Feminism has been a dominant, rising movement since the French Revolution. In the twentieth century, women had achieved many of the rights they had fought so hard for, such as suffrage. Despite the many years of battling for rights, society today still seems too patriarchal, and women in many countries still live under the tyranny of men. Even the connotations that scientific terms portray reflect a patriarchal society. This is the perspective that Emily Martin takes in the article "The egg and the sperm: how science has constructed a romance based on stereotypical male-female roles". Through her article, Martin tries to "shine a bright light on the gender stereotypes hidden within the scientific language of biology" (Martin, 1999). She argues that traditionally scientific texts have gone out of their way to give eggs and sperm defined feminine and masculine characteristics. Martin believes that the descriptions of reproductive systems are a reflection of the historical view society has had of gender roles. The sperm has always been seen as the powerful aggressor, and the egg as weak. She concludes that they are described in this way because of cultural stereotypes. Martin also implies that these cultural stereotypes are then bounced back and further emphasize the stereotypes already existing in society. Martin provides examples of negative terms that are used to describe female reproductive organs, processes and the egg, and submits cases of positive female and male terms to describe the sperm and its activities. She defends the image of women by pointing out that new research has in fact shown that the egg plays a more active role in fertilization by capturing the sperm, and the sperm, specifically its tail, is actually much weaker than once thought. Martin suggests, however, that even this new account plays another cultural stereotype: woman is a dangerous and aggressive threat.
