Question

What does Emily Martin mean in her article The Sperm and the Egg when she says that biology textbooks’ descriptions of conception tell a “scientific fairytale”

Answer 1

Answer- Emily Martin in her article, ' The Sperm and the Egg' describes," endowing eggs and sperms with intentional action, a key aspect of personhood in our culture, lays the foundation for the point of viability being pushed back to the moment of fertilization." Martin writes on the use of gender metaphors and stereotypes in order to explain cellular functioning. She observes a similar situation in scientific terms of the egg and the sperm. This phenomena includes an oppositional and hierarchical structuring of masculanity and femininity. Emily says that in this fairytale, the egg effortlessly opens her arms to the new comer, while the sperm actively struggles and physically exerts himself, thus the process of reproduction is called a scientific fairytale in her article.