egg and sperm

In the article, " The Egg and the Sperm" by Emily Martin, the author attempts to shed light on the gender stereotypes hidden within the scientific language of our biology textbooks. I found this article to be very intriguing because, as a nursing student, I've been exposed to many medical and biology textbooks and it has never occurred to me that cultural beliefs could influence how a biologist described their discoveries. I had no idea that within the scientific accounts of reproductive biology, there could be a hidden stereotype implying that the male reproductive system is more dominant and active in its role than the female reproductive system. When I first began reading this article, I was a bit skeptical and thought that the author might have taken her ideas way a little far by thinking in between the lines. But the more I read and learned about the recent discoveries especially the one by John Hopkins University, I was convinced that there may be some truth to her assumptions. I was surprised to learn how some biological texts used positive connotations to portray the sperms as active, brave adventurer whereas using negative connotations like "ceasing" , "expelling" and "disintegrating" to describe an unfertilized egg to imply that it has gone to waste (Martin, pg. 2). In the article, Martin points out that majority of the sources describe the fertilization process as the egg having an impenetrable barrier called the "Zona Pellucida" and the sperm playing an active role in penetrating the barrier by mechanically burrowing and forcing its way through into the cell. Later on, research showed that it is actually the egg playing a more active process it acts an adherent to the head of the sperm which is a protein layer. Research has shown that sperm is not able to penetrate and thrust forward, it can only move sideways and once attached to the egg the sperm releases enzymes that can dissolve the Zona (Martin, pg.9). Although research suggests that both