The orifice through which vocal activity takes place and the orifice through which sexual activity takes place are both denoted by the wordstoma in Greek (os in Latin) with the addition of adverbs ano and kato to differentiate upper mouth from lower mouth. It is an axiom of ancient Greek and Roman medical theory and anatomical discussion that a woman has two mouths.

The censorship of such projections is a task of patriarchal culture that (as we have seen) divides humanity into two species: those who can censor themselves and those who cannot…. A piece of inside projected to the outside. It has a totally private interior yet its trajectory is public. For in her voice as she is blabbering away can be read her emotions, her character and her physical condition.”… Every sound we make is a bit of autobiography. “…she should as modestly guard against exposing her voice to outsiders as she would guard against stripping off her clothes. By projections and leakages of all kinds-somatic, vocal, emotional, sexual-females expose or expend what should be kept in…. Woman is that creature who puts the inside on the outside. Its chief tactic is an ideological association of female sound with monstrosity, disorder and death…. Putting a door on the female mouth has been an important project of patriarchal culture from antiquity to the present day. Their sounds are bad to hear and make men uncomfortable…. Women, catamites, eunuchs and androgynes fall into this category. High vocal pitch goes together with talkativeness to characterize a person who is deviant from or deficient in the masculine ideal of self-control. “Aristotle tells us that the high-pitched voice of the female is one evidence of her evil disposition, for creatures who are brave or just (like lions, bulls, roosters and the human male) have large deep voices….

Anne carson glass