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Categories: 1936 births | 1988 deaths | American writers | California writers | Feminists | Famous courtesans and prostitutes Valerie SolanasValerie Jean Solanas (April 9, 1936 - April 26, 1988) was the author of the "shock-feminism" classic SCUM Manifesto. She is famous for her 1968 shooting of pop-artist Andy Warhol and she remains the figure most closely associated with militant feminism . Born in New Jersey in 1936, Solanas was, by her own report, 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 managed to complete high school, and a degree in psychology from the University of Maryland. Details of her life until 1966 are sketchy, but it is believed she traveled the country as an itinerant, supporting herself by panhandling and prostitution. She arrived in Greenwich Village in 1966 where she wrote a play entitled Up Your Ass about a man-hating prostitute and a panhandler. In 1967 she encountered Andy Warhol outside his studio in Manhattan and asked him to produce her play, and he was fascinated enough by the title of the play to accept the script for review. He was unimpressed by the content, however, and did not bother to contact her again. Warhol left for Europe shortly afterwards, and in the interim Solanas wrote and self-published the work she is best known for the SCUM Manifesto, SCUM being the Society for Cutting Up Men. Later in 1967 Solanas began to telephone Warhol demanding he return the script of her play. Warhol admitted he had lost it, at which point she began demanding money as payment. Warhol ignored these demands. However, he did employ her for minor roles in two of his movies of the time. Solanas began to believe that her difficulties achieving financial success were exclusively due to Warhol, and on June 3, 1968 she caught up with Warhol as he entered the studio and fired three shots. Although the first two rounds missed, her third shot sent a bullet through Warhol's left lung, spleen, stomach, liver, esophagus and right lung. She then shot art critic Mario Amaya and tried to shoot Warhol's manager Fred Hughes, but her gun jammed just as the elevator arrived. Hughes suggested she take it and Solanas did so. Warhol barely survived, one point he was even pronounced dead. He never fully recovered. Solanas reportedly considered Warhol a vampire and spray-painted her bullets silver. She tried to wrap them in foil, but it made her gun jam (which it did anyway). That evening, Solanas turned herself in to the police, and was charged with numerous offences, including attempted murder. After pleading guilty she received a three year sentence, a surprisingly short sentence for such a crime, possibly influenced by Warhol's refusal to testify against her. Feminist Robin Morgan demonstrated for Solanas's release from prison. Robin Morgan later went on to edit Ms. magazine in the 1990s. Ti-Grace Atkinson , the New York chapter president of National Organization for Women (NOW), described Solanas as, "the first outstanding champion of women's rights." Another member, Florynce 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 still harassed Warhol and others over the phone, prompting the police to arrest her again. Solanas drifted into obscurity (and in and out of mental hospitals). An interview with her was published in the Village Voice in 1977. During the 1980s it is believed she was living in California, supporting her drug addiction through prostitution. In 1988, at the age of 52, she died of emphysema and pneumonia, in a welfare hotel in San Francisco. Warhol's friend Lou Reed never forgave Solanas for the attack and recorded "I Believe" with John Cale, singing "I believe/I would've pulled the switch on her myself." In 1996, the movie I Shot Andy Warhol, based on her life, was released. Selected Works
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