Scan barcode
A review by laurenandrikanich
Scum Manifesto by Valerie Solanas
dark
funny
medium-paced
3.75
i forget exactly who wrote the forward in the copy i read, but she spoke a lot about her own sexual abuse / time spent doing sex work in comparison to solanas’s experiences. she found a dark companionship in the somewhat parallel lives the two of them lead. i’ll update with her name when i can find my copy.
i think this work could be used to support some TERF-y rhetoric (though it doesn’t seem like that was solanas’s intention), but it also holds space for those who are simply angry at men, at the systems they’ve created. my personal interpretation of men not being able to “de-man” themselves in a way that serves solanas’s utopia the way non-men do is that even men’s best attempts at supporting us through the dismantling of our rights doesn’t always feel fulfilling — solanas suggests male allies serve as lesser, duller counterparts. whether she meant her manifesto to be satirical or not, the feeling of that statement rings true: cis men don’t have as much of a stake in the matter, and sometimes their help can feel disingenuous. TERFs using this ideology to discuss trans identities completely miss the point. it is impossible for a cis man to “de-man” themselves to fully understand solanas and her contemporaries because they will continue to exist as a man under a patriarchal society. they cannot get rid of their privileges, even while fighting against the system that benefits them. that’s why their activism isn’t as shiny or important to solanas. it comes with minimal cost. as for trans women / gender non-conforming ppl, no one can deny the discrimination they face based on gender, which is the entire thesis of solanas’s manifesto, where she creates a utopia— albeit, one based on anger— FOR those oppressed based on gender. why would that not include trans / non-binary ppl?
rant over, but this book was incredibly hard for me to get through, so i would recommend annotating. it was funny, but so, so repetitive, and sometimes contradictory. it was very stream-of-conscious, but not in a polished way. i bought it bc i heard she shot andy warhol. i think it’s worth the read solely bc valerie solanas was a very interesting person and it’s easy to identify with her anger.
i think this work could be used to support some TERF-y rhetoric (though it doesn’t seem like that was solanas’s intention), but it also holds space for those who are simply angry at men, at the systems they’ve created. my personal interpretation of men not being able to “de-man” themselves in a way that serves solanas’s utopia the way non-men do is that even men’s best attempts at supporting us through the dismantling of our rights doesn’t always feel fulfilling — solanas suggests male allies serve as lesser, duller counterparts. whether she meant her manifesto to be satirical or not, the feeling of that statement rings true: cis men don’t have as much of a stake in the matter, and sometimes their help can feel disingenuous. TERFs using this ideology to discuss trans identities completely miss the point. it is impossible for a cis man to “de-man” themselves to fully understand solanas and her contemporaries because they will continue to exist as a man under a patriarchal society. they cannot get rid of their privileges, even while fighting against the system that benefits them. that’s why their activism isn’t as shiny or important to solanas. it comes with minimal cost. as for trans women / gender non-conforming ppl, no one can deny the discrimination they face based on gender, which is the entire thesis of solanas’s manifesto, where she creates a utopia— albeit, one based on anger— FOR those oppressed based on gender. why would that not include trans / non-binary ppl?
rant over, but this book was incredibly hard for me to get through, so i would recommend annotating. it was funny, but so, so repetitive, and sometimes contradictory. it was very stream-of-conscious, but not in a polished way. i bought it bc i heard she shot andy warhol. i think it’s worth the read solely bc valerie solanas was a very interesting person and it’s easy to identify with her anger.