In Emily Martin’s article “The Egg and the Sperm”, it is
clear that she is frustrated with just how big of an impact social stereotypes
play on even the intricate and exact nature of science, “In the course of my research
I realized that the picture of the egg and the sperm drawn in popular as well
as scientific accounts of reproductive biology relies on stereotypes central to
our cultural definitions of male and female.” She begins by saying that most
scientists refer to female menstruation with words that have negative
connotations like “ceasing”, “expelling” and “losing”, as if the female
reproductive organs are wasteful during the menstrual cycle, whereas sperm are
described as “remarkable” and have “sheer magnitude” despite the millions of
sperm that go unused every day. Martin goes
on to mention how throughout the history of reproductive science, scientist
have almost always referred to the sperm as the aggressor that can be given
most of the credit for human reproduction, deeming the sperm as the “rescuer”.
Despite new research showing that sperm does not have as great a mechanical
force as previously thought and that the egg plays a more active role because
of its surface being specifically made for trapping sperm, sperm continues to
get the majority of the credit and even worse, the egg is suddenly portrayed as
“disturbingly aggressive”. All of Martin’s various observations continue to
prove that no matter what science says, society has continued to devalue the
importance of the female’s reproductive role and idolize the male’s
reproductive role because of a cultural habit of stereotyping gender roles. “At
the very least, the imagery keeps alive some of the hoariest old stereotypes
about weak damsels in distress and their strong male rescuers.” In Noah
Berlatsky’s “’Twilight’ vs. ‘Hunger Games’: Why Do So Many Grown-Ups Hate Bella”
he takes a different approach to gender roles by comparing two very different
characters: Katniss and Bella. He explains that people prefer Katniss because her
“extremely competent”, “focused”, “responsible” and “tomboyish” attitude is
viewed as more valuable than Bella’s “helpless”, “passive”, “girly girl” nature.
The author seems to find it odd that so many people prefer Katniss, a killing
machine teenager, over a more normal and more feminine teen Bella. “Masculinity
and femininity isn’t a dual to the death”. It is through this statement that
the reader is able to tell that Berlatsky believes that gender roles don’t have
to be unrelated with one held above the other, but instead can intermingle.
I believe Emily Martin and Noah Berlatsky are trying to reject gender roles. Martin speaks about how the egg is important as the sperm. She believes that the egg is portrayed as being "wasteful" or even "useless at times" by shedding an egg monthly. However, one egg does not compare to trillions of sperm being wasted yearly. This causes the question to emerge, why is it that only the eggs are being wasteful? This is because society views it that way only because "blood is shed". In Noah Berlatsky's article he rejects gender roles by saying "adults in feral, find a girly teen so much less attractive than a tomboyish one." This means that we as society find women to be more attractive when they are aggressive as Katniss. While Bella is a "girly girl" Katniss is out there "racking up a body count" killing people which seems to be "more attractive" than a young sweet innocent girl. In reality this is not true she would most likely be considered manly, and this is where he rejects gender roles. In the real world, there are some women who are badasses but this doesn’t mean that they are “more attractive” than a “girly girl”.
ReplyDeleteI believe that both authors are trying to reject the gender role stereotypes. You describe how in the article, "The egg and the sperm" how Emily Martin the author talks about how its obscene for people to say that women's reproductive system isn't seen as equal to the mens. It's part of the reason stereotypes about weak women needed saving from the strong man. On the other hand in the article "Twilight' vs. Hunger Games", the author talks about the differences between Katniss and Bella. Bella is the stereotypical damsel in distress and girly girl, and katniss is this badass do it herself type female. He reinforces the differences between each but he also says that both have their strengths and weaknesses.
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