Study Shows Emerging Metaphors for Human Fertilization

A common metaphor used to describe human fertilization depicts sperm cells as competitors racing to penetrate a passive egg. However, as critics have noted, the description is also a “fairy tale” rooted in cultural beliefs about masculinity and femininity. A new study by Yale sociologist Rene Almeling provides evidence that this metaphor remains widely used despite a profound shift in social and scientific views about gender, sex, and sexuality in recent decades.

“The metaphors we use in discussing biological processes like fertilization are powerful: They both reflect and produce collective understandings of our bodies, ourselves, and our society,” said Almeling, a professor of sociology in Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences. “By studying biological metaphors, we can learn how they undergird our beliefs and actions.”

The study, which was published Oct. 1 in the journal Gender & Society, was inspired by anthropologist Emily Martin’s landmark 1991 paper, in which she argued that scientists had relied on prevailing cultural beliefs about masculinity and femininity to construct “a scientific fairy tale” of active sperm penetrating a passive egg. Martin then demonstrated how the metaphor influenced the questions scientists investigated as well as how they published their findings in peer-reviewed papers or portrayed fertilization in medical textbooks.

“By studying biological metaphors, we can learn how they undergird our beliefs and actions.”- rene almeling

Almeling claims that in the three decades since Martin’s study, scientists and advocates have increasingly questioned the presupposition of heterosexuality and the categorization of bodies as either male or female. Furthermore, she claims that scientists have begun to shift away from representations of active sperm and passive eggs, presenting descriptions such as sperm drifting aimlessly in circles and eggs emitting chemical signals to attract sperm.

While Martin’s study focused on scientists developing knowledge, Almeling polled members of the general public in the same location in the northeastern United States to see if changing attitudes about gender and sexuality are related with different fertilization metaphors. The study’s participants covered a diverse variety of educational levels, vocations, sexualities, and racial and cultural backgrounds. Thirty-three males and fourteen women responded.

Almost all of the men (30 of 33) and nearly two-thirds of the women (9 of 14) used some variation of the standard metaphor of active sperm and passive egg when describing reproduction. They presented colorful accounts of enormous numbers of sperm contending before a winner joyously entered the awaiting egg, using vocabulary linked with racing, swimming, or fighting.

One-third of the men (12 of 33) and two-thirds of the women (10 of 14) used a different metaphor in which the sperm and egg are equal parts that come together to produce a combined whole. (Several responders used both analogies in their responses.) Unlike the usual metaphor, the more egalitarian version does not reference competition or penetration, according to Almeling. Both cells are required, as seen in the second metaphor, yet none is sufficient on its own.

According to Almeling, none of the respondents described the egg as the active agent of conception.

“Identifying the patterns in how people use these metaphors provides insight into how social beliefs shape our perceptions of biological processes,” said Almeling, whose 2020 book, “GUYnecology: The Missing Science of Men’s Reproductive Health,” examined the lack of knowledge-making about male reproductive health and its consequences. “Whether it is scientists conducting research, clinicians talking with their patients, journalists writing about reproductive technologies, legislators creating policy, or everyday people leading their lives, the biological metaphors we use shape our thinking and profoundly affect society.”

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