After reading the article, “The Egg and the Sperm” written by Emily Martin provides an excellent view on a lot of the stereotypical female and males roles dictated by society. She discusses about how often times the sperm is valued higher than the female egg. Martin argues that although both men and women go through biological processes for reproduction and these processes should be seen as homologous they often are not, as one is usually portrayed as the stronger. Another excellent point that Martin makes in the article is that the egg is described as being passive while the sperm is described as being aggressive, which leads to certain stereotypes that a man is rescuing a female. Throughout the article, Martin describes many situations in which the egg is seen as inferior to the sperm not only in society but through many science textbooks. 

As I have previously mentioned, I agree with many of the points that Martin made throughout the article, and I have found this an excellent opportunity to discuss about inequalities women face in the United States and throughout the world. Growing up, I had huge amounts of respect for my mother and the lessons my parents taught me have carried on to treat women fairly and equally. I also happen to be a Muslim, and in Islam there is an extreme amount of respect for women. Prophet Muhammad says “Paradise lies at the feet of your mother”(Musnad Ahmad, Sunan An-Nasâ’i, Sunan Ibn Mâjah). As one can clearly see, Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam encouraged treating women fairly and equally, the same way you would treat another man and many of the portrayals of Islam today are often depicted in mainstream media as extremists.  This is what I found so intriguing about this article, it depicted the unjust treatment of women in this country, even down to the gametes.