unfridged

Unfridged has been on hiatus for a while now, so to get us back into the swing of things, here’s what you may have missed in this first part of 2015:

• Superhuman writer Lindy West has been trolled and harassed for years, and a particular low point was when someone impersonated her recently deceased father to torment her. She talked to the troll for a piece in This American Life, and the Mary Sue has more info on this fascinating insight into what makes trolls tick, and how it affects the people on the receiving end.
• “Witchcraft is the New Misandry.” Do you really need more? [Medium]
• Defacing anti-Islamic bus ads with Kamala Khan? Yes please. [The Mary Sue]
• On how book Eowyn is much better than movie Eowyn, and we shouldn’t settle. [The Mary Sue]
• The lineup for the new, all-lady Ghostbusters was announced! [Autostraddle]
• “New All-Feminist Ghostbusters is a Punch in the Dick to All Mankind.” Click it, it’s funny. [Jezebel]
• Hey look, Magic: The Gathering has it’s first trans character. [Kotaku]
• The Mary Sue has a great piece on how video game characters, including The Last of Us‘s Ellie, can help us come to terms with our sexualities.
• I always think I’ll never be surprised by the kind of erotica out there, but then I see titles like Space Raptor Butt Invasion and Taken by the Gay Unicorn Biker. So. [Buzzfeed]
• Animated film Song of the Sea is nominated for a 2015 Oscar, and looks super cute. Here’s the selkie-filled trailer.
• Autostraddle’s great “Drawn to Comics” series asks if anyone’s doing trans representation better than Image comics. With titles like The Wicked + The Divine and Rat Queens, the answer’s pretty clear.
• We Hunted the Mammoth makes clear that GamerGate might have waned, but the harassment is still just as real, just as much of a problem.
• “An Analysis in Grief: 10 Harry Potter Deaths We Did Not Get Over.” [Media for Misfits]
• Sailor Jupiter’s voice actor wrote about what the character meant to her, and how the amazing princess soldier made her who she is today. [Amanda C. Miller: Voice Over]
• “Fictional War Goddesses Who I Think Should Make Out With Each Other, in No Particular Order.” [The Toast]
• The PBS Idea Channel talks Korrasami, fan fiction, and queer representation.
• I have many feelings about the many absurd ways women’s bodies are drawn in comics, and here are five of the worst offenders (including a lack of internal organs, wandering bosoms, and all superheroines sharing the same face). [Cracked]
• On using science fiction to reimagine the justice system. [Bitch]
• There’s a rape scene in the Divergent series, and it’s really important. [Medium]
• Wonderful essay from the Toast on growing up as a little black girl and loving Wonder Woman.
• I’m actually always surprised by how the Toast’s essays will start with a fairly simple premise—growing up with video games, in this instance—and end up winding through beautiful, wrenching feelings like fear, childhood heartache, and accepting queerness in yourself.
• In an effort to be increasingly my favourite, Autostraddle rounds up the fifteen best witches.
• So this live action Power Rangers short film was supposed to parody “gritty” remakes of beloved franchises, but who knows, you might enjoy it nonetheless. (Hey there, Katee Sackhoff!)
• Hey so Catwoman is bisexual now, you might be into that. [The Mary Sue]
• If you read one short story today, let it be this piece about mermaids, immortality, loneliness, and living at the end of the universe. [The Toast]