Melanie Chapman
PSY/265
June 27, 2013 Sally Henzel
The Sperm and the Egg Eggna, one of the many, many, millions of eggs produced while still in the fetal ovaries is finally able to make the journey and become fertilized. It has been twenty some odd years in the making. This long, overdue journey means she will soon be meeting up with Spermy, the lucky sperm who will assist Eggna in forming a new life. Spermy, the selected lucky sperm that was chosen for the mission is on his way to successfully complete his journey. His one and only purpose is to find Eggna and begin forming and creating a new life. Spermy’s little life begins in the seminiferous tubules, located inside the testes. Spermy relocates himself to the epididymis before ejaculation, patiently waiting for the powerful push that was ascend him and guide him through the urethra. While in the urethra, Spermy is mixed with a secretion coming from the prostate gland that assists Spermy on his journey in finding the female ovum. A force caused by contractions of the pelvic muscles discharges Spermy and the secretion. A fluid then follows them from the seminal vesicles (glands that empty into the vas deferens) that contain sugar. Spermy final exists his ride, the penis, and enters the vagina, where he begins his journey of finding Eggna. Meanwhile, Eggna awakes to start her mission of the day. Her chances of becoming fertilized are limited, although a woman will ovulate roughly four hundred times in her lifetime. Eggna, however, still only has a one in five hundred million chance of being fertilized, and ovulation is a process that can take anywhere from a minute and up. Eggna is located in a follicle in the abdominal cavity that ruptures rather quickly, and the fluids inside the follicles contain millions of tiny cells that exit with the rupture. Eggna is then surrounded by lots of little cells that will ultimately provide her protection and nourishment as she embarks on her
References: Rathus, S. A., Nevid, J.S., and Fichner-Rathus, L. (2011). Human sexuality in a world of diversity (8th ed.) Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.