SCUM Manifesto

The SCUM Manifesto is a self-published manifesto by American radical feminist and female supremacist Valerie Solanas. The manifesto was little-known until Solanas attempted to murder Andy Warhol the year after its publication.

The widely discussed acronym expansion Society for Cutting Up Men does not appear in the text. The term SCUM is instead a reference to certain women and first appears on page 31 of the manifesto. On page 40 Solanas says:

"The conflict, therefore, is not between females and males, but between SCUM— dominant, secure, self-confident, nasty, violent, selfish, independent, proud, thrill-seeking, free-wheeling arrogant females, who consider themselves fit to rule the universe, who have free-wheeled to the limits of this society and are ready to wheel onto something far beyond what it has to offer—and nice, passive, accepting, “cultivated”, polite, dignified, subdued, dependent, scared, mindless, insecure, approval-seeking Daddy’s Girls who can’t cope with the unknown, who want to continue to wallow in the sewer that is at least familiar...”

Some sources claim the expansion was on the cover of Solanas' original 1967 self-published edition, but this edition did not have a cover. The term did appear on the cover of the 1968 edition, which was published commercially.

Solanas rejected claims that the manifesto is a parody. The manifesto apparently represents honest views held by Solanas.

Commentary

The text tends to ramble incoherently in a manner reminiscent of certain mental illnesses. This makes it very difficult to read.

Files

• File:1968-Valerie-Solanas-S.C.U.M.-Manifesto.pdf