The two articles that will be summarized are ‘The Egg and The Sperm by Emily Martin and ‘Night to his Day’. Both of these articles talk about the construction of gendered roles and how we as society are conditioned to see gendered roles as an absolute construction.
The Sperm and The Egg tells us how scientific discourses, such as biological lectures and the like portray gender. We look at the characterization of the egg and the sperm, reproductive necessities of human beings, and we see the stark contrast. The release of sperm is shown to be a remarkable feat of human nature, despite it being a very wasteful process in reality, while ovulation is considered to be more wasteful, when in reality it isn’t as wasteful as ejaculation.
Night to his Day talks of the social institution of gender, why gender is the way it is, and why we have been conditioned to see gender roles the way they are. It then goes on to talk about how the status quo of society is changing and how gender has different connotations when it comes to the society and individual.
Both of the pieces really complement each other in the sense that we get to see how different discourses deal with the conceptualization of gender. We see how childbirth is valued within the confines of the biological arena; how such an intensive process is often ridiculed by emphasis placed on patriarchal values. On the other hand, we see how society seems to be moving forward, with men increasingly taking up roles such as homemakers and the responsibility of child rearing. This shift is instrumental in the progression of society.
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