Against Our Will

New York: Simon and Schuster BOOK: Corners, Spine Bumped; Light Shelf Rub to Boards; Edges Lightly Soiled; Discolouration to Boards, Spine Near Upper Edge. DUST JACKET: Repaired; Lightly Creased; Lightly Chipped; Lightly Soiled; In Archival Quality Jacket Cover. SUB-TITLE: Men, Women and Rape. DESIGNED BY: Edith Fowler. JACKET DESIGN BY: Frances Effenbein. CONTENTS: A Personal Statement 1. The Mass Psychology of Rape: An Introduction 2. In the Beginning Was the Law 3. War 4. Riots, Pogroms and Revolutions 5. Two Studies in American History 6. The Police-Blotter Rapist 7. A Question of Race 8. Power: Institution and Authority 9. The Myth of the Heroic Rapist 10. Victims: The Setting 11. Victims: The Crime 12. Women Fight Back; Acknowledgments; Source Notes; Index. SYNOPSIS: Not since Sexual Politics and The Female Eunuch has one book revealed so much about the hidden currents of male-female relations. In this exploration of rape, Susan Brownmiller concludes that "the threat, use and cultural acceptance of sexual force is a pervasive process of intimidation that affects all women," whether or not they have been actual victims of violence. Against the historical background and with scrupulous factual evidence, the author traces the use and meaning of rape in war, from Biblical times through the World Wars to Bangladesh and Vietnam. She unravels the origins of American rape laws; she explains how, why and under what circumstances rape first came to be considered a crime; and she demonstrates how medieval rape codes, written in an age when women had few legal rights, continue to confuse our modern perspective. Unflinching in its analysis, Against Our Will examines interracial rape from slavery onwards, and shows how today's interracial rape case "stands at the crossroads of racism and sexism," generating its own unique set of conflicting emotions. Susan Brownmiller does not limit her inquiry to why men rape women. She describes the brutal purpose of homosexual rape in prison and she explores the sexual molestation of children. With knowledgeable humor, she dissects Freudian psychology, defense-lawyer strategy and the underlying message in popular books, movies and magazines in order to analyze the false myths about rape and to show how these myths glamorize the victim while they romanticize the rapist, even in cases of rape-murder. Countering "the myth of the heroic rapist," the author employs a wealth of solid criminological statistics to draw a portrait of the ordinary, violence-prone young man she calls "the police-blotter rapist," detailing how he functions, alone or in gangs, and how the forces of society unconsciously conspire to let him go scot-free. Lastly, the author examines "the female victim psychology"--how it has been conditioned and how it can be changed. Scores of rape victims in Against Our Will speak personally and unforgettably of their terror, their trauma and their shocking vulnerability. This is a brilliant, fascinating, explosive study of a subject that has never before been treated in depth. Against Our Will is the definitive work on all aspects of rape. Susan Brownmiller has worked in journalism as a network television newswriter and as a staff reporter for the Village Voice. Her articles and critical pieces have appeared in The New York Times Magazine and Book Review, Esquire, Vogue, Mademoiselle and other publications.. Hard Cover. Good/Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.