Comprehensive information and links about Valerie Solanas

Valerie Solanas , a scabrous attack on patriarchal culture which has since become a classic in underground political writing. She is also infamous for having shot the artist Andy Warhol in 1968.

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Early life

Born in Ventnor City, New Jersey to Louis Solanas and Dorothy Bondo, Solanas was regularly sexually abused by her father. Her parents divorced during the 1940s, and by the age of 15 she was homeless. In spite of this, she completed high school and earned a degree in psychology from the University of Maryland. On March 31, 1953, her son David was born. Other details of her life until 1966 are unclear, but it is believed she traveled the country as an itinerant, supporting herself by panhandling and prostitution.

about a man-hating prostitute and a panhandler. In 1967, she encountered Andy Warhol outside his studio, for review. According to Factory lore, Warhol, whose films were often shut down by the police for obscenity, thought the was so pornographic that it must be a police trap. It was never returned to Solanas.

Solanas appears in a scene in the Warhol film "I, A Man" (1968-1969). In that film, she and the film's title character (played by Tom Baker) haggle in an apartment building hallway over whether or not they should go into her apartment. Solanas dominates the improvised conversation, leading the bewildered actor through a dialogue about everything from "squishy asses", "men's tits" and lesbian "instinct". Ultimately, she leaves him to fend for himself, explaining "I gotta go beat my meat" as she exits the scene.

During this period (the late 1960s) Solanas wrote and self-published the work for which she is best known – a call for violence against men and liberation of women, called the . SCUM is generally held to be an acronym of Society for Cutting Up Men, although this acronym does not appear in the manifesto itself, and some believe that Solanas's S.C.U.M. had no other meaning other than the word scum. SCUM gained Solanas a following among some feminists, who use her provocative text as a wake-up call and a source of reflection.

Later in 1967, Solanas began to telephone Warhol, demanding he return the . When Warhol admitted he had lost it, she began demanding money as payment. Warhol ignored these demands - but offered her a role in "I, A Man" perhaps as compensation.

Attempted assassination

On June 3, 1968, she fired 3 shots from a handgun at Warhol after they entered his studio. One bullet shot through Warhol's left lung, spleen, stomach, liver, esophagus and right lung, the other two missed. She then shot art critic Mario Amaya and tried also to shoot Warhol's manager Fred Hughes, but her gun jammed. (Solanas reportedly considered Warhol a vampire and spray-painted her bullets silver. She had previously experimented with wrapping them in aluminum foil, but the foil made her gun jam.)

Just then, the elevator arrived: Hughes suggested she take it and she did, leaving the Factory. Warhol barely survived; he was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital. He never fully recovered and had to wear a corset to prevent his injuries from worsening for the rest of his life.

That evening, Solanas turned herself in to the police and was charged with attempted murder and other offenses. Solanas made statements to the arresting officer and at the arraignment hearing that Warhol had "too much control" over her and that Warhol was planning to steal her work. Pleading guilty, she received a three-year sentence. Warhol refused to testify against her.

Release from prison

Feminist Robin Morgan (later editor of Ms. magazine) demonstrated for Solanas' release from prison. Ti-Grace Atkinson, the New York chapter president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), described Solanas as "the first outstanding champion of women's rights." Another member, Florence Kennedy, represented Solanas at her trial, calling her "one of the most important spokeswomen of the feminist movement."

After her release from prison in 1971, she was regarded by some as a martyr. She persisted in stalking Warhol and others over the telephone, however, and was arrested again. An interview with her was published in the was ever meant to be taken seriously. Solanas drifted into obscurity, and was in and out of mental hospitals. During the 1980s, it is believed she was living in California, supporting a drug addiction through prostitution. In 1988, at the age of 52, she died of emphysema and pneumonia in a welfare hotel in San Francisco.

A copy of the Warhol's friend Lou Reed never forgave Solanas for the attack and recorded a song, "I Believe" with John Cale, singing "I believe