Societal effects are so far outreaching; they can even distort our image of facts. In “The Egg and the Sperm,” by Emily Martin, the argument goes that the reproductive cycle of a woman is portrayed in a dark ages light; incapable, passive and wasteful. In all respects, I find her argument to be valid. When humans first developed these capabilities of researching science, and more specifically the human body, the people partaking in this research were almost exclusively men. During that era, men were the bread makers and women were the child bearers. That is just how it was, and so it had a tremendous effect on really all aspects of life, and especially played a bias in researching the female human body. When it came to the reproductive cycle of the female, the male researchers attempted to explain their findings in the only channel they knew how to and believed to be true. However, I do not think the author found this to be an issue as much now as the views of females in our society have rapidly changed. Rather, Emily Martin was more concerned with how the textbooks that are in use now, and especially those with recent updates, have not reflected these changes in our society into their language.

If I were a woman in this day and age, I would probably be furious as well, as some of the diction used continues to not even accurately reflect data we know to be true. For example, numerous textbooks refer to the female egg as passive, having to wait for the male sperm to bring it meaning, and create an embryo. The sperm is all trumped up as this savior, while in reality we know it can barely move and is actually caught by the egg. Not only that, the author found cases where the sperm was laid out to be aggressive, and that they penetrate the outer shell and dig deep to the nucleus, where it is really the nucleus swooping up the sperm.

Swift advancements have been made recently towards eliminating sexism from our world. Change will only come if we have more naysayers like Ms. Emily Martin in our society, who raise flags in instances that need resolution and clarity. Slow and steady wins the race.