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What Biological Stories are Americans Telling About the Egg and the Sperm?

View more insights in Social Sciences - Sociology - Gender and Feminism

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Rene Almeling’s qualitative interviews reveal the persistence of the traditional active sperm/passive egg metaphor alongside a newer perspective emphasizing gametes’ similarity.

Image courtesy of interviewee. March 8, 2024

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This video video discusses the influential work of anthropologist Emily Martin and her study on gendered metaphors in scientific descriptions of human fertilization. About 30 years ago, Martin observed biologists at Johns Hopkins and found that they attributed masculine characteristics to sperm—depicting it as active and competitive—and feminine characteristics to eggs—describing them as passive and waiting. She concluded that these metaphors reflected cultural beliefs about gender, which distorted scientific understanding of fertilization processes.

The speaker, inspired by Martin, conducted a similar investigation that revealed two prevailing metaphors in public understanding: one aligning with the traditional active sperm vs. passive egg narrative, and another suggesting both sperm and egg are equal, seen as two halves of a whole. This video video second metaphor seemed influenced by increased public awareness of genetics, emphasizing equal contributions from parents.

The speaker stresses the importance of recognizing how cultural beliefs around gender shape scientific knowledge and highlights the significance of metaphors in revealing these assumptions. They emphasize that these findings can improve scientific accuracy by identifying and addressing cultural biases in the framing of biological processes. Ultimately, the study shows that the way we narrate biological phenomena reflects our societal views on gender, and the conversation around these metaphors may evolve as societal attitudes change.

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Here are some articles that discuss topics similar to the one you , focusing on gendered metaphors in science, cultural biases in scientific narratives, and the implications of these perspectives on our understanding of biological processes:

1. **"Gendered Narratives in Science: The Role of Metaphor in Understanding Reproductive Biology"** - This article examines how metaphors used in scientific discourse influence public perception and understanding of reproductive processes, highlighting examples from various biological fields.

2. **"Language and Gender in Scientific Communication"** - This research explores how language and gender biases manifest in scientific literature, impacting both the interpretation and dissemination of scientific knowledge.

3. **"Metaphors We Live By: The Impact of Language on Scientific Thought"** - This paper delves into the relationship between metaphorical language and scientific conceptualization, particularly in the fields of biology and medicine, and discusses how these metaphors can perpetuate stereotypes.

4. **"The Politics of Metaphor: Gender Bias in Biological Science"** - This article critically analyzes the metaphors that dominate biological discussions about gender, arguing for a more equitable representation of both male and female roles in reproductive science.

5. **"Beyond the Egg and Sperm: Rethinking Gendered Metaphors in Biology"** - This study challenges traditional narratives by proposing alternative metaphors for understanding reproduction that emphasize cooperation and equality between genders.

6. **"Cultural Influences on Scientific Thought: Examining Gendered Bias"** - This article discusses how cultural beliefs surrounding gender influence scientific inquiry and understanding, with case studies from various fields, including biology.

7. **"Redefining Gender Roles in the Language of Science: A Call for Change"** - This piece advocates for a re-evaluation of the language used in scientific discourse to eliminate gender biases and promote a more inclusive understanding of biological processes.

These articles engage with the themes of cultural beliefs, gender representation, and the significance of language in shaping scientific understanding, mirroring the ideas presented in the video discussion of Emily Martin's work.

X-TIMESTAMP-MAP:LOCAL=00:00:00.000,MPEGTS=900000

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Emily Martin is an anthropologist who did probably one

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of the most famous studies in,

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gender studies in the sociology of health and medicine.

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Um, so it was about 30 years ago

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that she went into a biology lab at Johns Hopkins

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and was observing the biologists at work,

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how they spoke about the things that they were studying,

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which happened to be human fertilization and how eggs

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and sperm come together.

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And, so her article was an analysis of the metaphors

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that these scientists were using to describe the process

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of human fertilization.

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And what she found was that they sort of imputed, kind

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of human characteristics

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or the characteristics associated with masculinity

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and femininity at the time onto the sperm and the eggs.

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So she famously described the sperm as, active, well,

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she was describing how the scientists were describing it,

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but she famously described the scientists using terminology

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associated with, sort

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of the characteristics of masculinity.

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Um, you know, the, describing the sperm as active racing,

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competing to get to the egg, penetrating the egg.

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And the egg was described in terms that were associated

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with femininity at the time of being passive

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and kind of waiting

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around almost a damsel in distress is some

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of the language that was used.

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Um, so she, she kind of writes this, you know,

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article about the ways that biologists unknowingly used

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cultural beliefs and cultural understandings of masculinity,

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femininity, and describing human fertilization to the degree

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that they were actually not describing it accurately.

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And so what she found was that in fact, you know,

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and biologists now would say that this is not

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how human fertilization happens.

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It's not, you know, this firm aren't actually

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going anywhere.

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They're kind of like, you know, moving around in circles.

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Um, the egg is not actually waiting passively

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to be penetrated by oncoming sperm,

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but engages in a process that is called chemotaxis.

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There's actually sending chemical signals out

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to draw sperm in.

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Um, so the things that she writes about,

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and the reason that the article is so powerful even

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to this day is because it's one of the kind

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of classic examples of the way

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that gendered beliefs really shaped the process

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of making scientific knowledge.

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Um, to the extent that, you know, you can, still

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to this day open up, you know, a high school textbook

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or you know, in any of the documentaries that you see.

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Um, you know, we still often hear descriptions of sperm

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as sort of active racing, penetrating competing,

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and eggs is passively waiting there to go.

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So it's, it's not something

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that was only happening in that biology lab.

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Um, but that scholars have now demonstrated that it has sort

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of permeated popular culture around descriptions

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of human fertilization.

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I took Emily Martin as an inspiration,

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but my study was happening 30 years later.

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And so, you know, it was about,

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You know, seven or eight years ago

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that I started doing interviews

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with people from the general population in a

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northeastern American city.

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It's sort of, typical for sociologists

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to disguise the place that they do research.

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Um, and what I was interested in was sort of how

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everyday people understand, kind

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of a man's role in reproduction, how they would define that.

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So I was doing this sort of broader interview study,

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and one of the questions that I ended up asking was about,

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how would you describe, the relationship

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between an egg and a sperm?

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Um, and so I was sort of expecting to hear

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that traditional story about active sperm

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and passive egg, which I did,

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from almost everybody that I interviewed.

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But the thing that was so interesting was

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that the interview study allowed me to, to learn,

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that there was a second metaphor circulating at the time.

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Um, and so people would describe that sort

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of traditional tale, but a subset

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of the respondents also told a very different story about

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eggs and sperm coming together,

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or that they were two halves of a whole.

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Um, so neither one was active or dominant.

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Um, neither one was submissive or passive.

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It was really that you needed both in

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order to have fertilization.

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And so that sort of discovery

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of there being a second metaphor

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that was circulating is made possible by an approach

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that sort of takes very seriously, the kinds

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of metaphors and the ways that those are produced by sort

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of cultural beliefs

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and reveal our cultural beliefs in finding

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these two metaphors.

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And sometimes people would articulate both

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of them in the same interview.

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Uh, so it's important to recognize that it wasn't,

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they're not mutually exclusive.

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And so it means that we're telling different kinds

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of stories about eggs

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and sperm, which are shaped in part by different stories

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and narratives around masculinities and femininities.

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Um, all of these are sort of rooted in an understanding

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of gender as binary, which is a cultural belief in the ways

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that human bodies can be categorized.

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And so, the, the, the way to understand what it means

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that there's these two different metaphors is to say that,

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you know, sort of, it's not only our beliefs about gendered

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bodies and the ways they were being kind of written on,

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egg and sperm cells, but also as we sort

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of have different conversations around gender

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and the spectrum of gender identities

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and the idea that gender is fluid, the expectation would be

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that there may be new metaphors that develop.

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Um, and so I did not see any of those kinds

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of metaphors emerging in my data.

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Um, but like I said, my data are seven or eight years old,

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and I think it would be really interesting

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to do the study again today, to ask this question of

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how have changing social conversations

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around gender shaped the kind

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of metaphors we're seeing when it comes

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to human fertilization.

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Um, so that's one way I'll answer that.

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The other, the other thing that I would draw out here from

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the findings is, that second metaphor where eggs

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and sperm are seen as equal.

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I don't have definitive, data to prove this,

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but my sense is that that emerges from an understanding,

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and more popular awareness of genetics.

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And so in the past 30 years,

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even since Emily Martin's study, you know,

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we've sequenced the human genome.

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There's sort of more everyday discussion about DNA

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and genetic inheritance.

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Um, and so I think thinking of ex and sperm as 50 50

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or two halves of a whole is linked to that understanding

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of sort of equal, contributions from,

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two different parents to genetic inheritance.

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And so if I had to speculate, I would say that's probably

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where that metaphor is coming from.

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I think when it comes down to it, the real, point

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of research like this, so Emily Martin's research about

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what kinds of biological stories do we tell about eggs

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and sperm, my research about

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how those stories might be changing in response to broader

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societal changes around gender

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and bodies, sexuality, genetics, the, the real kind of

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importance of those studies is being aware

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of when our cultural beliefs are shaping our science.

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Um, and so it's not an anti-science argument in any way.

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It's actually an attempt to make the science as strong

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and as good as possible by identifying when these sort

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of cultural assumptions are sort of, you know,

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finding their way in.

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Um, and metaphors are really, sort of, you know, it's,

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I think sometimes people hear metaphors

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and they think, well, that's a study of literature.

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Um, but metaphors are a way that really, it's a way of kind

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of smuggling these cultural assumptions into

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scientific knowledge making.

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And so there are previous scholars, Evelyn, Fox, Keller,

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Sarah Richardson, who have really identified the power in I,

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in sort of spotlighting those metaphors that are at play

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and understanding how they work.

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Um, so I think it's, you know,

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it's not the eggs in the sperm that are more

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or less egalitarian or more or less dominant or submissive.

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It's the stories that we tell about them that are,

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and those stories are really stories about us

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and our society and our gendered beliefs.

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And I think that's the, the importance of studies like this.

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