The Reproductive System

The human reproductive system is not a difficult subject to understand. It starts when a man and woman have sexual intercourse. The male penis enters the vagina and the process that we call sex begins.

Humans are born as a result of sexual reproduction (the process of producing a new organism from two parents). In order for a new baby to form, a sperm (male sex cell) must join with an ovum (female sex cell, or egg). The joining of the ovum and sperm called fertilization, takes place inside the body of the female.

Most often when one ovum is released from one of the females two ovaries (female organs that produce ova) each month. It travels down the fallopian tube that connects the ovary to the uterus (organ where babies grow and develops).

A male can produce millions of sperm each day. Sperm are even more microscopic in size than ova. A sperm is about 0.005 cm long. The head of the sperm, the largest part, contains the cell’s nucleus. The sperm also has a tail that whips from side to side, helping the sperm to move and reach the ovum. The male reproductive consists of many procedures. The sex organs of the male made up of the two testicles and the penis. The testicles are the male sex glands. They produce a powerful hormone called testosterone, which affects male sexual development. The testicles also produce the male sex cells, called spermatozoa, or sperm cells. A spermatozoon enables the male to become a father.

The testicles are encased in a skin sac called the scrotum. The sperm cells are stored in the testicles and are released from the body in what is called an ejaculation. When the sperm cells are released from the body they are past of a liquid called semen. The tadpole shaped microscopic sperm cells are able to propel themselves. In a single discharge of semen they are hundreds of millions of sperm cells, anyone one of which is capable of uniting with an egg cell, in which a new life starts.

Both the semen from the testicles and the urine from the bladder leave the body through the urethra, (a tube that runs through the penis). Urine and semen don’t leave the body at the same time because of the action of the sphincter (muscle that holds back the urine during ejaculation). The sperm cells combine with the various glands to form the semen that is discharged from the penis.

The female reproductive system are made up be the sex organs called the ovaries, the fallopian tubes that lead from the ovaries to the uterus, or womb, and the vagina. The vagina, also known as the birth canal, is the highly elastic passage to the outside of the body through which the baby passes during birth. The ovaries are the storehouses for the many thousands of egg cells, called ova, present in a girl’s body. The free end of each fallopian tube is not directly connected to the ovary, but lies close to it. The other end of the fallopian tube is attached to the uterus, or womb, a pear shaped organ about that size of a fist. The point at which the lower part of the uterus connects with the upper part of the vagina is called the cervix. Sometimes the cervix is known as the neck of the uterus.

A membrane known as the hymen partially covers the opening of the vagina. It is said that when the hymen (vaginal tissue) is broken the girl would not be considered a virgin.

Puberty is that stage of development during which a boy or a girl becomes capable of reproduction. Since each boy and girl follows an individual growth pattern, puberty does not occur at the same time for each. This fact often causes worry because boys and girls cannot understand why the same gender develops and grows faster than one another can’t. A rapid increase in growth, height, and weight is usually a factor of puberty. Girls usually reach puberty at an earlier age than boys do.

As a girl matures she hits puberty and her breast begin to develop and hair begins to grow in certain areas. Some girls develop faster than others. However, females are all different and that the size of the breasts has nothing to do with womanhood or the ability to bear children.

The growth of pubic hair and the beard on the face, and a deepening in the tone of voice also occurs to boys. There is also an increase in the size of the penis, the boy’s external reproductive organs. The boy begins to change, as his shoulders widen but not his hips such as a female.

A baby starts to develop as soon as the ovum and one sperm join together to form one new cell called the fertilized egg. The joining of the eggs takes place in the upper part of the fallopian tube. The newly fertilized egg is swept through the fallopian tube by tiny hairs that lined the tubes. The fertilized egg forms an unborn baby which called the an embryo during the first two months of its development, then a fetus until its born.

During prebirth development, the baby gets food and oxygen from a special organ called the placenta. The placenta serves as a barrier that separates the baby’s blood from the mother’s blood. This organ made partly of the mother’s tissue and partly of the baby’s tissue, contains blood vessels from each of them. The baby is connected to the placenta by a flexible tissue called the umbilical cord. Food and oxygen from the mother’s blood move from the placenta though the umbilical cord to the baby. Waste from the baby’s body passes through the cord and placenta into the mother’s blood. These wastes are then removed from the mother’s body along with her own waste products. During the Mother’s nine months growth period, the uterus changes from its normal pear shape and size to a size larger than a basketball. As time goes by the baby starts to grow larger and develop characteristics. At the end of nine months of development the baby is born. During the birthing process the muscles in the uterus contract to push the baby out through the opening in the uterus. The fluid filled sac surrounding the baby breaks, and the baby moves from the uterus through the passageway called the Vagina and out the mother’s body.

Sexually transmitted diseases or Studs are infections that can be transferred from one person to another through sexual contact. According to the centers the centers for disease control there are over a million cases of sexually transmitted diseases cases reported annually. Adolescents and young adults around 15-24 years are the age groups at the greatest risk for acquiring a STD, 3 million becoming infected each year. Most STDs are treatable. However, even the once easily cursed gonorrhea has become resistant to many of the older traditional antibiotics.

Other STDs, such as herpes, AIDS, and genital warts are caused by viruses, which have no cure. Some of these infections are uncomfortable and can be deadly. Syphilis, AIDS, Genital warts, herpes, hepatitis, and even gonorrhea have been known to cause death. Many STDs can lead to relate conditions such as pelvic inflammation disease, cervical cancer, and complications in pregnancy. Therefore, education about these diseases and prevention is important. As you can see in order to have life the union between male and female is very important. Health is a major factor to living a long life. Reproduction is a major part of life, its what makes it. Protection and awareness for sexual contact or intercourse is very important, only you can choose how to live.