Invisible Narratives Through Words (Blog 2)

In this class I have learnt so much about the concept of words and how it can be used to manipulate how we see the world and people around us. The one discussion that we have in class that particularly really opened my eyes was Martin`s "The Egg and The Sperm". During the discussion I was surprised that the "key" and the "lock" had such a huge significant meaning about the roles of what a man and a woman is supposed to act like in society. I never knew that an object can carry such a huge symbolic meaning of how we see each other in this world.

I also never knew that through words we are able to create an hierarchy of who is more stronger and who is more weaker. In class we discussed how in Martin`s "The Egg and The Sperm" showed that the males sperm is more powerful than the female even though the females role in reproduction is just as powerful, however it is described in a passive role and seems to be seen as lesser compared to males. This really shocked me as I always believed everything that a textbook from school would be telling the truth and would not screw with the facts. But now that I know that even a single word can change our whole perception of how the reproduction system works in the human body and that it causes us to have different perceptions of what males and females are supposed to be like in society, I am now beginning to doubt everything that I have ever read in my life and am wondering whether or not I have been brainwashed by words my whole life.

I also never knew that the words used to describe the reproduction system can have an invisible narrative of showing males as being more active (useful) and females as being non-active (useless). I did not think that reading scientific articles can enforce such a strong message to us.  After reading Martin`s “The Egg and The Sperm” I did not even notice that the words were describing males and females this way until we discussed it in class. I knew that females are usually portrayed as useless in media but never through words and this really shocked me.

Martin`s “The Egg and The Sperm” really shocked me and gave me a new insight of the world that I currently live in today. All the discussions about this article in class has changed my ideas completely and of all the values and beliefs that I once thought of as true.      

Another interesting article that we have read and discussed in class is about the word free by Ariely. I have always thought that free always meant we were getting something good because it was free but this article and discussion in class really changed my perspective of free stuff. The math that Ariely did when he was connecting it with the word free and zero truly made me think hard about free things and has kind of changed my mind in ever getting free things ever again.

In this class I really loved how we talked about how words can be the invisible narrative of something more than just words but also how words can symbolize a wide range of ideas that we hear, see or do every day. The idea of invisible narratives has taught me so much and has enabled me to open my eyes in everything I watch, see or do. I am really grateful that we discussed about invisible narratives as a lot of the messages that we unraveled through words relate to how we act in this world.

Words are very important
Source: New America Foundation