Text by Yashka Moore:

______

I used to call a dog a dog
but now I call it a woof

In Emily Martin’s seminal 1991 paper
“Egg and Sperm: A scientific fairy tale”
she reveals a sexist narrative
buried at the heart of
the story of conception.

To envelop is active

Analysing both scientific and popular accounts of reproductive biology,
Martin found that the science
reflected deep seated cultural stereotypes

Gendered feminine,
the egg is characterised as passive, immobile.
Deemed unable to propel itself,
Egg must be ‘transported,’
‘swept’
she even simply ‘drifts.

the masculine sperm is thought strong and powerful, active
deliver’ their genes to the egg,
”penetrate" and “fertilize” it.
This is not so.

This narrative breaks down to bad science.
The narrative Hero Sperm, Princess Egg has meant
that studies of what actually happens at the cellular
molecular genetic microscopic level,
results have been
mis-seen,
mis-interpreted
and consequently miscommunicated.

research now suggests that the egg is active
the egg must actively envelop the sperm
once one happens to meet with the egg’s surface
and she deems it acceptable

To envelop is active

an electron micrograph,
featured in a collection of scientific papers,
of an enormous egg and tiny sperm
(an egg-gamete is much bigger than a sperm-gamete),
entitled "A Portrait of the Sperm.”

showing a photo of a dog,
calling it a picture of the fleas.

models biologists use
can have important social effects.
fantasies stated as facts,
whereas

I used to call a dog a dog
but now I call it a woof