Valerie Solanas and the queer performativity of madness
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2011-05-20
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Towson University. Department of Mass Communication and Communication Studies
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Citation of Original Publication
Rowe, D. D., & Chávez, K. R. (2011). Valerie Solanas and the queer performativity of madness. Cultural Studies - Critical Methodologies, 11(3), 274–284. doi:10.1177/1532708611409544
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Abstract
Accusations of madness have long been hurled at queer and feminist bodies, and typically when people are deemed mad, they are granted little agency.This article attempts to read madness as potentially agentic when it manifests as what we call a “queer performativity of madness.” Using the writing of and rhetoric surrounding Valerie Solanas, the infamous radical feminist known for shooting Andy Warhol, we develop the notion of a queer performativity of madness and show how historical figures like Solanas read against the binary oppositions that often create our understanding of sexuality, reason, and politics. Though madness does not always supply agency, we suggest that rethinking madness offers fruitful resources for feminist and queer theory.