Emily Martin begins her reproductive narrative by stating how "part of my goal in writing this article is to shine a bright light on the gender stereotypes hidden within the scientific language of biology." I think her deep insight into the entire concept of female and male reproductive systems is very interesting and slightly controversial. This piece really caught my attention because I am not typically a reader of scientific genres of writing. While reviewing her critical insights on the language used to describe a woman's life cycle, I agreed with her opinion. Women are represented in a negative light by medical texts, especially the ones she cited. These texts were written in a male dominated profession. Unfortunately, texts describe a woman's menstrual cycle as a "failure" and incorporates negative connotative words such as "dying, losing, denuding, and expelling." In contrast, men are glorified for producing an overabundance of sperm cells. If roles were reversed, women would surely be looked down upon. Emily Martin's analysis of the symbolic meanings of the gametes was also very critical. By stating how "the egg is seen as large and passive" and how sperm cells are "streamlined" and "efficiently powered" represents the powered gender stereotypes also found in society. "Waking up such metaphors, by becoming aware of when we are projecting cultural imagery onto what we study, will improve our ability to understand and investigate nature."
I thought this was a very interesting article. In high school biology you learn about the sperm and the egg, and we often hear in everyday banter the terms "strong swimmers" or something of that sort. We so often put the sperm in a stronger light then the egg without even thinking. I think the fact that I have never once questioned the terminology used to describe this process shows some issues we have in society.
ReplyDelete"These texts were written in a male dominated profession. Unfortunately, texts describe a woman's menstrual cycle as a "failure" and incorporates negative connotative words such as "dying, losing, denuding, and expelling."" That's an interesting quote to me. Not to be crude, but if you look at a woman's period as a failure to create life, you must look at the idea of men masturbating as such as well. They lose thousands of potential lives. I've never understood the idea of women's period being a waste. People have so many contradicting ideas. On one hand, scientifically, if you don't have sex and create a baby, that's a waste of a woman's egg. On the other hand, if you have sex and have a baby when you get your period at 11 years old, socially you are considered a "slut" or a demon on society. Many of these ideas are so contradicting, and very frustrating.
ReplyDeleteMy first thought when I read about menstruation as a failure was about male masturbation. the issue is that a lot of the stigma is always attached to females. There is no discussion about male masturbation because it is "normal" but there is always issue with female masturbation. We also try to cover up women's bodily issues. We can see things in the different terms that we have for women's periods like "monthly friend" "monthly gift" "time of the month" and even in things like commercials for example pad commercials have that blue liquid that looks like windex. They make women's bodily functions seem awful but at the same time try to pretend that women are dancing and having fun during their periods on a regular basis.
DeleteWhen I began reading Emily Martin's, "The Egg and The Sperm" I too had the same reaction as you. It was never brought to my attention the word choice used to describe women's reproductive systems. Whether this is intentional or not is the controversial issue. I just could not believe that I never recognized it on my own and that she analyzed these text so in depth that she did recognize them. It is shocking actually that more on this subject has not been brought up before in a more controversial manner.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both of you. I try to stay away from scientific texts as much as possible too but the ones Emily Martin quoted are outrageous. You can definitely see how woman are put in a negative light with writers saying women only "400 to 500" eggs will be released in a life time while males produces millions of sperm in their life time. I don't think the authors are realizing that both egg and sperm are necessary for the production of life and both are extremely essential in biology. It's also interesting how this is a male dominated profession. Maybe it would be different if there were more women scientific writers published when it comes to this topic?
ReplyDeleteI too was very surprised when reading this piece. I did not realize that these stereotypes existed even as sperm and egg are described in scientific literature. The most surprising aspect of this piece that I found was where she was talking about how female's menstruation cycle is looked at as a failure by certain people. I found this so surprising because it is the menstruation cycle that produces the egg in which a baby is made. The fact that some people think that every time an egg does not produce a child crazy to me, when males produce millions of sperm that never produce a child.
ReplyDeleteSo many great points made! I totally forgot how they separate boys and girls when learning about sex education in schools. It is great how the teachers take time to educate each gender separately, but what would happen if both boys and girls were taught in the same class? Would the male dominated language still be present or would teachers stay more gender neutral? Would the students have more or less self confidence? Also, on the topic of sexual intercourse having to result is a baby is crazy to me. Yes, this is traditional belief from the beginning of time but in reality, it can represent a sign of love, passion, caring, or even fun! This topic is VERY controversial in society and probably always will be since so many cultural and religious beliefs are practiced everyday.
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