The Egg and the Sperm Rhetorical Precis

In her essay “The Egg and the Sperm: How science has constructed a romance based upon stereotypical male-female roles,” Emily Martin argues that the way in which sperm and egg cells are personified facilitates the gender stereotypes between males and females. She supports her claim by pointing out how the male reproductive act of producing sperm is viewed as glorious and fascinating while the female act of menstruation is seen as wasteful, by explaining how the sperm is viewed as actively seeking the egg and the egg is seen as passively awaiting the sperm, and by stating how scientist portray the interaction between the sperm and the egg as the sperm usually penetrating or engaging the egg. Her purpose for the essay is to warn against the use of social metaphors and stereotypes in science as a means to better understand the world around us. Her essay speaks primarily to those outside the scientific community in an attempt to make them more aware of social stereotypes and metaphors in scientific language and also calls for more careful vigilance of these stereotypes and metaphors from those within the scientific community.