The author of this article, Emily Martin had a lot to say about the gender stereotypes and the definition of male and female. She showed these stereotypes in the “language of biology.” She pointed out that, “female biological processes are less worthy than their male counterparts” (486). She first began to explain that that the Western culture saw women as failures. Martin used the example of what an egg and sperm do. She in many cases repeatedly mentioned that women were no use after a process was done.  For instance, she stated that once menstruation was over, it was viewed as a failure. Oppose to males having an “amazing characteristics of spermatogenesis” (487). What this means is that it was more amazing to see males manufacture several hundred million sperms per day than to see a women shed only a single gamete each month. I do think people are more amazed that men can reproduce sperm than to tell someone a female loses one single gamete each month. Its more interesting to hear just the words, millions per day.

Martin continues to explain that women get no appreciation for any female process. She gives examples from different articles that women processes are shown in negative light. At one point, one of the articles she uses said that females are unproductive and are seen as wasteful. With the examples she gives I did start to realize she was making a point. When it comes to the reproductive system, women are shown that they hold the sperm, give birth and the rest of the eggs die in the ovaries. But men are still able to produce sperm as much as 100 million a day. But later into the text, it was explained that female organs are interdependent but the male organs are independent.  Towards the end of Martins article, it was stated that as new research comes into play, these stereotypes that eggs are seen as weak and sperm is seen as “forceful penetrators” (493) could be wrong. The egg and sperm both equally need each other. No other is more useful. I agree with this. Emily Martin ends her article by telling the reader that women shouldn’t be seen as aggressive sperm catchers and once they are done with the process they are finished or in the process of the reproductive system; women automatically become servant and are no later useful. I agree with Emily’s last arguments that, “biologists use to describe their data can have importance social effects” (500). The types of words or comparisons people use to describe the reproductive system can have an impact on our society, especially for women.