I believe her primary argument is that the egg and the sperm has a mutual relationship. It is not that the sperm is superior to the egg or vice-versa. Without the sperm, a woman cannot produce a baby. Without the egg, a man will not have a child. Therefore, there should not be a fight about who does the more “active” part because they are equally as important. Overall, I enjoyed the reading. It was straightforward and easy to understand. It reminds me of when a couple argues about who has a bigger part in making the baby. Just because “the normal human male may manufacture several hundred million sperm per day”, it does not mean that the female is weak, with “only a single gamete each month” (486).
It is true that the male can produce fresh germs cells and the female degenerates; however, that does not mean that the sperm is more powerful than the egg. Gerald Schatten stated, “an egg will die within hours unless rescued by the sperm” (490). Does that go the same for the sperm, if not rescued by the egg? The reading even depicts the sperm as a heroic warrior. On the other hand, researchers at John Hopkins reveal that the egg actually traps the sperm. In this case, it shows that the egg is the “active” party. I like the analogy that the sperm is like the “key” and the egg is like the “lock” (496). I also like how the author questions that it can be reversed.
Overall, this reading opened my mind up. I usually just think of sex as the sperm and egg, and then a baby, but apparently it is a debate. Although the reading was interesting, I did not understand why eggs have only pictures, and not portraits.
Side note: A infant’s gender depends on the father’s genes. So the husband should not blame his wife for having a daughter or son.
I agree with you that the egg and the sperm both have an equal importance. The part where the researchers at John Hopkins explained more in depth of what the egg does, I also liked how they used that comparison of a key and a lock, making sure that both were need to complete the process. Not one was made to be seen more important than the other. Towards the end of the article there were different comparisons being made for the egg, which did you think was a stereotypes that’s still being used today about women in general?
I agree with you that Martin was emphasizing the fact that both egg and sperm hold equal importance; none is stronger than the other. It is quite interesting how even though research reveals that the old way of describing the biological process is incorrect, the researchers still choose the old way to describe it. Though, I should correct you; it is not the gender that is determined by the father’s genes–it’s the sex. Gender is a social construction.
Yes, I meant sex and not gender. Thank you.
I agree, this reading also opened my mind and made me think of how gender roles are uprooted. Many people believe in science and if science is making women appear weak( which is clearly not true) why wouldn’t people go around spreading these negative stereotypes. Both processes are equally as important and I also feel maybe rely too much on science to try to reflect how they feel about other things even if it isn’t really true.