“[The sperm] still has as an arduous journey ahead. It must penetrate farther into the egg’s huge sphere of cytoplasm and somehow locate the nucleus…Wassarman can continue to describe the sperm as the actor, the one that makes it all happen” (Martin Volume II, 64-65). This quote elucidates how the sperm is obviously being the aggressor, taking on this adventurous journey to penetrate the weak and feeble egg. This argument presents the readers that the ideas science has created this misrepresentation that men are supposed to be the superior gender, while the women are exemplified as the inferior
\ The article, The Egg and The Sperm: How Science has constructed a Romance Based on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles focuses heavily on how scientific and medical texts, although based on biology and natural processes implies very stereotypical characteristics of each gender, through the choice of metaphors and terminology. Emily Martin tries to convey and highlight gender stereotypes hidden behind each metaphor between the reproduction of the egg and the sperm. To begin with, biological scientists are very influenced by cultural values and beliefs, evident through the implied notion that female biological processes are less worthy or less important that male biological processes. Women produce one egg each month and prepare a suitable place for them to grow and be fertilized, but in many medical texts, it is said that the shedding of the uterine lining is similar to the shedding of debris. Various texts focus on menstruation, viewed as failure which is also referred to as “chaotic disintegration of form, complementing the many texts that describe it as “ceasing”, “dying”, “losing”, “denuding”, “expelling”’ (Martin 2007, 486) Meanwhile, in male reproductive organs, the sperm is seen as miraculous and astonishing.
The result of the actions they have committed or what has been done to them, they react similarly but at different approaches, creating an idea of violence. Lady Macbeth and the protagonist from The Laboratory both used the convenience of their femininity to gain what they desire most, which is power. Considering they both want to inflict pain on a man to gain what they want. Lady Macbeth uses a persuasive technique to get what she wants, she does this by challenging Macbeth through questioning his manhood, ‘’When you durst do it, then you were a man’’. This challenges Macbeth emotionally causing him to reconsider his manhood, ‘’Prithee, peace: I dare do all that may become a man’’.
However one could also argue that Larkin seems to justify violence against women by suggesting that access to women is something men have been unfairly deprived of. This becomes evident in the first stanza where Larkin presents the girl in ‘white satin’ suggesting her purity and virginity. One could disagree with this statement and interpret the de-feminizing of women differently. It could be suggested that Larkin combines masculinity and femininity together, ‘moustached lips’, to show his view that men and women should be viewed more equally in society. However I disagree with this alternative interpretation as I feel Larkin tries to portray the attacks ‘snaggle-toothed’ and boss-eyed’ are sadistic and grotesque but he does not disagree with
And on the way the female reproductive system is set up that the process of the fertilization itself becomes a tricky business. The process is indeed fascinating because at the start the narrator tells as a matter of fact that the human body has the unquestionable urge to reproduce itself, but at the same time explains how complicated and delicate the entire process is. One ‘mistake’ from the egg and the sperm and
And the Marquise from ‘The Bloody Chamber’ is raped by the Marquis, showing the full extent of patriarchal male dominance. It is the latter three stories that I will focus on in this essay. Perhaps Carter suggests that with loss of virginity, one becomes powerful and assertive. What makes the heroine appear so powerless to the Marquis and perhaps to herself is her virginity. Being a virgin, the heroine has not yet learned to utilize her sexual power and is submissive to the Marquis, relying on his experience as a non-virgin and a man.
In both poems gender conflict is demonstrated between through the emotion of betrayal in a relationship. For example in Les Grands Seignurs she talks about “little woman” which could show the great depth of thought about how she feels towards men. The word “a toy, a plaything” suggests that’s once she got married she has became powerless and feels like she is a toy, this shows her betrayal as when you get married you expect the marriage to be fantastic and not to feel like a toy. In contrast, Medusa also demonstrates this when she says “wasn’t I beautiful?” this Is effective as I can infer that she feels insecure about her looks. It also suggests that she misses her past through the use of a rhetorical question which makes the reader feel sympathy for her.
Human Females and “Concealed” Ovulation A highly debated topic in evolutionary theory is the phenomena of a human females concealed ovulation also called hidden estrus. Concealed ovulation is basically the lack of distinctive indications of when a female’s body is ready to successfully conceive a child. Many other mammals exhibit distinctive external characteristics that tell males when a female is most likely able to get pregnant. Human females have shifted from these external signs, making the evaluation of a female’s fecundity by males difficult. However, the idea that a human females ovulatory cycle is completely hidden is also highly debated.
Through the use of symbolism, allusion, and derisive diction Rexroth portrays how a strong belief, although seemingly righteous, may in turn be detrimental to one’s potential as it allows for the human desire for indulgence to subdue the individual. Rexroth uses clearly scathing language within “Vitamins and Roughage” to portray contempt towards the conduct of the Californian country club privileged class, and to emphasize how their ways are their weakness. After painting the humble beauty of the “daughters of California” (2) (“daughters”, specifically, as women are the ones who give birth to and notably influence the following generations), Rexroth describes the class’ humanist belief as “reluctant” (3), and then portrays their actions as barbarous, “Drive into their skulls with tennis balls” (4). He shows that the belief is a strong center within the class, and how their country club pastime of tennis has seemingly no substance despite the core of humanism being self-bettering. Rexroth continues to use derisive diction in the form of sarcasm in lines seven and eight as he repeats the word “special” in regards to the intellect of the class, thus implying that the class is pompous, while in
She says he cannot love her. “I have given suck, and know how tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me: I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums, And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you have done to this” This elaborate speech of shock imagery is given as she realises that Macbeth's doubt needs to be overcome quickly and this needs extreme measures as they could miss the chance