Valerie Jean Solanas (April 9, 1936 – April 25, 1988) was an American radical feminist writer who is best known for her assassination attempt on artist Andy Warhol.
She was born in New Jersey and as a teenager had a volatile relationship with her mother and stepfather after her parents divorce. As a consequence, she was sent to live with her grandparents. Her alcoholic grandfather physically abused her and Solanas ran away and became homeless. She came out as a lesbian in the 1950s. She graduated with a degree in psychology from the University of Maryland, College Park. Solanas relocated to Berkeley, California. There, she began writing her most notable work, the SCUM Manifesto, which urged women to "overthrow the government, eliminate the money system, institute complete automation and eliminate the male sex." [1] [2]
Solanas moved to New York City in the mid-1960s, working as a writer. She met Andy Warhol and asked Warhol to produce her play, Up Your Ass. She gave him her script, which she later accused him of losing and/or stealing, followed by Warhol expressing additional indifference to her play. After Solanas demanded financial compensation for the lost script, Warhol hired her to perform in his film, I, A Man, paying her $25.
In 1967, Solanas began self-publishing the SCUM Manifesto. Olympia Press owner Maurice Girodias offered to publish Solanas' future writings, and she understood the contract to mean that Girodias would own her writing. Convinced that Girodias and Warhol were conspiring to steal her work, Solanas purchased a gun in the spring of 1968. On June 3, she sought out Girodias, who was gone for the weekend. She then went to The Factory, where she found Warhol. She shot at Warhol three times, with the first two shots missing and the final wounding Warhol. She also shot art critic Mario Amaya, and attempted to shoot Warhol's manager, Fred Hughes, point blank, but the gun jammed. Solanas then turned herself in to the police. She was charged with attempted murder, assault, and illegal possession of a gun. She was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and pleaded guilty to "reckless assault with intent to harm", serving a three-year prison sentence, including psychiatric hospital time. After her release, she continued to promote the SCUM Manifesto. She died in 1988 of pneumonia, in San Francisco.
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en.wikipedia.org
.... Throughout this time, Feiden repeatedly refused to produce Valerie’s play. According to Feiden, Valerie then pulled out her gun, and when Feiden again refused to commit to producing the play, Valerie responded, “Yes, you will produce the play because I’ll shoot Andy Warhol and that will make me famous and the play famous, and then you’ll produce it.” As she was leaving Feiden's residence, Valerie handed Feiden a copy of her play and other personal papers. [54]
Fahs describes how Feiden then "frantically called her local police precinct, Andy Warhol's precinct, police headquarters in Lower Manhattan, and the offices of Mayor John V. Lindsay and Governor Nelson Rockefeller to report what happened and inform them that Valerie was on her way at that very moment to shoot Andy Warhol." [55] In some instances, the police responded that "You can't arrest someone because you believe she is going to kill Andy Warhol," and even asked Feiden "Listen lady, how would you know what a real gun looked like?" [
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I consider that a moral act. And I consider it immoral that I missed. I should have done target practice.
—Valerie Solanas on her assassination attempt on Andy Warhol [66] [67]
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According to Robert Marmorstein in 1968, "she has dedicated the remainder of her life to the avowed purpose of eliminating every single male from the face of the earth." [70] Feminist Robin Morgan (later editor of Ms. magazine) demonstrated for Solanas's 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" [71] [72] and as "a 'heroine' of the feminist movement", [73] [74] and "smuggled [her manifesto] ... out of the mental hospital where Solanas was confined." [73] [74] Another NOW member, Florynce Kennedy, called her "one of the most important spokeswomen of the feminist movement." [19] [72] Norman Mailer called her the "Robespierre of feminism." [71] [a]
English professor Dana Heller argued that Solanas was "very much aware of feminist organizations and activism", [75] but that she "had no interest in participating in what she often described as 'a civil disobedience luncheon club.'" [75] Heller also stated that Solanas could "reject mainstream liberal feminism for its blind adherence to cultural codes of feminine politeness and decorum which the SCUM Manifesto identifies as the source of women's debased social status." [76] [b]
Solanas and Warhol[ edit]After Solanas was released from the New York State Prison for Women in 1971, [77] she stalked Warhol and others over the telephone and was arrested again in November 1971. [78] She was subsequently institutionalized several times and then drifted into obscurity. [79]
The attack had a profound impact on Warhol and his art, and the Factory scene became much more tightly controlled afterward. For the rest of his life, Warhol lived in fear that Solanas would attack him again.
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