Wednesday, February 8, 2017
What Came First: The Sperm or the Egg?
Femininity is a feature typically viewed as weak and vulnerable in a society that has all along been implemented with gender roles and norms. In both texts, 'Twilight' vs. 'Hunger Games': Why Do So Many Grown-Ups Hate Bella? by Noah Berlatsky and The Egg and the Sperm by Emily Martin, the authors are seeking out the stronger attributes of the female as they are most often looked down on. Berlatsky's article focuses on feminine versus less feminine characteristics in two quite different movie characters. He upholds Katniss's features as he describes her as "an extremely competent, tomboyish young woman who is athletic, focused, responsible, and able to take care of herself," posing these as the characteristics that successful women should have and strive for. On the other hand, Berlatsky puts down Bella from Twilight as a troubled teen who's "a girly girl who rides her aimlessness and hormones straight to damnation," as if her femininity never got her anywhere in the movie. The author not only wants females to avoid these features, but encourages men to have them to compliment those of the butch. Emily Martin concentrated on the characteristics given to the sex cells and their connotations through scientific language. She refers to numerous passages from other authors that describe the femal reproductive organs as "biologically interdependent, while male organs are viewed as autonomous." The female reproductive system has much negative connotation as it is usually described wasteful and passive while the sperm's journey is often narrated as a superhero comic. Her solution and request for equality for the sex cells was to express them as homologous. Martin aims to raise the view of the female ovum and lower that of the sperm's to the realistic perspective or more dominant and important ovum. As Berlatsky pushes the fierceness tomboyish woman over feminine attributes, Martin strives for a more progressive outlook on the female sex cell.
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Dear Cassi,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your clear and and well-articulated blog entry! I would argue though that while Noah Berlatsky did point out the difference between Katniss' fierceness and Bella's passiveness, she goes on to make the points that both are misrepresentations of what a woman should be. Katniss is a strong fighter but at the will of others and Bella is a passive weaklings due to her want to fulfill her own desires. One is incredibly "masculine" and the other, “feminine." These two women are two ends of the spectrum and are weak where the other strives. Which goes on to make the stereotype that women have to be one or the other. "Power and Desire have to separate.” says Noah. I feel her point is that one does not have to be better than the other, there is no “right way.” I think Berlatsky does a wonderful job of summarizing this point by stating “Femininity and masculinity isn’t a duel to the death.” Which I find can be the common miscommunication of feminism both from a outside and inside perspective, the point is not that woman want to be more powerful than men by any means but rather, have the same opportunities and respect as them. We want to be able to see eye to eye, whatever differences or similarities we have. Woman do not have to be confined as to whatever “type” they are, and they do not have to be just one thing.
-Nayem CL