The SCUM Manifesto by Valerie Solanas

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Ideological Aspect
Language
Significance
Conclusion
Reference

Introduction

The SCUM Manifesto is a work that reflects the theory of the representative of the radical feminism movement. Based on gender differences and inequality, the author of the Manifesto, Valerie Solanas, represents a unique view of society’s order emphasizing the woman as an essential element of creation. The work touches upon many spheres of human life, such as philosophy, religion, politics, and others. Valerie criticizes the existing functioning of society through the prism of feminism. Her Manifesto contains many offensive utterances and seems illogical at first glance. It is also vital to highlight that Solanas was diagnosed with schizophrenia (Solanas, 1968). However, her work is critical in identifying the problems of society. The ideas reflected in writing should not be treated seriously, but these thoughts can be used to better understand the emotions of women and improve gender relationships in society.

Ideological Aspect

Valerie’s inflammatory work is full of different topics and problems in modern society. Solanas highly criticizes the art, politics, religion, science, and other foundations based on which society is built. Her claims regarding the possibility of fighting death and eliminating art are paradoxical, having lousy argumentation, as well as most of the ideas mentioned in the Manifesto. The author describes art, philosophy, and religion as methods created by men to escape their true identities (Solanas, 1968). By claiming so, Valerie contradicts her own ideas about the ethical nature of women rejecting art as the manifestation of the soul and emotions. Many other logical inconsistencies in the narration reflect the author’s lack of knowledge, empathy, and critical thinking. The arrogant and impulsive text strives to offend men without providing profound arguments supporting the initial claims.

Valerie seems to be unable to formulate her thoughts rationally due to her deep grief and hatred for the men. Especially illogical and radical seems the part related to the creation of the biological weapon to eliminate all men (Solanas, 1968). The author does not take her own ideas seriously. Such a situation can be caused by a mental disorder or a negative experience with men. Therefore, the reader should not consider this work as providing exemplary social concepts. Almost no demands mentioned by the author are close to reality. The critical emotional notions such as love, acceptance, and friendship are distorted because of the hatred for the men (Solanas, 1968). Such a conceptualization results from the author’s deep psychological trauma. Based on her biography, it is evident that she experienced violence from men who probably damaged her world perception.

As a result of psychological trauma, Valerie lacks the concept of empathy and psychological acceptance. She rejects the established society’s morale and turns the cultural heritage into a powerful weapon against men. The radical position of the author cannot survive in society. It is challenging to state whether she is right or wrong because there are always two perspectives. However, she is deeply mistaken from the point of the established society’s ethical norms and values. Valerie can be considered a victim of adverse life conditions.

The major problem is that she did not receive help from others. Her hatred was born because no men helped her, even having enough opportunities to do so. However, some of the ideas can be called rational. For example, the thoughts regarding power and capitalistic social order can be reshaped if all possible resources are allocated for such a change. The main drawback of her theory is that the root problem is also considered man’s nature. Valerie is offended by life, celebrating the fact that she is a woman, which is profoundly unethical and contradicts the idea of equality. Therefore, Solanas’s Manifesto is born out of anger rather than the desire to change the world for the better.

Language

The inflammatory language is chosen to hook the reader’s emotions. In other words, the author uses such offensive phrases to cause feelings in the readers’ minds. As it is well-known, negative emotions are more robust than positive ones. This is the reason why Valerie implements such phrases. Her aggression aims to provoke a discussion of the mentioned problem. Even though people will never understand her position, the negative impression will be kept in their minds. The absolutist and provocative language helps affect people’s emotions, which is why it is used. Considering the question about the humor used by the author in this work, it is hard to identify. The potentially comical expressions are primarily based on the gender differences of the man and woman, which in terms of humor theory, are considered as being not decent topics to build a joke on. Moreover, such humor lacks clever inherent meanings, making it less interesting. Therefore, the humor of the author can be described as poor. The choice of language is diverse in terms of inflammatory words. There are not many literary devices used in the text.

Significance

Given the ironic tone of the work and the absence of any biological or psychological evidence for the theses, one can hardly speak of a serious feminist perception of the Manifesto. Solanas’s text barely touches on the emancipation and empowerment of women. Work, money, philosophy, religion – all these aspects seem to Valerie unnecessary. It is not entirely clear what women will have to do in a utopian world after the destruction of men. Valerie’s work can be used for the purpose of understanding the emotions of women. Her worldview is helpful in understanding that many women suffer from the violence of men. Society can help such people save their psyches and live from distortion. Based on such radical emotions and ideas, people should realize that it is necessary to be tolerant of each other, striving to establish acceptance and understanding no matter the gender. Valerie shows the adverse example of what can happen to a person who believes that hatred and anger are the only solutions. Writing like this is necessary to raise the discussion of particular questions and attract the attention of society. It is created for people having no similar experience. The author strives to transfer her anger to the heart of others, putting them into similar emotions she bears. Speaking about forgiveness, she can never accept the cruel world because the only possible way of salvation for her is the destruction of men. However, society should forgive and understand her because she lost the common morale. The community has to accept Valerie’s hatred and try to help women like her.

Conclusion

The work was created to express emotions and attract the attention of the reader to the problem of man’s nature. Even though most of the ideas are caused by anger and have no argumentation base, Manifesto is still valuable. By analyzing Valerie’s emotions, people can understand how to prevent hurting women and strive for equality. This work is the author’s response to the difficulties which she experienced during her life. She wrote it to share with the world her pain. It is likely that she did not desire acceptance. Women in such positions need urgent help. Society and governmental organizations should take responsibility for such radical views’ occurrence and, based on ethical considerations, try to prevent future problems.

Reference

Solanas, V. (1968). SCUM Manifesto. Phoenix Press booklet.

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The SCUM Manifesto by Valerie Solanas

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