Susan Brownmiller

Susan Brownmiller is an American journalist and feminist activist whose 1975 book Against Our Will argued that rape functions as a means of social control over women.

Against Our Will: Susan Brownmiller’s 1975 book argues that rape is a tool of intimidation and social control over women. This book set out the thesis most closely associated with Brownmiller.
Second-wave feminism: Second-wave feminism was a movement from the 1960s through the 1980s focused on gender inequality in law, work, family, and sexuality. The movement’s focus on private life and structural inequality shaped the context for her book.
Andrea Dworkin: Andrea Dworkin was an American radical feminist writer and activist who analyzed pornography and male violence. Dworkin developed influential arguments about sexual violence and gendered power alongside Brownmiller.
Black feminist thought: Black feminist thought analyzes how race, gender, class, and other structures of power interact. It highlights how accounts of rape and power can overlook racialized histories and differences among women.
Rape culture: Rape culture describes social norms and practices that normalize sexual violence or excuse perpetrators. Brownmiller’s account links rape to broad patterns of male power rather than isolated acts.
Anti-rape movement: The anti-rape movement organizes to prevent sexual violence, support survivors, and challenge institutional responses. Activism against rape made the issue a public and political concern during Brownmiller’s work.
Kate Millett: Kate Millett was an American feminist writer whose 1970 book Sexual Politics analyzed power in gender relations and literature. Millett’s analysis of sexuality as political power parallels Brownmiller’s framework.
Intersectionality: Intersectionality is a framework for analyzing how interlocking systems of power shape people’s experiences. It challenges any universal account of women’s vulnerability that leaves race and class unexamined.
Patriarchy: Patriarchy is a social system in which men hold disproportionate power and authority. Her theory treats rape as one means by which patriarchal power is maintained.
New York Radical Feminists: New York Radical Feminists was a radical feminist organization founded in 1969. Brownmiller participated in the New York feminist milieu that debated sexual violence and power.

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MisogynyRelated: Her account connected sexual violence to the broader intimidation and control of women.