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1.5.10Sex Differences, Biology, and Music
People looking to justify socially unacceptable behaviour sometimes cite evolutionary theory on the biological differences between men and women.
“Your honour, my client’s genetic inheritance as a male human compelled him to get roarin’ drunk and commit armed robberies to get money to buy a guitar so that he could impress his sweetheart with his original songs about good-hearted women in love with good-timin’ men. So all charges oughta be dropped.”
Evolutionary theory does not provide justifications or excuses. Only explanations. Nature has nothing to do with good or evil; it unfolds with utter indifference. Anyone of either sex has the ability to override natural propensities, as discussed earlier. Humans have free will.
Both males and females have music and language capabilities, but this is not the case for all traits. Arnold Schwarzenegger and all other men carry genes for a uterus, but these genes don’t express themselves in males.
Yet, if males and females have the same musical capabilities, why are there so many more male musicians than female musicians in every society globally? How could sex differences be implicated?
For many people, even broaching the subject of sex-based behavioural propensities constitutes a strict taboo. If tangible, empirically verifiable evidence indicates something is true and significant, then declaring the subject off limits for discussion, instead of dealing with reality, amounts to odious Talibanism.
No place for that taboo here. The next few sections discuss sexual selection and music.