SCUM Manifesto

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Cover of the SCUM Manifesto

The SCUM Manifesto (Society for Cutting Up Men Manifesto) is a misandrous tract written in 1968 by Valerie Solanas which advocated a violent anarchic revolution to create an all-female society.

Solanas was indicted for the attempted murder of Andy Warhol on June 28, 1968 (charges of attempted murder, assault, and illegal possession of a firearm). That August, she was declared incompetent to stand trial and was sent to Ward Island Hospital. At her arraignment for the Warhol shootings, she told the crowd of reporters and police: "Read my manifesto and it will tell you who I am."[1]

Later in life, and after serving a prison sentence for reckless assault with intent to cause bodily harm, Solanas tried to distance herself from the manifesto. In a July 25 1977 interview with the Village Voice she claimed it was "Just a literary device . . . women who think a certain way are in SCUM. Men who think a certain way are in the men's auxiliary of SCUM."

Sisterhood is Powerful (a feminist writings collection edited by Robin Morgan) included excerpts of the SCUM Manifesto.

Quotations from the SCUM manifesto

Solanas advocating the elimination of males:

"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."

Assertion that males are inherently inferior to females:

"Retaining the male has not even the dubious purpose of reproduction. The male is a biological accident: the y(male) gene is an incomplete x(female) gene, that is, has an incomplete set of chromosomes. In other words, the male is an incomplete female, a walking abortion, aborted at the gene stage. To be male is to be deficient, emotionally limited; maleness is a deficiency disease and males are emotional cripples."

On the role of the individual in society:

"A true community consists of individuals - not mere species members, not couples - respecting each other's individuality and privacy, at the same time interacting with each other mentally and emotionally - free spirits in free relation to each other and co-operating with each other to achieve common ends. Traditionalists say the basic unit of "society" is the family; "hippies" say the tribe; no-one says the individual."

Describing her vision of a coming revolution:

"SCUM will keep on destroying, looting, fucking-up and killing until the money-work system no longer exists and automation is completely instituted or until enough women co-operate with SCUM to make violence unnecessary to achieve these goals."

"The sick, irrational men, those who attempt to defend themselves against their disgustingness, when they see SCUM barreling down on them, will cling in terror to Big Mama with her Big Bouncy Boobies, but Boobies won't protect them against SCUM; Big Mama will be clinging to Big Daddy, who will be in the corner shitting in his forceful, dynamic pants. Men who are rational, however, won't kick or struggle or raise a distressing fuss, but will just sit back, relax, enjoy the show and ride the waves to their demise."

(Some quotes are from the 1983 reprint, published by the Matriarchy Study Group.)

The manifesto in film

Scum Manifesto is also a 1976 movie written by Valerie Solanas and directed by Carole Roussopoulos and Delphine Seyrig. Warhol later satirized the whole event in a subsequent movie, Women in Revolt, calling a group similar to Solanas' S.C.U.M. , "P.I.G." (Politically Involved Girlies).

Solanas' creative work and relationship with Andy Warhol is depicted in the 1996 film, I Shot Andy Warhol, a significant portion of which relates to the SCUM Manifesto, and Solanas' disputes on notions of authorship with Warhol and second-wave feminists.

The manifesto in literature

The title story of the Michael Blumlein short story collection, The Brains of Rats, employs the Manifesto to illustrate the male protagonist's hatred of himself and his gender.

External link

• The SCUM Manifesto at sbc.edu

See also

• Feminism
• Radical feminism
• Robin Morgan
• Sisterhood is Powerful

References

Solanas, Valerie SCUM Manifesto AK Press, 1996. ISBN 1-873176-44-9