Before I start, I should mention that this post may not be so related to Valerie Solanas's feminist aspect. But since this keeps resonating in my mind I have to write about it here!
That one question resonating in my mind is if it is okay to sell your body to support your soul (and body too actually). What most disturbed me while watching the movie was the fact that Valerie Solanas supported herself by prostituting. I have been trying to answer this question: why and how could she just sell her body to men when she actually loved women? I tried thinking that she could do so because survival is the first and foremost thing in life, and probably because she was mentally ill. But still, I kept remembering the lyrics of this song called "Girl Talk" by a Korean singer-songwriter Yuna Kim (not the figure skater!). In the song she looks back at her life thus far and says that she would, if possible, sing to her young teenaged self that she would not sell her soul to feed her body. I think this means she wouldn't abandon her own convictions and pride simply in order to make a living. I think this is what most artists should already be thinking, too. But then what Valerie did is the exact opposite of the lyrics: she sold her body so that she could keep writing, and she never changed the subject or style of her writing according to the standards of the publishing industry or the mainstream artists. Would Yuna Kim say this is better than selling one's soul to feed one's body, though? Should I not think of what Valerie did as something wrong?
Watching the movie, and after class also, I kept trying to answer which option was right if there were only two options: to sell one's body to support one's soul; or to sell one's soul to support one's body. Probably the first option is better. Probably none of the two is right. I am not sure at all, but trying to come up with an answer to this question will hopefully give me a lot more insight about how to live as an artist.
P.S. If any of you would like to get the sense of what song I am talking about is like, here is the Youtube link to Yuna Kim's live performance of the song:
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Hi Suri - excellent questions and idea. Feminists and many others have debated the question of sex work for a long time: you are right to dig in and wonder. There are two main sides: 1) the worker's side which says "we have the right to do with our bodies as we please." this side would ask for SAFER SEX WORK rather than NO SEX WORK, so activism would revolve around access to condoms and other protective things, as well as free or low-cost HIV/STD testing etc.
The other position suggests that sex work is morally wrong (a religious view), psychologically damaging, and a crime. These people support arresting sex workers and jailing/fining them, and in general criminalizing sex workers.
We must remember that SEX WORK is one of the oldest industries IN THE WORLD and that some countries (Thailand for example) are world-renowed for the 'anonymous sexual opportunities' they offer.
It is funny don't you think, that sex workers rather than the men who PAY for the anonymous sex are criminalized, arrested, beaten, murdered, and shamed? Let's think about that .... why criminalize the poor women trying to make a living, when the men (and women) who pay for the sex are just as much a part of the puzzle?
I think the cases of child abduction (stealing children to put them in the sex trade) is a much more important site of activism and concern! People *steal* children and women to force them to do sex work .... see the difference between this, and Valerie Solanas' case?
Check out this manifesto: www.aidslex.org/site_documents/SX-0015E.pdf
Still, all of your questions and concerns are quite interesting and important. Not easy questions to answer!
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