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Title: Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape by Susan Brownmiller ISBN: 0-449-90820-8 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 01 June, 1993 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.7 (23 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: AN HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF RAPE
Comment: Published in the midst of the second wave women's movement AGAINST OUR WILL remains an integral book in the feminist literary canon to the present day. Employing an historical analysis Brownmiller reveals in exquisite detail how some men have been subjugating some women since Biblical times. Her thesis of the use of rape during wartimes as an arsenal for the winning army is especially strong and admirable. This section alone deserves to be read by anyone interested in gender and women's studies as it clearly demonstrates how rape has been used to further antagonize and horrify the defeated population. The utilization of rape during the World Wars, Vietnam, Bangladesh, and Serbia is certainly a difficult bit of knowledge to swallow. This book clearly demonstrates how rape has been used to keep some women on edge and weary of being both in public spaces and in their own homes.
Despite Brownmiller's important thesis I have several problems with AGAINST OUR WILL. Brownmiller has a tendency to over-emphasis her arguments with a deluge of statistics and case studies. It's almost as if she inserted every historical example she could find to further her arguments. Less is better in this instance. If she pared down her examples I believe her thesis wouldn't have been diluted in any such way. Another objection I have to AGAINST OUR WILL is her assertion of the following quote from her introduction, "Man's discovery that his genitalia could serve as a weapon to generate fear must rank as one of the most important discoveries of prehistoric times...[Rape] is nothing more or less than a conscious process of intimidation by which all men keep all women in a state of fear". My problem with this passage is two-fold. First, I think it is mundane and questionable to argue that man's discovery of rape ranks high next to the discovery of fire, etc. I also have clear problems with Brownmiller's assertion that *all* men contemplate rape to keep *all* women in a constant state of fear. It is clear that there are variations of fear and victimization in the general population. Brownmiller argued this every point later in her book when she discussed issues of class and race. To generalize this phenomenon to every man and woman is dangerous in itself. I consider myself to be a feminist but I strongly dispute some of Brownmiller's arguments.
Overall, AGAINST OUR WILL is an important book to read but please be careful not to consume all of the author's arguments at face value.
Rating: 5
Summary: As relevant today as ever.
Comment: This book is as ground-breaking today as it was in 1975. Brownmiller systematically identifies and combats the many rape myths which have long kept both women and men in chains and in doing so, illustrates just exactly how much work anti-rape activists have ahead. By approaching the subject of rape in political terms, she challenges the reader to examine their own thoughts and experiences in a new light. This book is a daring and unapologetic appeal to people everywhere to rethink everything we ever thought we knew about sexual violence.
Rating: 5
Summary: The enormity of such crimes still is overwhelming
Comment: For an excellent read on the topic of rape and war, please read "Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape" by Susan Brownmiller. The enormity of such crimes is well documented by Brownmiller.
When I read the book in the late 1970s, my understanding of the sexual abuse consequences of war left me overwhelmed by the agony of millions of women through the ages. Upon re-reading it years later, the impact of the book still left me devastated.
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Title: I Never Called It Rape: The Ms. Report on Recognizing, Fighting, and Surviving Date and Acquaintance Rape by Robin Warshaw ISBN: 0060925728 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 17 August, 1994 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Transforming a Rape Culture by Emilie Buchwald, Pamela R. Fletcher, Martha Roth ISBN: 1571312048 Publisher: Milkweed Editions Pub. Date: 01 January, 1995 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Men Who Rape: The Psychology of the Offender by A. Nicholas Groth, H. Jean Birnbaum ISBN: 0738206245 Publisher: Perseus Publishing Pub. Date: October, 2001 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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Title: A Natural History of Rape: Biological Bases of Sexual Coercion by Randy Thornhill ISBN: 0262700832 Publisher: Bradford Book Pub. Date: 01 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Recovering from Rape by Linda E. Ledray ISBN: 0805029281 Publisher: Owl Books (NY) Pub. Date: 01 July, 1994 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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