We watched this program when we were back in the UK on Channel 4, if you can get it, download it, copy it, whatever, just watch it, it is mind-blowing. When we first saw the promo ads on tv we knew that this was a must-see program for us. In fact considering we were back in the UK for fertility investigations and to check up on Mr. T's slow swimmers, it seemed like it had been made especially for us.
The documentary scaled up the size of a sperm to the size of an adult human-being, got hundreds of extras, put them in white spandex suits and had multiple shots of them running through miles of valleys, scaling mountains, avoiding huge crevasses and squeezing through tiny openings. It was on the scale of an epic adventure, very Lord of the Rings-esque. There were even orc-like creatures that attacked and killed the white spandex wearing extras. These terrifying ugly-mask wearing creatures were, apparently, representing the female immune system. Mr. T glanced over, "With all that they've gone through, your body just turns around and annihilates them. My lazy guys don't stand a chance."
To demonstrate the sheer amount of sperm in a man's testicles they showed how big a testicle would be if sperm were human-sized. I'm sure a man was the executive producer of this program. Only a man would choose a major skyscraper in London and then super-size it to represent a man's testicle. Yeah, Im sure the guys loved that. And I really didn't understand the point of it exactly - it was obviously done for pure male ego boosting.
So here you are guys. Imagine.
And this is what it would look like inside. All those spermies ready to launch.
Despite the program being fascinating and super-informative, there was a major downside to watching this documentary. The sight of the all those dead sperm (well extras in white spandex), the vast scale and tremendous obstacles sperm face in just getting to the cervix not to mention through the uterus, and the sheer impossibility of the task (very Frodo and the ring) made us both feel depressed at the insurmountable task that lay ahead of us. Mr. T looked at me, "Yeah I don't think my sperms are gonna make it. It's like Mordor in there!" Thanks babe. You just compared my uterus to the land of dark and evil wherein lies hundreds of bloodthirsty mutants.
After watching it I came away thinking how the hell do any of us get conceived? And who designed it this way? It's just so impractical! Sorry Big G, don't mean to criticize but did you really have to make it this hard??
I so did not learn all of this in Sex Ed. Sperm meets egg, that's what we were taught. So use those condoms and take those pills. Not how impossibly difficult it is for even one sperm to make it - it is an epic journey where the sperm face death around every corner and it really is a miracle that anyone ever conceives naturally. (By the way I am not advocating unprotected sex for teenagers.)
If you so desire, you can experience exactly what the little dudes have to go through yourself, you can play the great sperm race game! And no, I don't mean at home between the sheets :) Check out this site (connected with the documentary) where you get to be a sperm and swim up the vagina being careful not to get stuck and die on the walls and then make it to the cervix, then through the uterus maze and down the correct fallopian tube - all with the aim of reaching the holy grail, the egg.
I have been doing it all last night and managed to make it through the vagina after about 50 attempts. I am stuck on cervix level. I am a very bad sperm, a low-achiever, who likes to swim around in circles. Mr. T has been laughing at my multiple attempts "You see it's not so easy, my little guys are trying their best!" It is one of those games that is both fun, irritating and addictive, I urge you to just try it - would love to know if any of you make it to the egg!
