I am currently comparing various copies I can find on libgen etc. Notably the differences in introductions between the different published editions- with more recent ones being significantly more sympathetic than the older ones, despite those newer introductions being published 20 years ago, not like today.
I want to read this book and I am a little concerned that I might unironically radicalise myself. Maybe it would be good to read it in installments alongside some of the community so we can discuss the validity of the thoughts within it and perhaps come to some consensus interpretation of what this manifesto means, how it applies in our current world, alongside our broader political positions, and what conclusions we might draw that don't necessarily lead to the same (apparent) genocidal desire that the author came to.
With the rising influence of loud voices calling for overt violence against and ownership of women's bodies, voices that carry to every corner of the internet connected English speaking world (and perhaps further) along with the rising boil of machismo and fascism as viable political ideologies and campaigning strategies.. well.. I think we have reason to be concerned.
I am trans and it took a long time for me to start to feel safe enough to put down my boxcutter. Now I'm concerned that I have grown complacent and I'm worried about not only my own safety but that of my community and all women in it.
I want to know what Valerie Solanas was thinking, how she connected her experience of victimhood to her ideology, how her thoughts led her to such extreme conclusions and why she just let it go and surrendered peacefully after plugging Warhol but failing to kill anyone.
I dunno. What do you guys think?
My thinking is that, maybe with some thoughtful consideration and the participation of some even-tempered posters, we could consume this material in a way that DOESN'T leave the more volatile of us primed to do something funny yet ultimately pointless.
As foul as the prominent bastards poisoning the minds of young men against us for easy money on the internet are, I wouldn't want any of you to martyr yourselves when there's a hundred more like them ready to step in and fill the vacuum.
I suppose I'm not THAT worried though. I just think this book has floated around in the back of my head since I first heard about it and read excerpts as a teenager. My recent reading suggests that it is also super prescient on a number of other issues.
I'm probably not the best person to actually organise a reading group type of thing but I could try if nobody else wanted to "run" the thing, but if there is interest in reading this together.
^ tell me that isn't a fucken vibe.
Because an output can be derived from different inputs ("a broken clock is right twice a day"). A lot of the manifesto is psychological & sociological, so you can look at her observations of male psychology and sociology and see if a dialectical materialist understanding of sex oppression results in the same conclusion. Of course, I don't think psychological examinations of oppressors are the most useful way to analyze power dynamics, so...
The manifesto is mostly just a bombastic vent. It's got chutzpah, which may fire you up, but that's about it...
Yeah I sort of get the impression it could, suitably reinterpreted and viewed as an object mostly of ideological-historical curiousity, fit a subset of the hexbear community's sensibilities as food for thought while read with a protective layer of community and critique.
Though reading some of the excellent comments in here I think it'd be critical to have someone who's already read it able to provide suitable warnings or whatever before kicking off a reading group style thing.
Buuuut if we've never actually done a reading group here maybe it's a silly place to start.
very well put, thank you