Susan Brownmiller, author of the landmark book on sexual assault ‘Against Our Will,’ dies at 90

Susan Brownmiller, a prominent feminist and author of the 1960s and ‘70s whose “Against Our Will” was a landmark and intensely debated bestseller about sexual assault, has died.

Susan Brownmiller, a prominent feminist and author of the 1960s and '70s whose “Against Our Will” was a landmark and intensely debated bestseller about sexual assault, has died. She was 90.

Brownmiller, who had been ill, died Saturday at a New York hospital, according to Emily Jane Goodman, a retired New York State Supreme Court justice and practicing attorney who serves as the executor of Brownmiller’s will.

A journalist, anti-war protester and civil rights activist before joining the “second wave” feminist movement in its formative years, Brownmiller was among many women who were radicalized in the ’60s and ’70s and part of the smaller circle that included Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan and Kate Millett who radicalized others.

While activists of the early 20th century focused on voting rights, the second wave feminism transformed conversations about sex, marriage reproductive rights, workplace harassment and domestic violence. Brownmiller, as much as anyone, opened up the discussion of rape.

“Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape,” published in 1975 and widely read and taught for decades after, documented the roots, prevalence and politics of rape — in war and in prison, against children and spouses. She denounced the glorification of rape in popular culture, contended that rape was an act of violence, not lust, and traced rape to the very foundations of human history.