“Darwin suggests, in terms that perhaps ironically anticipate a feminism of difference, that the elaboration of the voice as an instrument of seduction must have occurred before the human was fully human, and before human cultures became patriarchal…”
This quote from pg 34 of the Grosz gives a fairly good summary of what is said in these few pages (33-35). After reading this passage, I was struck by the sheer amount of things that weren’t said. I did not find any indication of whether or not Grosz agrees with Darwin’s overall assertion that women have a sweeter voice than men because they developed it earlier in the primate evolution in order to attract males.
My first problem with this assertion is that what is considered to be the most desirable, most beautiful voice in a given culture can vary radically from group to group. In some places, women sing only in the chest voice (not the “sweet” head voice that is preferred in Western music), and many places prefer a forward, nasal sound. Also, men have a much larger natural range of vocal production, since they have access to the falsetto as well, which could imply the opposite assertion that men developed more flexibility vocally than women to attract mates.
Second, I feel that this portion, and the whole chapter so far, ignores that fact that music is found as a group activity in most cultures. It has been found that music production is found in all humans, and this argues for the fact that it derived from use in sexual selection. However, music has an extremely strong social aspect that thus far has not been addressed by Grosz. How is this group music related to music’s original role in sexual selection?