Odds & ends

• Someone on the Gateway Women private community flagged this blog post about a childless-not-by-choice life (after infertility and attempted adoptions) -- which is unique because it's written by a guy!  The author is a Canadian living in New Zealand -- a chiropractor, yoga instructor, marathon swimmer and triathlete. He's written a book too.  Read the post and have a look around the rest of his site! 
• I couldn't cheer loudly enough when I read this post from The Uterus Monologues: "You can't 'manifest' a baby."  YES.  I have a few friends who talk on social media about "manifesting" various outcomes (albeit not babies, thankfully!), and it always gets me grinding my teeth...!    
• Donor-conceived children are using DNA analysis to unravel the secrets of their parentage -- and sometimes with unexpected results. This New York Times story reveals how, starting in the 1960s, not just one, not just two but THREE doctors in Rochester, New York, secretly used their own sperm to impregnate their infertile patients. In recent years, more than 50 (!) doctors in the U.S. have been accused of fraud related to donor sperm. Ugh. (Beware the comments... there are several people there (presumably men?!)  who don't seem to get why this is such a violation of women's bodies and trust.)  
• Yael Wolfe -- who is single & childless not by choice, and one of the "regulars" on Jody Day's quarterly Zoom chats with childless elderwomen  (another one is coming up on March 20th -- registration info here) -- recently wrote on Medium about "How I became a hoarder." I could totally relate to her post about planning and accumulating stuff for the life she thought she was going to lead, only to find herself facing something completely different. (For me, that resulted in having to get rid of a TON of stuff before moving into a condo that's much more suitable for the life we are living today...!) Some good comments, too! 
• New podcast alert!  Tune in on your favourite podcast app (or follow the next link) for New Legacy Radio, hosted by CNBC-er Christine Erickson, with new weekly episodes. In the first episode, from a few weeks ago, Christine chatted with Irish journalist Hilary Fennell about her groundbreaking radio documentary on childlessness (which I wrote about here and here).  She'll be speaking with Jody Day of Gateway Women on March 8th (International Women's Day). 
• As if the prospect of long covid isn't reasons enough to get vaccinated, mask up and avoid crowded public spaces, this New York Times article says researchers have discovered that the virus may infect tissue within the male genital tract -- with potential effects on fertility: 

Men infected with the virus are three to six times as likely as others to develop erectile dysfunction, believed to be an indicator of so-called long Covid.

Patients have also reported symptoms such as testicular pain, reduced sperm counts and reduced sperm quality, decreased fertility and hypogonadism, a condition in which the testes produce insufficient amounts of testosterone, leading to low sex drive, sexual dysfunction and reduced fertility...

Even if just a small fraction of men experience such complications after a coronavirus infection, millions may suffer from impaired sexual and reproductive health in the aftermath of the pandemic, simply because the virus has infected so many people around the world, Dr. Hope warned... 

He will also look at whether the virus infects tissue in the female reproductive system.