Metaphors We Live By:
Metaphors We Live By, by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, talks about the prevalence of metaphor in everyday life. They aren’t just present in language and literature but in thought and action as well. Metaphorical concepts shape the way we think, experience, and act. Take, for instance, the conceptual metaphor “argument is war.” We see arguments as a battle, the combatants using various strategies and attacking each other’s positions in an attempt to emerge victorious. This metaphor structures the way our culture views arguments, which doesn’t necessarily hold true for other cultures and societies. An example the text gives is a society which views an argument as a dance. Such a metaphor would cause that culture to experience and carry out arguments in an entirely different way. This view is so drastically different that our culture wouldn’t even perceive them as arguments. This got me thinking about cultures I’ve learned about that, at first glance, were incredibly strange. The conceptual metaphors that dictate their everyday life must be very different from the ones that dictate ours and I’d love to learn what they are.
The Egg and the Sperm:
The Egg and the Sperm, by Emily Martin aims to “shine a bright light” on the gender stereotypes that are, surprisingly, plentiful in the scientific language of biology. The processes of the female reproduction system are often portrayed in a negative light. Menstruation and ovulation are described as wasteful and destructive, while the male spermatogenesis is praised. The wasteful depiction of women is especially interesting as men end up wasting trillions more germ cells than women in a lifetime. Despite ovulation and spermatogenesis being similar processes of production, the female (less wasteful) process is written off as bad while the male process is showered with admiration. Perhaps I haven’t been doing close reads of my biology books, but I don’t recall noticing such varied language in descriptions of the reproductive systems. This just goes to show the effect that gender roles have on our society. You can find stereotypes in just about anything related to the genders.
Connections:
Upon reading both of these texts, the connection between them becomes apparent: Metaphors We Live By taught me the importance of the metaphor and The Egg and the Sperm attested to that. The metaphor of woman and man as their respective reproductive systems can be linked to the way our society perceives genders. Women are seen as passive, wasteful, and even destructive as shown by the way scientific texts describe ovulation and menstruation. Masculinity, on the other hand, is celebrated: the “sheer magnitude” of sperm produced by spermatogenesis is showered with praise. This metaphorical concept is unique to our society and culture, however. Another culture, driven by different metaphors, will see gender roles differently. That is the beauty of the metaphor.