Name: Patricia Diah Puspitasari

Student Number: #47120143

Instructor: C. Brooks
Course: WRDS 150
Word count: 250 words

Assignment #2

With the development of biological practices, how the language used in

explaining these biological processes has also changed. Stereotypes under the
microscope, is an article written around the late 90s. The article studiesthelanguage
used by scientists when communicating with students and one another. The author
concludesthat,certainbiologicalaspectshavetakenmaleorfemalepersonasduetoits
seeminglyfeminine/masculinefeatures.Thishelpsbiologicalpracticestobetoldina
more engaging storylike atmosphere for the general public, while simultaneously
promoting social issues like the exclusion of politically awake women, people of
color... (Spanier, 1995). The article, The Egg and the Sperm: How Science Has
Constructed A Romance Based on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles, agrees with the
points made by the previous article, on the grounds that it talks about how the
reproduction process is told in a genderized manner and how literary conventions within
scientific texts are powerful in creating and projecting stereotypical and cultural imagery.
Unlike the two articles beforehand, "Reproductive Imaginations: Stories of Egg
and Sperm," talks about how the way human reproduction is communicated (in Norway),

is slowly transforming from a romanticized depiction into a method of showing gender

equality. The article emphasizes that with the advancements in ARTs (assisted
reproductive technologies), the cultural perception of what natural conception and how it
is told has changed. Till this point in time, we can understand that, the way in which
biological processes are depicted has been reconstructed in accordance with modern
gender stereotypes, and simultaneously transformed into a method of communicating
social issues.

Works Cited:
Lie, Merete, Malin Noem Ravn, and Kristin Spilker. "Reproductive Imaginations: Stories of Egg and
Sperm." NORA - Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research 19.4 (2011): 231-48. Web. 28 Sept.
2014.
Martin, Emily. "The Egg and the Sperm: How Science Has Constructed a Romance Based on Stereotypical
Male-Female Roles." Signs 16.3 (1991): 485-501. JSTOR. Web. 29 Sept. 2014.
<http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/3174586?ref=no-x-route:e10b9d22774b1f7494c090c505bf8652>.
Spanier, Bonnie. Stereotypes under the Microscope. The Womens Review of Books 12.5 (1995): 25.
JSTOR. Web. 29 Sept. 2014. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/4021973?ref=no-xroute:4893892794218e9fe9096c45b3ee126b>.