Susan Brownmiller

“Susan Brownmiller (born February 15, 1935) is an American feminist journalist, author, and activist best known for her 1975 book Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape. Brownmiller argues that rape had been previously defined by men rather than women, and that men use it as a means of perpetuating male dominance by keeping all women in a state of fear. … Brownmiller’s path into journalism began with an editorial position at a ‘confession magazine’. She went on to work as an assistant to the managing editor at Coronet (1959–60), as an editor of the Albany Report, a weekly review of the New York State legislature (1961–1962), and as a national affairs researcher at Newsweek (1963–1964). In the mid-1960s, Brownmiller continued her career in journalism with positions as a reporter for NBC-TV in Philadelphia (1965), staff writer for The Village Voice (1965), and as a network news writer for ABC-TV in New York City (1966–68). Beginning in 1968, she worked as a freelance writer; her book reviews, essays, and articles appeared regularly in publications including The New York Times, Newsday, The New York Daily News, Vogue, and The Nation. In 1968, she signed the ‘Writers and Editors War Tax Protest‘ pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War. Brownmiller volunteered for Freedom Summer in 1964, wherein she worked on voter registration in Meridian, Mississippi. … Returning to New York, she began writing for The Village Voice and became a network TV newswriter at the American Broadcasting Company, a job she held until 1968. She continues to write and speak on feminist issues, including a recent memoir and history of Second Wave radical feminism. … Against Our Will was a highly controversial book. Brownmiller’s basic premise was contested by some sections of the left wing, who considered it untrue that ‘all men benefit’ from the culture of rape, and who believed rather that it was possible to organize both women and men together to oppose sexual violence. The book also received criticism from Angela Davis, who thought Brownmiller disregarded the part that black women played in the anti-lynching movement and that Brownmiller’s discussion of rape and race became an ‘unthinking partnership which borders on racism’. In 1995, the New York Public Library selected Against Our Will as one of 100 most important books of the 20th century. …”
Wikipedia
Guardian: US feminist Susan Brownmiller on why her groundbreaking book on rape is still relevant (Video)
Cosmopolitan: When a Feminist Trailblazer Turns to Victim-Blaming, It’s Time to Let Go of a Hero
amazon: Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape