bell hooks writes this in The Will to Change (2004), Chapter 4: Stopping Male Violence; p. 66 in Wikiquote’s citation. The attribution concerns a published argument, not an independently dated speech.
“The first act of violence that patriarchy demands of males is not violence toward women” bell hooks, The Will to Change (2004), Chapter 4: Stopping Male Violence; p. 66 in Wikiquote’s citation. Exact published wording.
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Provenance
The source
Work
The Will to Change
Edition checked
2004 English text
Location
Chapter 4: Stopping Male Violence; p. 66 in Wikiquote’s citation
The first act of violence that patriarchy demands of males is not violence toward women.
This English book carries a 2004 copyright notice. The brief excerpt is used to identify and discuss the passage.
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Context
Why it mattered
The next sentences explain the violence as the suppression of men’s emotional lives. hooks argues that relationships cannot become more loving merely by demanding greater intimacy from people taught to sever their capacity for feeling.
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bell hooks was the pen name of Gloria Jean Watkins, a cultural critic and teacher whose writing connected race, gender and class. Her books include Ain’t I a Woman and Teaching to Transgress; she made accessible feminist education and the practice of love central subjects of her work.
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Cite this
The primary source (Chicago)
hooks, bell. The Will to Change. 2004. Chapter 4: Stopping Male Violence; p. 66 in Wikiquote’s citation.
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Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘The first act of violence that patriarchy demands of males is not violence toward women’?” Last verified 9 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/the-first-act-of-violence-that-patriarchy-demands-of-males/