Why Female Violence Gets a Free Pass

On June 3, 1968, Valerie Solanas walked into Andy Warhol's studio and shot him. Decades later, she has become a feminist icon, her SCUM Manifesto is taught in universities, and Hollywood celebrated her life in a major film that is now returning to theaters in a new restoration. How did an attempted murderer become a cultural hero?

In this episode I'm joined by Janice Fiamengo, Tom Golden, and Jim Nuzzo to explore one of the most striking double standards in modern culture: why female violence is so often explained, romanticized, and even celebrated, while male violence is treated as evidence of innate evil.

00:00 Valerie Solanas and the Attempted Murder of Andy Warhol 01:06 Introducing the Panel 01:37 Why Is Valerie Solanas Being Celebrated? 05:16 Hollywood's Romanticization of Female Violence 11:48 The SCUM Manifesto and Feminist History 17:00 Did Feminism Embrace Valerie Solanas? 22:49 Was Valerie Solanas Mentally Ill? 25:15 Why Society Excuses Female Violence 30:01 Feminist Utopias and Anti-Male Ideology 34:17 Is Feminism a Public Health Problem? 36:33 Female Violence and the Double Standard 40:35 Why We Don't Excuse Violent Men 42:29 Gynocentrism and Cultural Bias 46:39 Protection vs Special Treatment 49:00 Why We Ignore Violence by Women 52:00 Final Thoughts

------------------------------- Follow them here: Janice Fiamengo: https://substack.com/@fiamengofile James Nuzzo: https://substack.com/@jameslnuzzo?utm... Tom Golden: https://substack.com/@menaregood?r=1r...

ΠΗΓΗ Hannah Spier, MD και Men Are Good!

εχουν μονο ενα χρωμοσωμα Χ, εσπευσε να τους χαρακτηρισει ως κατωτερες οντοτητες. Συγκεκριμενα, στο βιβλιο της "Scum Manifesto" υποστηριζει φανατικα την θεωρια της περι ανδρικης κατωτεροτητας καθως επισης και οτι οι ανδρες πρεπει να εξαλειφθουν. Αναμεσα σε αλλα ⬇️

— Completely Exhausted (@ek_tou_kanapeos) March 7, 2025

Feminists celebrating female violence

• J. Bindel 2018 "Bone up on your righteous man-hating this summer by rereading feminist classic, SCUM Manifesto" Feminist Current

• P. Chesler 2020 "When Valerie Solanas Shot Andy Warhol: A Feminist Tale of Madness and Revolution" https://t.co/NL6qG3iIsv pic.twitter.com/Etx3fcL4tn

— Jeffrey Ketland (@jeffreyketland) July 4, 2026

Another early leader of second wave feminism wrote the SCUM Manifesto (Society for Cutting up Men).

On June 28, Solanas was indicted on charges of attempted murder. In January 1969, Solanas underwent psychiatric evaluation and was diagnosed with chronic paranoid schizophrenia. pic.twitter.com/UyQLy1FIIT

— Gender Studies for Men (@JohnDavisJDLLM) December 9, 2019

'Radical feminist voices have contributed to this climate by framing men as a problem to be fixed or ignored. In her 1967 SCUM Manifesto, Valerie Solanas declared: “Retaining the male has not even the dubious purpose of reproduction”'@SAVEservicesorg https://t.co/pZIBr8ISJv

— Artists Against the False Allegations Industry (@AAFAI_org) June 9, 2026

Three core methods by feminists
• Erase female violence
• Dehumanize men & boys
• Remove due process

eg “Bone up on your righteous man-hating this summer by rereading feminist classic, SCUM Manifesto” (by permanently oppressed Julie Bindel in Feminist Current, 2018) https://t.co/a6Iz7ZK5Rs pic.twitter.com/3YjUpDNlcr

— Jeffrey Ketland (@jeffreyketland) June 11, 2026

We’ve all heard of Andrew Tate, but who here knows this name: Valerie Solanas?

She was a radical feminist, whose prose, I assure you, will make Tate’s latest tweet seem like a Shakespearean love letter.

Read them for yourself – here are some choice words from Solanas’s infamous… pic.twitter.com/ADSvnfbURQ

— TheTinMen (@TheTinMenBlog) April 24, 2025

Fem fact 2. In 1967, Valerie Solanas argued in her SCUM Manifesto that men should be eliminated for their own good, & attempted to murder Andy Warhol in '68. Ti-Grace Atkinson, leader of NOW's New York chapter, praised her as the "first outstanding champion of women's rights." pic.twitter.com/DeRKH5shB3

— Janice Fiamengo calls out feminist fraud (@JaniceFiamengo) January 2, 2023

Here is a partial list of things that Valerie Solanas called men in her SCUM Manifesto. See my post at The Nuzzo Letter for the full list. https://t.co/OvJopyKuGR pic.twitter.com/xQ8gc8xWvL

— James L. Nuzzo, PhD (@JamesLNuzzo) July 2, 2026

"… In today’s climate of Trumpism and the #MeToo movement, man-hating should be seen as a proud, feminist response." (Julie Bindel)https://t.co/mkJIzURMsF

— Jeffrey Ketland (@jeffreyketland) October 3, 2023

Yep, Julie Bindel, who
- excuses butchering a man with hammer
- excuses Amber Heard's domestic abuse of her victim
- admires Valerie Solanas' SCUM manifesto and attempted murder of Andy Warhol
- thinks men should be put in "camps"
- describes herself as a "righteous man-hater". pic.twitter.com/ib1Rs411N3

— Jeffrey Ketland (@jeffreyketland) February 14, 2023

Join Hannah Spier, Janice Fiamengo, and Jim Nuzzo, and myself for a fascinating discussion about one of our culture’s most striking double standards: why violence by women is so often explained, excused, or even celebrated, while violence by men is treated very differently. We… pic.twitter.com/mUiiwAEWD6

— Tom Golden | Men Are Good (@trgolden) July 3, 2026

Feminists celebrating female violence

• J. Bindel 2018 "Bone up on your righteous man-hating this summer by rereading feminist classic, SCUM Manifesto" Feminist Current

• P. Chesler 2020 "When Valerie Solanas Shot Andy Warhol: A Feminist Tale of Madness and Revolution" https://t.co/NL6qG3iIsv pic.twitter.com/Etx3fcL4tn

— Jeffrey Ketland (@jeffreyketland) July 4, 2026

Faceof... 

Why We Pretend Women Aren’t Violent

Feminist violence gets a free pass. It is contextualised if not celebrated.
I Shot Andy Warhol is a film about Valerie Solanas - the feminist who shot Andy Warhol and wrote the book SCUM Manifesto.

"For Harron, the film returns at a moment when both its treatment of gender and… pic.twitter.com/4uzeLt9EtF

— James L. Nuzzo, PhD (@JamesLNuzzo) June 10, 2026