Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape is a 1975 book by Susan Brownmiller. The book, which is widely credited with changing public outlooks and attitudes about rape, promoted the concept that rape was not the victim's fault. Through analysis, Brownmiller described rape as "a conscious process of intimidation by which all men keep all women in a state of fear."[1] In short, Brownmiller believes that "rape is a crime not of lust, but of violence and power."[2]
Brownmiller sought to examine general belief systems that women who were raped deserved it, as discussed by Clinton Duffy and others. Believing that rape was a way for men to have instill fear in women and keep women misbehaving, she compared it to the gang lynchings of African Americans by white men.[1] This comparison was used to show how lynching was once considered acceptable by communities, and then attitudes changed, following by changed laws; Brownmiller hoped the same would happen with rape.[2] The book is cited as having influenced changes in law regarding rape, such as state laws that required three witnesses to a rape. In lieu of the books publishing, all fifty United States eliminated marital rape exemptions.[1]
Brownmiller's conclusions have been criticized by Randy Thornhill and Craig T. Palmer in A Natural History of Rape.[3]