Valerie Solanas and Lady Gaga

After studying Valerie Solanas’ Scum Manifesto, I realized a connection between Solanas’ outlandish methods of communicating her thoughts on society’s gender issues and Lady Gaga’s own extravagant character. While Lady Gaga’s message of self-acceptance and empowerment differs greatly with respect to Solanas’ own man-hating, feminist, and radical manifesto, the two women present a seemingly outlandish front that in fact effectively supports their message by turning society’s focus inward and pinpointing the problem itself.

Lady Gaga’s extravagant persona and outlandish costumes have attracted attention from millions of people. As a result of this spotlight, she has garnered her own fair share of negativity. In a sense, she is reliving the bullying she once experienced as a child for being “different”, but on a much bigger scale. But in fact she is shedding light on the bullying issue itself, effectively bringing the issue to the forefront and spreading her message through her own self-acceptance and disregard of those who discriminate against her because of her clothing style and persona.

In that same vein, Valerie Solanas makes an eccentric manifesto that effectively draws attention to the gender hierarchy that exists in society. Her satirical piece forces society to examine its own skewed perspective on the importance and esteem of man and the obvious lack of respect for women. While her manifesto was not taken literally, it was an effective method of forcing society to look within itself and take notice of the problem that exists.