When Women Become Men at Wellesley

Women’s colleges like Wellesley and Mount Holyoke are thinking about how to redefine their policies to address the growing transgender community on their campuses.

Published: Oct 15, 2014
Length: 30 minutes (7,576 words)

The Two-Minus-One Pregnancy

As Jenny lay on the obstetrician’s examination table, she was grateful that the ultrasound tech had turned off the overhead screen. She didn’t want to see the two shadows floating inside her. Since making her decision, she had tried hard not to think about them, though she could often think of little else. She was 45 and pregnant after six years of fertility bills, ovulation injections, donor eggs and disappointment — and yet here she was, 14 weeks into her pregnancy, choosing to extinguish one of two healthy fetuses, almost as if having half an abortion. As the doctor inserted the needle into Jenny’s abdomen, aiming at one of the fetuses, Jenny tried not to flinch, caught between intense relief and intense guilt.

Published: Aug 10, 2011
Length: 20 minutes (5,153 words)

Who Knew I Was Not the Father?

It was in July 2007 when Mike L. asked the Pennsylvania courts to declare that he was no longer the father of his daughter. For four years, Mike had known that the girl he had rocked to sleep and danced with across the living-room floor was not, as they say, “his.” The revelation from a DNA test was devastating and prompted him to leave his wife — but he had not renounced their child.

Published: Nov 17, 2009
Length: 16 minutes (4,173 words)