Solanas vs Freud

For those of you who read both the S.C.U.M Manifesto by Valerie Solanas and Freud's Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, you would immediately pick up the blatant opposing views that each other has for the other. Specifically, it was Solanas who created many different theories and assumptions that directly attacks the Freudian theories. It was as if Solanas read the three essays of Freud and set out to disprove the theories in her own manifesto. Just like Freud's book when it first came out, Solanas' manifesto was not widely accepted and people were very skeptical of the new radical theories. However, in the case of the S.C.U.M manifesto, it is still to this day very hotly debated and the book has even been banned in some instances by various universities and organizations. Solanas uses her manifesto to degrade men by signalling out their uselessness and contradict Freud's famous theories such as the penis envy theory.

Solanas instead uses the phrase "pussy envy" which makes it sound very vulgar due to the nature of the word and the context in which it is used. The word may have seem to offend certain groups of people but it also gives that much needed shock value that brings about buzz. Solanas leads the readers of her manifesto to believe that men are the actual ones who envy women. This directly opposes common accepted theory and creates that radical notion with it. Freud has been an iconic figure and by flipping his theories, Solanas is able to transfer credibility to her side and create a theory of her own. Whether we believe it to be true would be completely up to the reader.