The descriptions of fertilization have traditionally been framed in terms
of the traditional roles of men and women in society - with the sperm being
active and dominant and the egg being the passive recipient. The bizarre
thing is that thinking about fertilization in terms of this socially
constructed paradigm blinded workers in the field - they saw what they
expected to see by the way they envisioned the process and constructed
their experiments. It took a while for the aberrations to overcome the
inherent biases. This is a classic example of how the feminist critique can
work. Look at "Sperm Wars" in the July, 1991 number of Discovery Magazine
and at "The Agressive Egg" in the June, 1992 issue of the same magazine.
Listen to the rhetoric that Cameron is so interested in. Also look at Emily
Martin's paper (Signs 16:485-501).
Muriel Lederman lederman at vt.edu 540.231.5702 (phone)
Department of Biology 540.231.9307 (fax)
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg VA 24061-0406
