0:0- 1:25 clip (I just looked up a cartoon clip and up until
this point was what I was looking for but its bad humor after this time)
In Emily Martin’s article about the egg and the sperm, she
looks at the ways in which sociology shapes the way scientific research is
being reported. Her main focus
here is that the women’s processes and egg are described with passive words,
whereas, men’s sperm and processes are described as active and exciting. In her research, she looks at different
texts and reports that images of the egg are described as feminine and passive
by using words like “drift” or “is swept,” while males’ sperm are said to
“activate the developmental program of the egg” (Martin 199). I thought her research yielded
interesting results so I wanted to find an example myself that demonstrated
what she was talking about.
I was able to find a video on youtube titled “Sperm’s
World,” which, right from the start was funny because it implied the importance
of sperm from the title alone by suggesting that they had their own world. Skip is a young hopeful sperm who is
talking to Gary, a larger sperm.
He describes to Gary that he needs to stop watching TV that he needs to
stop being lazy, and start training for the big swim. In this sentence alone, he has implied that sperm are not
passive in telling his friend to turn off the TV, and that they need to be active
and energetic to prepare for “the big swim.” Skip then goes into a story about how even though he is
considered small, he has high hopes and dreams for reaching an egg and creating
a child, all while a positive instrumental tone is played in the background. This scene sets this small sperm up to
be the knight in shining armor who has to train to take a long journey to reach
the egg and create a baby. He has
portrayed himself in a very active way in which he will fulfill this heroic
journey.
I thought that it was interesting that in a small youtube video
that was merely made for light funny entertainment the ways of speech Martin
looks at are implied. In this clip
we can see the way in which the sperm set themselves up to be the high energy
active agents in creating a baby.
I enjoyed watching your video and i think it it directly correlates with the argument that Emily Martin has. The video describes the sperm as being the masculine and only contributing factor the process of conception in the same way the most science books and sexual education courses teach. Although making light of the dilemma, the message is still conveyed that the sperm does all of the work while the egg just sits their dormant waiting for it to be penetrated. I enjoyed that you used humor to make an example of Martin's argument, humor always makes things better.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed watching your video and I think that it directly correlates with the argument that Emily Martin is discussing. The video describes the sperm as being the masculine and only contributing factor in the process of conception in the same way the most science books and sexual education courses teach. Although making light of the dilemma, the message is still conveyed that the sperm does all of the work while the egg just sits their dormant waiting for it to be penetrated. I enjoyed that you used humor to make an example of Martin's argument, humor always makes things better.
ReplyDeleteI think it was interesting that you said "In her research, she looks at different texts and reports that images of the egg are described as feminine and passive," because that points out there are pre-exsiting gender perceptions in our society. We do not call something like "femininely passive/quiet" (which sounds awkward), but we generally associate those features with women.
ReplyDeleteThe video is very interesting especially when the egg is absent from the conversation. It is true that this video conincides with sperms being portrayed as active and agressive in the article, but I am interested in how people are reacting to it and what the effects are. I am assuming that the video was made by man because I read it as a man being cocky and ambitious to some degree. It might be fun to see how would a woman narrate the situation of the egg, or how the sperm video would be different produced by women.
I think it is interesting how something that we read in class about a scientific textbook can be seen in a cartoon youtube video. This type of thing is something that I never really thought about before or even noticed but now that it was discussed in class I can see that it is a lot more prevalent than I thought; especially after seeing your video.
ReplyDeleteI thought that this cartoon was very funny, and really liked how it compared to the article we read for class. I do think that scientific textbooks sometimes are biased. People cannot help being biased in all aspects of life. The clip shows that the women just wait while the men do all the work, while that is not necessarily true. This article was one of my favorites all semester. It showed how the way that things are taught will change how people act.
ReplyDelete