In the article, The Egg and the Sperm, author Emily Martin argues that scientific theory believes that women are less worthy than men. Martin thinks that the scientific accounts rely on stereotypes and imply that female biological processes are less worthy than the male counterparts. On page 488, Martin speaks of how female processes are shown in more of a negative light than the male production. The article explains how sperm production is “continuous from puberty to senescence, while they portray egg production as inferior because it is finished at birth.” To argue her point further, Martin states how a woman wastes around two hundred eggs for every baby produced. Whereas a man wastes more than one trillion sperm for every baby he produces.
What Martin really wants is a less stereotypical view of the egg and the sperm. I support and agree with her argument. I feel that the egg and sperm both play important roles and one should not be shown as more worthy than the other. The article compares the egg and sperm to a lock and key, making the egg the lock and sperm the key. This is saying that the egg is the one that basically sits there and lets the sperm do all the work. Meaning, the egg is the lock and the key is the sperm that has to do the work of opening the lock. I also agree with Martin that the sperm is mostly given the more active role than the egg. The process still needs the work of both the egg and sperm so it shouldn’t be stated as the sperm is more worthy and does more work than the egg.
I agree with what you said and really liked how you identified both the egg and the sperm to play equally important roles. Just because the sperm is more “active” than the egg does not mean the egg is less important than the sperm, as both are necessary to perform the entire function. It is incredibly unfair that males seem to be given the majority of the credit, and it is important that people/scientific journals view both male and females in an equal and fair light.
I believe that Martin brilliantly provides a neutral point of view on the egg and the sperm. She lashes out on a lot of the stereotypes depicted in many science textbooks of how the sperm is described as being superior then the egg. Although, it doesn’t seem like a big thing it is very significant. Women in this country are not often given the same rights as men even though they should. One of the biggest concerns that Presidential Candidates are focusing on this year is leveling the field between men and women, and articles like these would help promote equality in this country.