On this week’s 51%, we learn about a new transgender policy at an all-female college. Then we turn to a study on coming out to adult children. Plus, we’ll hear from an author whose fictional works explore real-life themes about teenage girls.
The president of Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts recently announced that the all-female liberal arts college has revised its admission policy to include transgender students. The move makes it the second single-sex institution in the country to do so, following a similar policy change by the all-female Mills College near San Francisco in August. 51%’s Jessica Bloustein Marshall spoke with Jennie Ochterski, a senior at Mount Holyoke who heads up Open Gates, a student-led community organization dedicated to the full inclusion of trans women at the school. She says while the revised policy is a victory for students at Mount Holyoke, the conversation about the inclusion of transgender students at single-sex institutions is far from over.
That was 51%’s Jessica Bloustein Marshall speaking with Jennie Ochterski, a senior at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts.
And while we’re on the subject of acceptance… Stories about people coming out as gay or lesbian are no longer uncommon. But usually it’s young people coming out to parents or friends. Allison Quantz reports on a recent study that probes when parents come out to their children.
Edgar Award-winning author Megan Abbottis out with her latest novel, The Fever. It’s about a mysterious epidemic that sends an entire town into pandemonium as it infects one teenage girl after another, in the same high school. I asked Megan why she zeroed in on teenage girls and pressure as a theme.
That was Megan Abbott, author of The Fever, a work of fiction, published by Little, Brown and Company.
And that’s our show for this week. Thanks to Katie Britton for production assistance. Our executive producer is Dr. Alan Chartock. Our theme music is Glow in the Dark by Kevin Bartlett. This show is a national production of Northeast Public Radio.
