Though actually conveying the sentiments of men, they are of course tobe performed by a woman, in a small and intimate room in someone’shome, before people who are known to her and some of whom mightwell be potential suitors; she is unlikely to be a professional singer but,rather, someone’s daughter or niece or cousin. . . . We are irresistiblyreminded of the familiar cultural trope in which woman is positioned,docile and immobile, under the male gaze; and we are reminded,moreover, that it is a crucial part of the effectiveness of this fantasy thatshe appear to present herself so, to speak for herself