule written by a woman taking very astute societal observations and bringing them to the most extreme conclusions and solutions possible.
Something I found really incredible is the way I identified with her observations of the male-female gender flipping/projection. Through my adolescence, I always felt confused by traditional gender roles, as I wasn’t raised in a misogynistic household with strict gender ideals (or the Daddy figure who would have imparted them onto me, according to Solanas). As a child, I based my beliefs about the differences between boys and girls on my peers, and came out of it with an almost inverted perspective on men and women at an early age that has stuck with me. My stereotypical ideals were that women are strong, intelligent, and successful, while men are typically passive, insecure losers. This reading weirdly validated my childhood experience and subsequent conundrum when contending with what traditional gender stereotypes actually are later in life.
All in all, strange little text by a fascinating Butch. I derive the most enjoyment by looking at it as weirdly prescient satire by an early queer figure than as the actual manifesto of a mentally ill woman.