A string quartet named after an intimate body part

A string quartet named after an intimate body part

News

norman lebrecht

August 17, 2023

A string quartet based in Manchester is calling itself Vulva Voce.

The name seems, to our eyes, misjudged.

‘Vulva’ is the Latin term for female genitalia. It is used in anatomy lessons at medical school and has no wider social or literary application. It designates the entire body area of the female genitals.

‘Voce’ is Latin for voice, which is lodged in a different body part. The two nouns makes little sense together in English. The string quartet is presumably aiming to signal that its members are all of the same gender.

Now, it would be considered unseemly, and rightly so, if a male group were to call itself the Phallus Quartet, or the Membrum Virile.

So why apply a different standard to a female ensemble?

Because it’s just Latin and no-one knows what it means?

Wrong message.

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