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 Influence and analysis

Author James Martin Harding explained that, by declaring herself independent from Warhol, after her arrest she "aligned herself with the historical avant-garde's rejection of the traditional structures of bourgeois theater,"[95] and that her anti-patriarchal "militant hostility... pushed the avant-garde in radically new directions."[96] Harding believed that Solanas' assassination attempt on Warhol was its own theatrical performance.[97] At the shooting, she left on a table at the Factory a paper bag containing a gun, her address book, and a sanitary napkin.[98] Harding stated that leaving behind the sanitary napkin was part of the performance,[99] and called "attention to basic feminine experiences that were publically [sic] taboo and tacitly elided within avant-garde circles."[100]

Feminist philosopher Avital Ronell compared Solanas to an array of people: Lorena Bobbitt; a "girl Nietzsche"; Medusa; the Unabomber; and Medea.[101] Ronell believed that Solanas was threatened by the hyper-feminine women of the Factory that Warhol liked and felt lonely because of the rejection she felt due to her own butch androgyny. She believed Solanas was ahead of her time, living in a period before feminist and lesbian activists such as the Guerrilla Girls and the Lesbian Avengers.[66]

Solanas has also been credited with instigating radical feminism.[61] Catherine Lord wrote that "the feminist movement would not have happened without Valerie Solanas."[4] Lord believed that the reissuing of the SCUM Manifesto and the disowning of Solanas by "women's liberation politicos" triggered a wave of radical feminist publications. According to Vivian Gornick, many of the women's liberation activists who initially distanced themselves from Solanas changed their minds a year later, developing the first wave of radical feminism.[4] At the same time, perceptions of Warhol were transformed from largely nonpolitical into political martyrdom because the motive for the shooting was political, according to Harding and Victor Bockris.[102] Solanas' idiosyncratic views on gender are a focus of Andrea Long Chu's 2019 book, Females.[103]

Fahs describes Solanas as a contradiction that "alienates her from the feminist movement", arguing that Solanas never wanted to be "in movement" but nevertheless fractured the feminist movement by provoking NOW members to disagree about her case. Many contradictions are seen in Solanas' lifestyle as a lesbian who sexually serviced men, her claim to be asexual, a rejection of queer culture, and a non-interest in working with others despite a dependency on others.[12] Fahs also brings into question the contradictory stories of Solanas' life. She is described as a victim, a rebel, and a desperate loner, yet her cousin says she worked as a waitress in her late 20s and 30s, not primarily as a prostitute, and friend Geoffrey LaGear said she had a "groovy childhood." Solanas also kept in touch with her father throughout her life, despite claiming that he sexually abused her. Fahs believes that Solanas embraced these contradictions as a key part of her identity.[12]

In 2018, The New York Times started a series of delayed obituaries of significant individuals whose importance the paper's obituary writers had not recognized at the time of their deaths. In June 2020, they started a series of obituaries on LGBTQ individuals, and on June 26, they profiled Solanas.[104]

Alice Echols stated that Solanas' "unabashed misandry" was not typical within most radical feminist groups during the latter's time.[105][106]