Blog Post #2

Our class discussion today about Emily Martin's, The Egg and Sperm: How Science has Constructed a Romance based on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles was very interesting.  It really got me thinking about being in high school learning about the reproductive system. I never really recognized that even in science, there are stereotypes between men and women.  Another important issue from the text was that women are more wasteful during their reproductive life.  I can understand two very opposite opinions on this issue but I think wasteful isn't the right word for this text.  Yes, I understand that women obviously produce less eggs than a man does sperm and in a way, I suppose that it is being a little 'wasteful'.  But look at men, they 'waste' their sperm in different ways as well.  Just because women produce less eggs, it doesn't mean men are at any less of fault for being 'wasteful'.  The whole point of releasing an egg is kind of the point of wasting some of them, never will they all be used.  No woman or even man will ever use all of their eggs or sperm. I may be reading a little to into it but it kind of seems like saying its a woman's job to have children. For a man to waste sperm, it is not seen as an issue, but when a woman 'wastes' her eggs, it is seen as wrong. From reading this, it almost made it seem that men has a bigger role in reproduction which is 100% untrue.  As talked about in class, sperm cannot create a baby alone, and an egg cannot create a baby alone.  In my opinion I do believe women have a bigger role in reproducing.  A lot of biology books don't really talk about what happens after the egg gets fertilized, which I think is a big issue.  A woman has to take care of a human being that is growing inside of her, unlike a male.  A woman has much more to go through with taking care of herself and restricting herself from certain things when she is pregnant.  If a mother to be didn't take care of themselves during their pregnancy and made poor decisions, some of us wouldn't be here.  Men on the other hand don't really have this connection or responsibility of carrying a baby.  Another reason women have a bigger role in reproduction is, that if women didn't have the strength and body structure to have a child, men would not be here.  And I think a lot of men, and people in general forget the power of a woman's body, strength, and nurturing aspects of  motherhood.  Women do not get enough credit and respect for their bodies nor motherhood.