According to Judith Lorber, “most people find it hard
to believe that gender is constantly created and re-created out of human
interaction, out of social life, and is the texture and order of that social
life.” Gender binary is embedded in day to day activities such that we usually
ignore it as it is normalized due to everyday usage. One of such instances is
the education received in school. The textbooks used in classes reflect the
situation in the society. We grow up readings these books and use this knowledge
in daily life without giving much thought to the origin unless it is
specifically mentioned.
One such
example is of male and female reproductive process which is explained by Emily
Martin. She “realized that the picture of egg and sperm drawn in popular as
well as scientific accounts of reproductive biology relies on stereotypes central
to our cultural definitions of male and female.” The process of fusion of egg
and sperm is romanticized like a Wattpad fanfiction, a princess waiting for her
knight in shining armor to rescue her. One wouldn’t consider reproduction as a
representation of sexism until it was specifically pointed out because everyone
was too comfortable using it. And the readers as well as the writers use such
lingo in daily life without realizing what it actually means irrespective of
their intention.
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