Child's Play As Archival Act in Valerie Solanas's SCUM Manifesto

Hide and Go Seek Child’s Play as Archival Act in Valerie Solanas’s SCUM Manifesto Sara Warner and Mary Jo Watts

[Solanas had] no political comrades and no close friends, or none that Diane [Tucker], and I knew of. That left the archives. We moved on to the main reference rooms of the New York Public Library along with the other obsessives: the conspiracy theorists, the old men with shopping bags stuffed full of newspaper clippings, the nervous girls researching the Celestine Prophecies. Diane sometimes found herself sitting next to a woman who held metal kitchen utensils over her head to ward off harmful vibrations as she was reading. — Mary Harron, I Shot Andy Warhol (1996:x–xi)

The SCUM Manifesto is an extraordinary document, an authentic love-hate child of its time [...] — Vivian Gornick, Introduction to S.C.U.M. Manifesto (1970:xv)

Queers have a desire for history, a yearning to access, document, and conserve the hidden pasts and lived experiences of sexual dissidents, gender outlaws, and erotic nonconformists. That something like queer history even exists continues to be a hotly contested topic, and this despite the tremendous proliferation of queer archives in recent decades. These include traditional repositories — collections, museums, and libraries — as well as alternative methods of amassing and preserving “the ephemeral evidence of gay and lesbian life” (Cvetkovich 2003:243). Valerie Solanas’s parodic and polemical tract, SCUM Manifesto (1967), is about archives; it concerns and critiques the operational logics governing the structuring and preserving of knowledge by institutions seeking to influence, if not determine, who and what a society remembers and what it forgets. As a dramatic composition, a script performed by Solanas for and with public audiences, SCUM Manifesto also enacts the work of archiving by staging actions that literally engendered radical feminism and lesbian separatism while simultaneously documenting the antics, affects, and aspirations of society’s most maligned and marginalized.1 A satirical diatribe lambasting the cesspool men have made of the planet, SCUM calls for all “civic-minded, responsible, thrill-seeking females to overthrow the government, eliminate the

1. In a press release delivered on 13 June 1968, just hours after her initial meeting with Solanas, Ti-Grace Atkinson made the “first public use of the concept of ‘radical feminist’” in describingSCUM Manifesto (Atkinson 1974:14). When dealing with acts, such as Solanas’s SCUM Forums, we do well to follow Diana Taylor’s lead in considering “the archive of supposedly enduring materials (i.e., texts, documents, buildings, bones)” alongside “the so-called ephemeral repertoire of embodied practice/knowledge” (2003:19).

Sara Warner is Associate Professor in the Department of Performing and Media Arts at Cornell University. She received the 2013 ATHE Outstanding Book Award and an Honorable Mention for the ASTR Barnard Hewitt Award for Acts of Gaiety: LGBT Performance and the Politics of Pleasure (University of Michigan Press, 2012).

Mary Jo Watts is an independent scholar, blogger, and instructional technologist at Ithaca College. She’s the founder of f_minor, a Glenn Gould email list, the author of the website, A Connoisseur’s Guide to The Silence of the Lambs, and a BBC Sherlock fangirl whose interviews with filmmakers and composers can be found on wordpress.com under her nom de plume MidOnz.

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00400 by guest on 30 September 2021 Valerie Solanas’s SCUM Manifesto 81 . This initial production was held on May 23, 1967 at the Directors’ Theatre. Theatre. Directors’ the at 1967 23, May on held was production initial This . Manifesto SCUM

The address listed, 222 West 23rd Street, is the Chelsea Hotel. (Private collection of Mary Jo Watts and and Watts Jo Mary of collection (Private Hotel. Chelsea the is Street, 23rd West 222 listed, address The Sara Warner) Figure 1. A flier for a SCUM Forum, performance of a series in first the developed Solanas which in events SCUM a for flier A 1. Figure of script the Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00400 by guest on 30 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00400 by guest on 30September 2021

82 Warner/Watts attempt towhitewashthepastbyerasingdisturbingcharacters fromLGBTQgenealogiesand Manifesto offersamuch-neededcounterpointtocelebratorychronicles ofqueerhistorythat absent originalslongagolost, buried, andshamed intosilence. As ascummyarchive, Solanas’s the wreckage, re-memberingtheghostsofpastfrom degradedcopiesof ment. We concentrateoureffortslessonrescueandrecoverythan onremediation, onsalvaging landfills, andmountainsofpersonalclutter, scummyarchivistsareexpertsatwastemanage- aspirations ofthemostwretchedandrevoltingamongus. Rummagingthroughtrashheaps, tation; theeroticyearningsofdelinquentanddebased; andtheperversepolitical classes: therevengefantasiesandunrepressedrageofdregs anddrossofcapitalistexploi- offensive annalsthatgivefoulutterancetothevoicesandvisionsofsociety’sabjectunder servative memory-makingprocessesthatcensorandsanitizehistory. Scummyarchivesare tices enfranchisement of “good” gayseagertoprovethattheyarejustlikeeveryoneelse. conforming kinonthegroundsthattheseprofligatedegeneratesthreatensocioeconomic itics ofrespectabilitydisavowtheabjectidentificationsandstigmatizedpracticestheirnon- Solanas’s workareimportanttorevisitnow, whenqueerintegrationistsoverlyinvestedinapol- tive, increasinglyprivatized, andshamelesslyconsumerist. The scummysubjectswhopopulate exemplified bythepushformarriageequality, today’shomoliberalagendaiscoercivelynorma- that passesforcontemporaryLGBTQpolitics. Drivenbysoberingimagesofsexualhegemony, Warner 2012). of SCUM, for “those menwhoareworkingdiligentlytoeliminatethemselves” (1967:17;see olutionary organizations:SCUM, theSocietyforCuttingUpMen;andMen’s Auxiliary finance productionsofherworkandtosolicitmembersfortwo(largelyhypothetical)rev Solanas soldtheManifesto chronicles ofnastygirls, money system, institutecompleteautomationandeliminatethemalesex” (1967:1). quotes are from Solanas’s self-published edition of SCUM Manifesto flipping amiddlefinger, thatsheusedasthecoverartforpublishedscriptofUpYour Ass . (two paragraph)incarnationoftheSCUMManifestoandwhichfeaturesamegraphic, ahand Forums intheVillage Voice, Solanasdistributedfliersandbroadsides, whichcontaintheearliest West Village (attheatres, lecturehalls, andcityparks). InadditiontoadvertisingtheseSCUM and vulgarmouthliterallychasedherofftheset(Harron1996:xvi). lesbians thatneveraired. A right-wingprovocateur, BurkewasoffendedbySolanas’sdemeanor trous appearanceonThe Alan Burke Show, theconfrontational TV talkshow, inasegmenton hoyden namedBongiPerez. The catalystfortheinauguralSCUMForumwasSolanas’sdisas- one actplay, UpYour Ass(1965), whichtrackstheamorousandanarchicexploitsofanimpudent and tookclasseswherethreemonthspriorshelaunchedtheworldpremiereofhersatirical same buildingastheFreeUniversityofNew York (FUNY)whereSolanasbothguestlectured a perhaps thefirstofthesedramatizationstookplaceon23May1967 developed themanifestoinandthroughperformancesoveraseven-monthperiod. What was 2. 3. “SCUM Forum”

Solanas’s arthasthecapacitytogeneratewhatwemightcallscummyarchives SCUM providesawelcomecorrectivetotheconservativeprogramofsocialassimilation Solanas wrote She developed the script in overand through performance the next seven months, completing it in October. that this work was first sold and publicly distributed on 18 May 1967, the week before her first SCUM Forum. Manifesto in October 1967 and filed for copyright registration on 4 December 1967, noting in her application in the S All Solanas stagedSCUMForumsthroughout1967and1968atvariousvenuesintheEast olanas first published this two-paragraph iteration of (and outline for)SCUM Manifesto in an ad she placed

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fugitive strategiesandlow-downdirtytacticsthatflipamiddlefingeratsociallycon Village Voice in the Public Notices section on 30 March 1967. Solanas completed the script of SCUM Up Your in 1965 and published it, with the graphic cover,Ass on 10 February 1967.

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at theDirectors’ hatefulbitches, andgutterdykes

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on thestreet, Theatre, anoff-offBroadwayplayhouselocatedinthe bymailorder, andatundergroundbookstores

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as wellscummyarchivalprac (1967).

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at aneventshecalled

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Solanas caustic

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- to - 3 -

Valerie Solanas’s SCUM Manifesto 83 - A number lives lived at or just below the lives lived

call our attention to a lack of grit in to a lack of grit call our attention with and without the permission of with and without the

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over the course of his lifetime. over the course of his

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disturbing as in emotionally troubling and men as in emotionally troubling disturbing

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public and private,

Solanas’s art documents the flagrant and filthy acts of and filthy acts documents the flagrant Solanas’s art

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She shared this penchant with Andy Warhol, who recorded on film and who recorded Warhol, Andy with She shared this penchant

Driven by an obsessive desire to archive scummy lives an obsessive desire to Driven by Figure 2. The Fame Game: An archival shot of a journalist shooting footage of Valerie Solanas on 3 June June 3 on Solanas Valerie journalist a of shot of footage shooting archival An Game: Fame The 2. Figure Warhol’s at range blank point at Amaya Mario and Warhol Andy shot she after hours just taken 1968, courtesy (Photo Corbis) of Factory. tally unstable but also disruptive of the queer status quo of the queer status but also disruptive tally unstable sexual politics of homoliberalism. the sterile ignoring unsavory legacies, such as Solanas’s pestiferous philosophizing and felonious deeds. and felonious deeds. philosophizing as Solanas’s pestiferous such legacies, ignoring unsavory political desires Solanas’s disturbing Valerie margins of legibility and legitimacy margins of brazen sexual deviants. of conversations audiotape thousands staged and improvised settings in his interlocutors, thwarted play- A frustrated scientist, his would-be assassin. Solanas, of these exchanges featured shot the prince of Pop at point Valerie Factory films, Warhol’s actress in and occasional wright, act by a deranged dyke categorize the shooting as a desperate To 1968. blank range on 3 June grossly mainstream media have, as both Factory denizens and the fame, craving 15 minutes of oversimplifies events. Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00400 by guest on 30 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00400 by guest on 30September 2021

84 Warner/Watts techno-utopia. A parodicand polemical coupdethéâtre, SCUMManifestoprovideslittleinsight minism act Written more thanayearbeforetheshooting, SCUMManifestoispartscurrilousspeech of veryinvolvedreasons. Readmymanifestoanditwill tellyouwhatIam” (inSmith1968). When askedbythepressabouthermotivesforshooting, Solanasreplied, “I havealot as ArchivalPlay Child’s Act A Scummy Game dyke Happening. them byfall1967, anindicationoftheaestheticevolutionForumsintoakindgutter- Warhol wastofilmaScummyForum, ora “SCUMMYthing,” asSolanaswouldcometocall which wastoincludeaninterviewwithSolanas(Leonard1968:147). Fortheirthirdventure, scription ofthedrug-fueledramblingsOndineandotherhopped-upFactoryhabitués), ond projectintheworksinvolved Warhol’sNovel , anearlyverbatimtran- b(afollow-uptoa:A monologue, ing toproduceaneveningoftheatrefeaturingUpYour Assinadoublebillwithherdramatic (Morrissey 1996:152). Infact, Solanaswasinnegotiationswith Warhol atthetimeofshoot- “telephone pals” whochattedregularly, oftenaboutpossiblecollaborationsandpartnerships jects likeSolanas. kinds ofarchivesmightyieldnewandunpredictableforms knowledgeaboutscummysub- evaluating andconstructingtheoriesaboutqueerhistory, anditraisesquestionsaboutwhat the Warhol Museumpresentstoresearchersmakemanifesttheneedemploycautionwhen specters, imprints, andtracesinlieuofthealways-elusivereal. The obstaclesandimpediments ity ofanyarchivalpractice, insofarasourdesireforhistoryexceedsrepresentation, leavingonly confronts uswiththeneedtocritiqueexistingcollectionsandacknowledgeimpossibil- normative whiteness, masculineprivilege, andcapitalistgreed, asthe Warhol Museumdoes). It asm for, ifnotourfaithin, queerarchives(especiallythosethatreifyandreproduceformsof madness” (ReedandCale1990). This paradoxicalsituationcallsforustotemperourenthusi- Solanas’s actionsbefore, during, oraftertheshootingasanythingotherthangesturesof “idiot covering anythingnewabouttherelationship, andthismakesitalltooeasytointerpretanyof more thanitrevealsabouthisrelationshipwithoneofthemostnotoriouslesbiansin history. sip. Alas, Warhol’s treasuretroveofobsessivelyrecorded, overtlyqueeractivitiesobscuresmuch only afractionofthemwereevertranscribedandundoubtedlycontainthemostlibelousgos- are offlimitstoresearchers. The cassettesareextremelyfragile, undated, anduncategorized; organs compromisedbySolanas’sshrapnel). Warhol’s taperecordings(morethan3,400intotal) the 10thanniversaryof Warhol’s deathaftersurgerytoremovehisgallbladder, oneofthemany random andhaphazardlycompiledphotocopies(theremnantsofanexhibitcommemorating at thearchivist’sdiscretion. The fileonSolanasconsistsoftwodog-earedmanilafolderswith Warhol Foundationforthe Visual Arts, accesstothismaterial isavailabletoselectresearchers touched that constitutethe Andy Warhol Museumarchive. As practicallyeverything Warhol ever feet andanestimatedhalfamillionobjectsincontainers Warhol dubbed “Time Capsules”) plain sight. Itformspartofthevastandunrulyhoardpersonaleffects(including8,000cubic ee “Valerie Solanis Andy,” [sic] Interviews housed in the Warhol an undated transcript of an undated interview 4.

More thancasualacquaintances, Solanasand “Daddy Warhol,” asshecalledhim, were Ironically, thestaggeringimmensityof Warhol’s archiveseverelylimitsthepossibilityofdis- Evidence concerningthenatureandextentofSolanas’srelationshipwith Warhol ishidingin — Museum’s archives. S

an acerbicindictmentofcapitalistbrutalities,

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and partrevengefantasy

from taxireceiptstoticketstubs A Young Girl’s PrimeronHowto Attain totheLeisure Class(Warner 2012:68). A sec- 4 , acallformalegenocide andtheformationofalesbo-

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is considered thecultofdomesticity, andbiologicaldeter “art” bytheMuseumand Andy - Valerie Solanas’s SCUM Manifesto 85 was the

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“to eliminate through sabotage all through sabotage “to eliminate

that is. that is. — as well as those immaterial methods

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bring about a complete female take-over, female take-over, bring about a complete , vulgar, devious, unfair, rough, violent, and violent, rough, unfair, devious, vulgar, , , how we select, share, conserve, and access our conserve, share, how we select, , dirty

— Breaking the rules of proper play, Solanas casts Solanas Breaking the rules of proper play,

a scummy girl’s game,

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Whereas most feminists challenged the stereotype of females as jejune challenged the stereotype of females Whereas most feminists are the proper subjects of archives and, equally important, which equally important, are the proper subjects of archives and, and what affects, and gestures of the callow and crass and gestures of the callow and affects,

child’s play actively eschews linear models of sexual development that force the fairer child’s play actively eschews linear models

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SCUM, Solanas notes, are: Solanas notes, SCUM, world of suburbs, souls who [...] are too childish for the grown-up those crass and simple too uncivilized to raise kids and husbands, too selfish mops and baby shit, mortgages, “Greats” the too arrogant to respect Daddy, to give a shit for anyone’s opinion of them, gutter instincts. trust only their own animal, who Ancients, or the deep wisdom of the (1967:12) and adulthood and her refusal to be indoc- Solanas’s defiant desire to thwart maturation is a scummy the Manifesto is a scummy relevance,” “a theory of cultural of evidence than Less a repository bad girls as the central protagonists in her scummy drama of social change. In so doing, her doing, In so scummy drama of social change. bad girls as the central protagonists in her Manifesto asks who This work exemplifies the need to preserve not just tac- citizens are the appropriate archivists. but intangible ways of knowing and thinking tile objects (texts and scummy countertexts) individual and collective pasts. House Playing force as com- Solanas dramatized its “archive,” Long before Derrida traced the etymology of the site where things begin and power originates, as a place mencement and commandment, SCUM Manifesto reveals a keen under of the coexistence of origin and law (Derrida 1995:1). illegal sex into subordinate and subservient roles. memories, residence of the one who possesses the right to make domicile, standing of archive as house, A house is a place, “Daddy.” was Solanas contends, The first magistrate, and interpret the law. is maintained less the Manifesto asserts, law of the father, The the locus of patriarchal authority. “House” through edict or brute force than through a seemingly innocuous form of child’s play. a nuclear a form of make-believe in which children enact the roles of is a game girls play, and processes that govern how we archive history creatures in need of male protection and guidance by imagining womyn as the agents of social male protection and guidance by imagining creatures in need of or labyris-wielding Riveter types, industrious Rosie the earth goddesses, change (beneficent insist- adolescent construction, Solanas embraced and resignified this abject Amazon warriors), a girl’s game ing that revolution is proliferate these malefactors and means of dissent, Positively puerile in their political desires delicious conceit Katherine Bond Stockton’s sideways,” “growing namely by in perverse ways, up by refusing to mature in straight and narrow for queers who defy the usual sense of growing SCUM opposes Unwilling to subordinate childish yearnings to adult exigencies, ways (2009). “stretched-out Halberstam calls the what J.J. the hegemony of dominant culture by inhabiting it does so decades before scholars of feminism and sex- and of lesbian subcultures, adolescences” and the figure of the queer child (2005:153). uality studies became interested in grrrl power the degenerate and protocols of proper womanhood, the “the father system,” trinated into a form of acting out best understood as child’s play economy of the nuclear family constitute Foul in every sense of the word (1967:14). archive that encodes and enacts a sullied logic of knowledge production, transmission, and pres- and transmission, production, a sullied logic of knowledge encodes and enacts archive that agenda SCUM’s radical 2005:169). ervation (Halberstam out-of-sight female world” groovy, and begin to create a swinging, eliminate the male sex predicated on girl power and feminist ideology in that it was unique in terms of second-wave child’s play (1967:1). into the “very involved reasons” why Solanas shot Warhol, but it does tells us “what” she was, or or she was, “what” tells us it does but Warhol, why Solanas shot “very involved reasons” into the - of the coming revolu a chronicler an archivist of the apocalypse, she wanted to be: at least what 1968). tion (Smith aspects of society not relevant to women (everything), aspects of society not Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00400 by guest on 30 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00400 by guest on 30September 2021

86 Warner/Watts definition ofhimselfassuperior(1967:5). individuals whoupholdthefathersystem “against abackground offear[...and]acceptthemale (1967:15). There remains, however, oneobstacletowomen’sliberation:Daddy’sGirls, those is [...]arighteousactandgoodact, anacthighlybeneficial towomenaswellanactofmercy” brilliance ofSCUMManifestoispalpableinSolanas’sassertionthat “the eliminationofany male entails aprogramofmalegenocide(Rubin[1975]2011:34). The misandryaswellthecaustic enabling Daddytoactuponhisincestuousdesires: “his daughter[...]hewantssexually than heterosexualrelationships. This tabooexists, accordingtoSolanas, forthesolepurposeof gives her Mary Jo Watts and Sara Warner, a gift of Carol Piper) the Atlantic City Boardwalk in the 1940s. (Private Collection of Figure 3. Revolution is a scummy girl’s game. Valerie Solanas on val authoritythroughtheconversion ofDaddy’sGirlsintoSCUM, andtodosobefore it’stoo The men andwomen, butbetweenSCUMandDaddy’sGirls: aradigmatic examples of Daddy’s Girls are Warhol Superstars Viva, Ultra Violet, and Brigid Berlin. 5.

Solanas’s visionforthereorganizationof “the sex/gendersystem” throughpoliticalaction insecure, approval-seeking Daddy’sGirls[...]. (1967:16–17) passive, accepting “cultivated,” polite, dignified, subdued, dependent, scared, mindless, wheeling, arrogantfemales, whoconsiderthemselves fit toruletheuniverse...andnice, secure, self-confident, nasty, violent, selfish, independent, proud, thrill-seeking, free- The conflict[...]isnotbetweenfemalesandmales, but betweenSCUM P Manifesto dramatizesSolanas’sdesireto subvert patriarchyandseizecontrolofarchi- hand inmarriage;theotherpart’sforhim” (1967:4). 5 The Manifesto insiststhatthestruggleisnotbetween and makestabooanythingother ter cementspatriarchalauthority 2011:63). The giftofthedaugh- omy ofsex” (Rubin[1975] modities in “the politicalecon- making ofdaughtersintocom- relations, namelythroughthe a secondarypositioninhuman which womenareconsignedto sexuality areproducedandby gender andcompulsoryhetero- and socialmechanismsbywhich Solanas identifiedthehistorical “The Traffic in Women” (1975), Gayle Rubin’slandmarkessay, hood”(1967:4). Anticipating manipulate and control the male’smajoropportunityto insists, “provide[s] thebasisfor ery. The nuclearfamily, she females intodomesticdrudg ister modeof the gameofhousetobeasin- SCUM Manifesto, Solanasshows ing, andcaringforothers. In “womanly” arts:cooking, clean- ers throughthepracticeof become goodwivesandmoth- ried life. Itteachesgirlshowto norms andcustomsofmar family, rehearsingthegendered

— indoctrinating

dominant,

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father He - - - Valerie Solanas’s SCUM Manifesto 87 - tant, tant, - impor to make use of the viru

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the lunatic, and a new “species” called the “species” and a new the lunatic, These documents detail several games 6 , in other words , to read queerly

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the masturbating child,

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established largely for the purposes of population control, both inter control, established largely for the purposes of population in order to subject them to manipulation and control (43). in order to subject them to manipulation

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These laws make it incredibly difficult to access materials related to Solanas’s detention and These laws make it incredibly difficult to access materials related to Solanas’s detention albeit scant, information about Solanas is housed in official archives, researchers glean more evidence about this this about evidence more glean researchers archives, official in housed is Solanas about information scant, albeit These and normalizing normative and subvert mean investigatory tactics, we strategies that circumvent scummy research While Solanas. like figures of caricature and/or the erasure in result typically that protocols archival Official archives, subverts the erotic economy of the father SCUM subverts the erotic economy or even play nice, Refusing to play house,

6. lently discriminatory materials these archives contain. Recent legislation designed to protect Recent legislation designed contain. lently discriminatory materials these archives Act of Accountability the Health Insurance Portability and the security and privacy of data (e.g., creating obstacles for schol- restricts access to patients’ personal information, or HIPAA) 1996, asy- prisons, ars researching queer subjects while at the same time sheltering institutions (e.g., and hospitals) that commit unspeakable acts on queer subjects under the guise of schools, lums, reform and rehabilitation. they are incarceration (requests are routinely denied or yield reports that are so redacted that we have access to Thanks to the scummy tactics of intrepid researchers, almost meaningless). Solanas’s prison records and psychiatric evaluations. pellate queers as sick or sinful and chronicle the institutional histories of power/knowledge pellate queers as sick or sinful and chronicle are less likely state and federal repositories reasons, For these regimes that regulate sexuality. At their histories of homo- and transphobia. to document queerness than they are to record evidence and erase the systemic abuse of people most nefarious these archives simultaneously This situation requires one to read across agencies. like Solanas at the hands of governmental the grain and between the lines Tucker. By Diane assistant research Mary her and courtesyus to come Harron filmmaker of records Playing Doctor Playing the secrecy and memorialize queer history is exacerbated by record, The struggle to identify, especially when dealing with chil- sexual intimacy, and shame that attends any discussion of Bruhm for example, ideal of (erotic) innocence (see, dren whose play does not conform to our child became a public problem requiring institu- The sexual (and sexualized) and Hurley 2004). Realizing that the emergence of modern biopolitics. with observes Foucault, tional regulation, “to the manner in which and thus to its population, “future and fortune were tied” a nation’s not as something to governments began to understand sex each individual made use of his sex,” Thus was 24). (1978:26, “a thing one administered” be judged on the basis of morality but as science that gave rise to elaborate systems of clas- a confessional born a new science of sexuality, established and treating deviant behavior with a host of newly diagnosing, assessing, sifying, and medicine) that transformed psychiatry, psychology, normative knowledges (criminology, sexual acts into sexual types homosexual system with ribald representations of empowered female desire, with images of bad girls and of empowered female desire, system with ribald representations girls’ role as the central pro- By recognizing for aberrant domesticities. their adolescent urges to be an archival act of historical Solanas reveals child’s play of patriarchy, tagonists in the story (Derrida traditional” Revolutionary and . and conservative once institutive “is at inscription that significance of girl’s play creates pub- audacious claim to the historical The Manifesto’s 1995:7). that are missing from the family child and for illicit modes of intimacy lic space for the scummy queer politics. values rhetoric of contemporary late, before they become Mama, “mindless ministrator to physical needs, soother of the weary, weary, soother of the to physical needs, “mindless ministrator they become Mama, before late, with tits” a hot water bottle of the contemptible, appreciator ego, booster of the tiny apey brow, were instincts [that] “the female Girl of play to remind Daddy’s engages in foul SCUM (5–6). - to ensure that daugh father system in order by the was little” out of her when [she] wrenched security approval and insecure, animalistic, domestic, passive, “dependent, to be ters grow up 5). (8, and men” ‘respectful’ of authorities humble, cowardly, seekers, Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00400 by guest on 30 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00400 by guest on 30September 2021

88 Warner/Watts superior category,” inthetop98thpercentileofpopulation(Cooper1968:2). (now WAIS) I.Q. exam. Solanasscoreda131ontheintelligencescale, placingherinthe “very battery oftests, includinganSAT, Rorschach, T.A.T., Bender-Gestalt, anda Weschsler-Bellevue opment. Dr. RuthCooper, ChiefMedicalOfficeroftheDivisionPsychology, administereda nal behaviortosexualdeviancy, herlesbianismservingasevidenceofanarrestedstatedevel- decisions onherbehalf. the judgetreatedherlikeachild opportunity toadmitshooting Warhol, pleadguilty, andacceptresponsibilityforheractions, to thePsychiatricPrison Ward atCityHospitalElmhurstinQueens. IndenyingSolanasthe ordered Solanas’sself-incriminatingcommentsstrickenfromtherecordandheremandedher missed. Ishouldhavedonetargetpractice” (inSmithand Vander Horst1977:28). JudgeGetzoff (3). Solanaslatersaidshe “considered [theshooting]amoralact. Iconsideritimmoralthat has legalclaimstoallmyworks. It’snotoftenthatIshootsomebody. Ididn’tdoitfornothing” for doingthiswasbecause Andy wouldnotproducemyplay. Itwasfortheoppositereason. He informed JudgeGetzoff(inMancini1968:3). “It wasreportedinthenewspapersthatmotive on representingherselfatthetrial. “This isgoingtostayinmyowncompetenthands,” she story inherownwordsandtobequotedtruthfullyaccuratelythepress, Solanasinsisted and prostitution her patternofcriminalbehaviorbeganinchildhood during hertrial, ofthesexistandhomophobiccriteriafordeterminingmentalcompetency. runs afoulofthelawforshooting Warhol andagameofdoctorinwhichSolanasmakessport, Solanas playedwithauthorities:ahigh-stakesgameofjudgeandjurythatbeginswhen incapable ofunderstandingthechargesleviedagainsther resumed theirstudies, earneddegrees, andwere inducted intoPsiChi, thepsychologyhonor hold whentheybecamepregnantatayoungage, Solanasat14andCooper17. Bothwomen Solanas asaplaywrightandCooperconcertpianist. Bothwomenputtheireducationon Both womenwereambitious, intellectuallygifted, andaspiredtocareersintheperformingarts, to playdoctor, oratleastplaywiththedoctor, forshe andCooperhadagreatdealincommon. (1). of herself” the threetestingsessions,” andshe “seemed highlymotivatedtogiveafrankandopenpicture The patient, Dr. Coopernotes, “accompanied theexaminerwithincreasingeagernesstoeachof not onlycooperativebutwasalsoengagedinandenthusiasticaboutthevariousprocedures. 7.

In thepsychwardSolanaswasfurtherinfantilizedbyclinicianswhoattributedhercrimi- Though theattemptedmurderof Warhol markedthefirsttimeSolanaswasincarcerated, for the general public (BBC News 2007; Cunningham and Vigen 2002). S without this person’s consent. and reveals the identity of Solanas’s secret child (whom Fahs alleges was conceived in an act of incestual rape) under false pretenses; reprints Solanas family photographs from a personal genealogy website without permission; citation; publishes, without qualification, information that Factory Superstar Ultra Violet obtained illegally and rative strategies. For example, Fahs appropriates the archival research of several feminist scholars without proper reinforce rather than challenge patriarchal practices, institutionalized forms of discrimination, and coercive nar- compile a comprehensive history, an admirable and arduous task, she regrettably behaviors that engages in certain licensed clinical psychologist, Fahs is the author of a recently published biography on Solanas. In her desire to crossed this boundary, wittingly or not, including Breanne Fahs (2014). A professor of gender studies and a methods can be a fine one when dealing with ethically suspect investigatory Solanas, and many enthusiasts have prison psychiatrists than they do by consulting with librarians. The line between scummy research tactics and scummy subject from talking with prostitutes and political with dissidents pornographers and andcavorting The zealwithwhichSolanasapproachedtheevaluationsmayhavebeenrelatedtoherdesire olanas scored a 132 on Verbal, a 125 on Performance, and 131 overall. The average IQ of prisoners is 87; 100

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and continueduntilherdeathin1988(Harron1996:xi).

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curtailing anyattempttoexerciseagencybydeclaringher

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with truancy , constrictingherspeech, andmaking , shoplifting, pettytheft, Desiringtotellher 7 Solanaswas Valerie Solanas’s SCUM Manifesto 89 Though far more masculine than the male. far more masculine than

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. “Women [...] don’t have penis envy; men have pussy envy,” Solanas quips, Solanas quips, have pussy envy,” [...] don’t have penis envy; men “Women SCUM Manifesto. Cooper penned a detailed four-page synopsis of Solanas’s clinical results, and almost all of results, synopsis of Solanas’s clinical four-page Cooper penned a detailed of the theory of sexual inversion animat- Cooper’s notes constitute a succinct encapsulation no men- making the patient’s bellicose nature, The clinician focuses almost exclusively on child reflects the pathologization of deviant This categorization of Solanas as a frightened in life concluded that her mother was more Miss Solanas is a young woman who early She holds men responsible for the emotional Valerie. interested in men than she was in While she has consciously devoted much of depravation and rejection she experienced. her unconscious strivings ‘exploiters’ men were, ‘pigs’ and her energy to proving what (Cooper 1968:3) to win her mother’s love. perhaps, have been to be a male and thus, her findings are framed in terms of the patient’s gender-transgressive behavior. “In her pro- “In behavior. in terms of the patient’s gender-transgressive her findings are framed except for her flowing a female who, “Miss Solanas creates the doctor notes, jective drawings,” aggressive creature an extremely phallic, is hair, to be a female than a male” she verbalizes that it is more desirable female, she masculinizes the “dramatically illustrate Miss continues, Cooper confused stories,” “These (Cooper 1968:2). her inability to achieve any reso- about her own sexual identity and Solanas’s severe confusion in virtually all forms of Her projective stories range from participation lution to this confusion. (2). to utter denial of any sexual wishes” perverse sexual activity ing the psy- Regrettably, of Oedipal desire (1967:2). offering a scummy rejoinder to Freud’s theory The having discussed the manifesto with Solanas. chiatrist neither references nor acknowledges insights into the maladroit constructions of gender doctor fails to appreciate her patient’s acute as “men of in the Rorschach test, conceptualization, Valerie’s such as in contemporary society, “anni- also who exploiters and despoilers of women” ‘pigs’ whom she anthropomorphizes into Cooper interpreted Rather than scummy strategies for inaugurating a utopia, hilate other men.” (1968:2). “elaborations [that] take on a psychotic flavor” these test results as preoccupied “Miss Solanas is or penchant for play: tion of Solanas’s rapacious sense of humor as aligned men, and particularly In a markedly paranoid fashion she sees society, with violence. society and create a new The goal she has carved out for herself is to destroy this against her. violent posturing was more act Solanas’s According to Cooper, (3). one controlled by women” “Though she makes strenuous efforts notwithstanding: Warhol her attack on than actual threat, “Miss Solanas is notes the psychiatrist, misanthrope,” cynical tough, to present herself as a hard, (3). actually a very frightened child” Indeed Cooper identi- and immature. narcissistic, as infantile, and lesbians in particular, women, pathology: fies queerness as the source of Solanas’s proclivi- Nowhere in Solanas’s writings does she blame motherhood or her mother for her Solanas shared with Cooper tales of molesta- Daddy. though she had volumes to say about ties, details of complicated sexual encounters with men beginning at the age of 12 tion by her father, Despite and the vivid exploits of her life as a sex worker. (resulting in two teenage pregnancies), rather than the doctor fixates on Solanas’s mother, overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Cooper fails to see what for Solanas is painfully obvi- as the root of her psychosis. her father, “cannot admit to the role that fatherhood plays in causing mental namely that psychiatry ous, (1967:13). illness” society, as undergraduates (Solanas at the University of Maryland; Cooper at Queen’s College). at Queen’s College). of Maryland; Cooper (Solanas at the University as undergraduates society, from PhD in psychology Cooper received her graduate school. both women attended Finally, at psychology program dropped out of the the same year Solanas University in 1959, Columbia News Naples Daily News 1971:9A; 1971:1C; Naples Daily of Minnesota (Galloway the University insisted was a revolutionary What Solanas there. the similarities stop Unfortunately, 1976:2B). a and she diagnosed Solanas severe psychosis, used as evidence of Cooper play, form of child’s (Cooper 1968:1). paranoid schizophrenic Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00400 by guest on 30 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00400 by guest on 30September 2021

90 Warner/Watts in Solanas’sUpYour Ass invited hertolectureinhisclasses atFUNY. Krasner’ssecretary, MarciaSamRidge, starred in 1967) andfoundingeditorofTheRealist (1958–2001), whohadhelped Solanasgetpublished a conclusion, acommentary bysatiristPaulKrassner, cofounderofthe Yippies (December never equatedwithherscriptoractivistaesthetic. Hepenned aprefaceandcommissioned make thenameintoanacronymforSocietyCuttingUpMen, aphraseSolanasusedbut York Post’s headlinestory, “Andy Warhol FightsforLife,” asthebackcover. about thecrimefromTime andNewsweek magazinesonthefrontcoverandareprintofNew evidenced bythefactthatOlympiaissuedManifestoasacheappulppaperbackwithblurbs media frenzysurroundingtheshooting. Girodias’svulgar desiretoprofitfromtheshootingis only afterthebotchedassassination, inablatantandopportunistic attempttocapitalizeonthe to hold ing herrighttowork, SolanaswrotetoGirodias, givinghimSCUMManifesto “to have& own idiosyncraticstandards)ortovoidthedocumentbychanging theterms, therebyprotect- her play, filmher “SCUMMYthing,” ormoveforwardwithb. Solanas’s contractwithOlympia, withdrewfromtheirproposedventures, refusingtoproduce granted Girodiastherightoffirstrefusaltohernexttwoworks. Warhol, uponlearningof with MauriceGirodiasofOlympiaPressin August 1967topublishanovel, anagreementthat lectual property:A Young Girl’s Primer, SCUM Books, andsecuredthefirstofthreecopyrightsshewouldobtaintoprotectherintel- of herartwork. In1965thisperpetuallyhomelesshookerdykeestablishedherownimprimatur, formation shewouldneedtocontrolthemeansofproduction, distribution, andpreservation Solanas knewthattoforgearadicallydifferentsystemofknowledgetransmissionandsubject Hide andGoSeek a bunchofdollsinprisonpsychward. imagine anythingmorehorrificortraumatizingforSolanasthantobeforcedplaynicewith the dollprogram, isthattheycouldn’tcopewiththeseduties” (inBasler1972:1A). We cannot reintegrated intosociety. “Sometimes thereasonthey’rehere,” notedaMatteawanvolunteer in [they didn’tcallitplay]reorients[thewomen]forhomedutiesandskillstheymusthave” tobe beauty andenchantment” (Basler1972:1A). Therapists believedthat “[d]oing thistypeofwork were donatedtothehospitalwherepatientschargedwithrestoringthem “to theiroriginal women andoneofthefewformsrehabilitationofferedtothemwasdolltherapy. Useddolls (Women Against Prison1975:67). Lessthan10percentofthe600patientsatMatteawanwere that oneinvestigatorcalled “a placemorelikelytodrivemenmadthancure” theafflicted to MatteawanStateHospitalfortheCriminallyInsane, “a horrorshowoutofthedarkages” cent agency. BaseduponCooper’sreport, Solanaswasdeemedunfittostandtrialandsent from recognizingSolanas’sastonishinglyperceptivetheoriesofsexualinversionandadoles- some formofmentalillness, wecancritiquethepsychoanalyticscriptthatpreventsCooper own identity” (1968:3). essentially anemotionalandpsychologicalinfantwhohasnotyetsolvedthequestionofher straight adult(27). As Coopernotes, “Despite herverysuperiorintelligence, MissSolanasis (2009:22). The termdescribesaqueerchildwhoisyettobecome, orlikelywillneverbe, a to otherfemalesarebelievedrenderheremotionally, sexually, anddevelopmentallydeficient ing SolanasaswhatStocktoncallsa “grown homosexual,” afemalewhoseeroticattachments Cavalier, aneroticmen’smagazine (in1966, inaspecialissueonblackhumor)andhad Girodias bastardizedthetitle, insertingperiodsaftereach letter Whether seekingtomakegoodonthecontract(Solanaswashighlyethical, accordingtoher Without denyingthefactthatSolanas, asurvivorofchildhoodsexualabuse, sufferedfrom Cooper repeatedlyconflatesSolanas’scriminalbehaviorwithhersexualdeviancy, depict-

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forever” (inHarron1996:xxiii). Hesatonthemanuscript, moving ittoproduction at theDirectors’ Theatre inthe FUNYbuilding, thesameplaceshe Up Your Ass, andSCUMManifesto.Shesignedacontract

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S.C.U .M. Manifesto

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to Valerie Solanas’s SCUM Manifesto 91 - Manifesto flew off Olympia’s copyeditor, Marilyn Meeske Marilyn Meeske copyeditor, Olympia’s 8 (which, incidentally is one of the few texts from (which, - Manifesto neither captured nor preserved her lumi For the second edition, Girodias commissioned an introduction by Girodias commissioned an introduction For the second edition, 9

Winkiel discovered Solanas’s handiwork (1997:74–75), and Catherine Lord published photographs of of photographs published Lord Catherine and (1997:74–75), handiwork Solanas’s discovered Winkiel

olanas consented to a plea bargain, which reduced the charges from attempted murder to reckless assault with with assault reckless to murder attempted from charges the reduced which bargain, plea a to consented olanas Laura S Howard and Rosset, Barney Warhol, Andy harassing for bail on while re-arrested was Solanas harm. to intent times multiple Arrested Mob”). (“the men money of cabal secret a of members were believed she whom Hughes, Dunlop later and Hospital Elmhurst to remanded was Solanas paroled, was she after harassment and stalking for her After returned. and recaptured was but escaped she where Island, Wards on Hospital Psychiatric Manhattan convinced who sister, her near be to Florida to Marylandto moved then and returned Solanas 1973, in release deteriorate, to continued health mental Her 1975. in Hospital State Florida South at care psychiatric seek to her 52. aged 1988, in District Tenderloin Francisco’s San in hotel welfare scummy a in died she and to markings, article, Solanas’s with SCUM, Librarythe Winkiel’s moved After (2007:73). markings the of some Collections. Special he daughter, his with was he As Automat. the at lunch having Krassner upon came she Factory the at up show dollars. 50 her lent and money borrow to request Valerie’s with complied he but chitchat, couldn’t After she was paroled, Solanas attempted to reassert control of her archive by any means Solanas attempted to reassert control After she was paroled, Girodias’s S.C.U.M. In Solanas’s mind, Bolstered by the women’s liberation movement (that Solanas helped galvanize) and abet- Solanas helped galvanize) movement (that the women’s liberation Bolstered by The inscriptions, made with such relish that Solanas ripped through the paper in several made with such relish that Solanas ripped through the paper in The inscriptions,

9. 8. . Voice writer for the Village a liberal feminist and staff Gornick, Vivian Public Library’s York the New she defaced can only be called a childish act, In what necessary. “Maurice scribbled in out her name on the cover, Solanas scratched Manifesto. copy of S.C.U.M. many “one of the name on the title page: and noted next to Gornick’s as the author, Girodias” Manifesto is based on “S.C.U.M. Opposite the title page she wrote fleas riding on my back.” and promises to tell her side of the story in her next Solanas” Valerie SCUM Manifesto by coverage to be On the inside back cover she declares the Post Solanas. to be called Valerie book, “LIES! LIES!” 10.

to Warhol for waiting Village the prowling was she While shooting. the of day the on Krassner ran into Solanas (Warner 2012:58). (Warner inaugural SCUM Forum staged her in 1970 and a British of SCUM in 1970 and a British American edition issued a second Girodias bookstore shelves. - release from prison in 1971 (she was sen in anticipation of Solanas’s edition the year after, of institutions as her sanity and with credit for time served at a number tenced to three years at Ward the Psychiatric Prison House of Detention, Women’s including the guilt were debated, and Matteawan State Hospital Bellevue, Bedford Correctional Facility, City Hospital Elmhurst, for the Criminally Insane). took liberties with Solanas’s language, “sabotaging” the text with “typos” and sanitizing her rev- and sanitizing her “typos” the text with “sabotaging” with Solanas’s language, took liberties 1999:74). rhetoric (Winkiel olutionary Kennedy’s murder by (including Bobby political assassinations of high-profile ted by a series Press edition of S.C.U.M. the Olympia just three days later), Sirhan Sirhan nously scummy creation. This inferior copy not only superseded her 1967 self-published ver This inferior nously scummy creation. sion, it rendered her original obsolete. As the Olympia edition is the basis for almost every As the Olympia edition is the basis for it rendered her original obsolete. sion, subsequent printing and translation of SCUM conserves it serves as an archive that erases rather than the era that has never gone out of print), defiant act of defacing the library copy serves The childishly the traces of its former incarnation. the archive. as a scummy rejoinder to the violence of of “archive Ann Cvetkovich has termed an creates what places with the pressure of her pen, as informative as it is emotive. a record that is as edifying as it is affectively charged, feeling,” in the absence of more “crimes” of Girodias’s The childish markings provide crucial evidence poignant (not to mention profoundly absurd) about There’s something empirical forms of data. pleasure in Solanas’s scummy attempt to write take tremendous We this puerile performance. Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00400 by guest on 30 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00400 by guest on 30September 2021

92 Warner/Watts Morrissey, Paul. 1996. “Pop Shots: A NewFilmGlamorizes Andy Warhol’s Factory, ButOneParticipant Mancini, Joseph. 1968. “Andy Warhol FightingforLife.” NewYorkPost, 4June:1, 3–4. Lord, Catherine. 2007. “Wonder Waif MeetsSuperNeuter.” InThe Art ofQueeringin ,Art editedbyHenry Leonard, John. 1968. “The Returnof Andy Warhol.” NewYorkMagazine, Times Harron, Mary, andDanielMinahan.WarholShot Andy 1996. I . New York: GrovePress. Halberstam, Judith. 2005. InaQueer Time andPlace: Transgender Bodies, Subcultural Lives. New York: New Gornick, Vivian. 1970. Introduction. S.C.U.M. Manifesto, xv–xxxvi. New York: OlympiaPress. Galloway, Wanda. 1971. “Woman PsychologistOpensPrivatePractice.” NaplesDailyNews, Foucault, Michel. 1978. ofSexuality TheHistory Fahs, Breanne. 2014. Valerie Solanas: Derrida, Jacques. 1995. Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression . Translated byEricPrenowitz. Chicago: Cvetkovich, Ann.2003. Cunningham, MarkD. and MarkP. Vigen. 2002. “Death RowInmateCharacteristics, Adjustment, and Cooper, Ruth. 1968. “Division ofPsychiatry:PsychiatricReport.” CityHospitalElmhurstPsychiatric Bruhm, StevenandNatashaHurley, eds. 2004. ofChildren Curiouser:OntheQueerness . Minneapolis: BBC News.2007. “Many InmatesHave Very LowIQs.” 15February. Accessed 12January2013. http://news Basler, George. 1972. “Dolls Fine Therapy.” TheEvening News, 23November:1A. Atkinson, Ti-Grace.1974. References herself intohistorythroughanactofchild’splay Stockton, KatherineBond. 2009. TheQueerChild, orGrowingSideways inthe Twentieth. Century Durham, Solanas, Valerie.1967. Smith, Howard, andBrian Vander Horst. 1977. “Scenes: Valerie Solanas Replies.” Village Voice,1 August:28. Smith, Howard. 1968. “The Shot That Shatteredthe Velvet Underground.” Village Voice, 6June. Accessed Rubin, Gayle. 2011. “The Traffic in Women: ThePoliticalEconomy ofSex.” InDeviations: A Gayle Rubin Reed, Lou, andJohnCale. 1990. “I Believe.” SongsforDrella. Sire/London/Rino. CD. Naples DailyNews. 1976. “Coopers MakeBeautifulMusic Together.” NaplesDailyNews , 13September:2B. Naples DailyNews. 1971. “Woman PsychologistOpensOfficeHere.” NaplesDailyNews, 12September:9A. hide andgoseekamongthestacks. Remembers theRealCraziness Rogers, 55–74. Birmingham, UK: Article Press. 142–51. York UniversityPress. 26 September:1C. York: RandomHouse. Warhol). New York: The FeministPress. University ofChicagoPress. Duke UniversityPress. Confinement: ACriticalReviewoftheLiterature.” Behavioral ScienceandtheLaw20:191–210. Prison Ward. 13June. PersonalarchivesofMaryHarron. University ofMinnesotaPress. .bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/6364809.stm. Women’s Movement. New York: LinkBooks. NC: DukeUniversityPress. 12 January2013. http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2010/05/andy_warhol_sho.php. Reader, 33–65. Durham, NC:DukeUniversityPress. SCUM Manifesto. New York: SCUMBooks. An Archive ofFeelings: Trauma, Sexuality, andLesbianPublicCultures. Durham, NC: Amazon Odyssey: The First Collectionof Writings by thePolitical Pioneerofthe

— The Defiant Lifeofthe Woman Who Wrote SCUM(and WhoShot Andy

and theRealGunshots. Volume 1:

— An Introduction. Translated byRobertHurley. New

staging forfuturegenerationsagameof ” Vogue 186, 5(1May):150–52. 10 November:32–33, Valerie Solanas’s SCUM Manifesto 93

NC: Duke University Press. NC: Duke University Michigan Press. London: Routledge. 62–85. Julia Smith, Patricia ed. , Queer Sixties . Ann Arbor: University . of Pleasure of the Politics and LGBT Performance Acts of Gaiety: 2012. Sara. Warner, In The .” Politics of SCUM Manifesto and the Performative Assassin’ ‘Sweet “The 1999. Laura. Winkiel, A Dyke: 1:14. Quarterly “Dykes Behind Bars.” 1975. Against Prison. Women . Durham, Durham, . Americas Memory the in Cultural Performing the Repertoire: and Archive The 2003. Diana. Taylor, Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00400 by guest on 30 September 2021