SCUM MANIFESTO contexts 25
of state of war is this, where we envision any man a potential rapist? The war exists and we did not declare it. Now it is our turn to defend ourselves and retaliate.” 12
The lightweight video camera emerges as a new tool for wom-en: it is a medium with no history, free from any past social and artistic practice, and it has not yet been taken over by men. The use of the lightweight video camera is relatively simple, flexible and affordable: once the equipment is bought — at the price of a second-hand car — videotapes are much less expensive than an-alogue film. Women could try, delete, and start again. Women of-ten learned amongst themselves in women-only workshops aimed at sharing technical skills. Thanks to this new tool, feminists could
12 The text was initially published, truncated, in Libération on June 26, 1976, and then entirely published in Alternatives, n°1, 1977, pp. 18-19.
Carole Roussopoulos and Delphine Seyrig on the way for the film shooting of Delphine Seyrig Be beautiful and shut up!, photograph of Duncan Youngerman, 1975.