When you think back to the beginning of your existence, do you identify yourself as the sperm cell, or do you identify yourself as the unfertilised egg cell?

Hmm. Well…. I guess I consider myself the sperm. I am a guy though….

I suspect others will think they are more like their gender identity as well.

I have never though of myself as either one.

^But if you had to? ........

I hear people of both genders say things like “I was a sperm”; no one ever says anything about the egg. I think the idea of a baby being “planted” in a woman is still pervasive in popular culture, as if a sperm is already a fully-formed human that just needs a place to grow and not just half the genetic material. Even the word “sperm” comes from the word for “seed” and that’s a very common metaphor. But the fact is that sperm is more like pollen than a seed. A seed is analogous to an embryo, not sperm.

Because I’ve already thought about this, I think of myself as both when I consider such things :)

^A seed is important. But what is a seed without earth?

Like you @ragingloli I was a demon waiting in earnest for a human host to house my eternal soul as a link into this realm. My pronoun is “his majesty lord of darkness”

My body is the egg, my brain is the sperm.

Follow-up question for monozygotic twins: which half of which gamete were you?

Personally, I most identify with the gleam in my daddy’s eye.

@Demosthenes Well, seed/earth is analogous to embryo/womb. Though I wouldn’t expect it to all make neat analogies. I mean, what to make of spores? :P

It’s interesting because this is the major topic on the podcast Radiolab right now. Anyone else listen? They were talking all about how there are specialized cells in the embryo that form the gonads (ovaries or testes), that these cells resist becoming cells of other organs so that they fulfill their “destiny” of becoming reproductive organs. It’s not surprising that even in the embryonic stage, the body is already placing emphasis on reproduction.

Interesting answers.
The egg is with mommy when she is born, and stays with her for years.
Sperm have a shelf life of seventy two hours.
Eggs are the seed. Sperm is simply the fertilizer which jump starts growth.
Also, an egg can be fertilized without sperm.
Without an egg, all sperm is is salty hair tonic.

No, neither. I identify as my consciousness.

Neither. I’ve never had this thought.

If I try to think back to the beginning of my existence I can only get as far back as two or three years old. At that age I knew nothing of eggs and sperm cells. My existence began when I was born and I have no recollection of that either. Now, being male, I suppose I identify more with the sperm cell as that would be my role in the creation of new life.

I sprang full-grown from Zeus’ brow.

@canidmajor So you’re my long lost twin!!

And that was a helluva headache for ol’ dad! :-D

Neither. I did not exist before the moment of my birth.

I identify as a sperm cell, in the guise of John Travolta.

Not Woody Allen?

All I know is that my parents must have had had a jazzy time at the beach that spring. Which I’ll submit was a lucky thing for me.

Have not yet read the other answers, will do so after posting.

I have thought about this before, and I have always thought of myself as an egg. I guess it’s because I am a female. I think if I were a male, I might be more inclined to think of myself as a sperm.

@NomoreY_A You have sand in your craw?? Just askin’...

Lol @ kritiper