A scholarly post by Amy Lipman

OMGZ MINA LOY IS A CRAZY BITCH AND I MEAN THAT IN THE BEST WAY.

From an article that Val gave me:

"Loy argues that women must 'Leave off looking to men to find out what you are not. Seek within yourself to find out what you are. As conditions at present are constituted you have the choice between Parasitism, Prostitution, or Negation.' Much of Loy's manifesto focuses on the social conditions of women, critiquing the institution of marriage as an economic transaction in which the bride exchanges her virginity for financial security. In order to do away with women's subjugation, Loy states that 'Woman must destroy in herself the desire to be loved' and calls for 'the unconditional surgical destruction of virginity throughout the female population at the age of puberty.' Although undoubtedly made mostly for their shock value, these statements also reflect (as would Marinetti's later manifesto) a quasi-Marxist reading of the institution of marriage in which economics and feminine virtue are linked through traditional notions of love."

-Mina Loy's Futurist Theatre by Julie Schmid

But who says that she made these statements for shock value? Who can be sure? Though she probably wouldn't be in favor of a violent or compulsory destruction of virginity...she clearly thinks that throwing away the connotative meaning of virginity would benefit society, and prevent women from relying on the exchange of virginity for love.

Jeez.