Bitch HQ

It's Friday the 13th! We're not superstitious or anything, but these links are bound to bring you good luck (or at least some weekend reading material):

• Bitch editorial director and co-founder Andi Zeisler was on Chicago's WBEZ this week talking about...the b-word!
• The Guardian covers how female-centered television dramas are becoming increasingly popular in the UK.
• At Rookie, Jamia Wilson shares her story of how she came to stop dreading her dreads. 
• PBS is making a new documentary on the life of Gone with the Wind author, Margaret Mitchell.
• Vulture interviews Teyonah Parris about playing Sterling Cooper Draper Price's first black employee. And here's another interview with her for the LA Times! 
• On the Awl, Lucy Madison talks about How 25 National Magazine Award Nominations Went To 25 Male Writers.
• Hey girl, Rachel Maddow is speaking this Sunday here in Portland!
• Roxane Gay has a moving piece at The Rumpus on strong women and The Hunger Games (trigger warning for sexual assault).
• Eleanor Ray deconstructs RISUG/Vasalgel, the best male contraception you've never heard of, on The Hairpin.
• "A writers' retreat for hackers?" Yes please! Check out Etsy's Hacker School, a 3-month long program (with grants available!) for women hackers. 
• Rebecca Traister talks female friendships on HBO's Girls.
• Beyoncé posted a hand-written open letter to Michelle Obama commending her on being an "example of a truly strong African American woman" on her Tumblr. FLOTUS responded with an adorable tweet. 
• Speaking of Bey's Tumblr, Anne Helen Peterson has some thoughts on what makes it so compelling.

Here's what we've been reading this week:

• Issa Rae responds to racist tweets following her web series The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl's Shorty Award win on xoJane. (Read Rae's Bitch interview here.)
• Bim Adewunmi at Comment is Free tackles the racist response to The Hunger Games and why sadyly, she isn't surprised. 
• META magazine is a new digital publication from the UK covering trans and genderqueer issues—get yours on iTunes!
• Feministing wonders if Facebook enabling eating disorders.
• Latoya Peterson has posted a requiem for the website Sepia Mutiny at Racialicious and also reflects on the state of independent blogs.
• SNL has hired a new female castmember, Kate McKinnon. You might recognize Kate from her sketch series Vag Magazine a web series where a group of feminists take over a woman's magazine. 
• Andrea Plaid reminds us the importance of abortion rights and awareness for women over 40 on RH Reality Check.
• Buzzfeed has a "lady dictionary" to help define the necessity of placing the word "lady" in front of everything. 
• Melissa Harris-Perry comments on the acceptable dress code for black men following Trayvon Martin's death, and at Colorlines, Kai Wright has a must-read on being a black male in America. 
• Naomi Wolf is calling for a ban on Katy Perry. What?
• Bitchflicks has a list of some of the best woman-centered film biopics ever made.

• Remember these awesome pics of punk band Pussy Riot at the Kremlin? Two alleged members have been detained and face imprisonment. Helen G reports at the F-Word.
• Tami Winfrey Harris is running a great series about Writing While Marginalized at What Tami Said. 
• If you're a big of fan of Sonja Sohn (a.k.a. Detective Kima Greggs from The Wire), you'll want to read the two interviews that went up with her this week at NPR and at Mother Jones. 
• Think Progress covers how some women are using Facebook to call out politicians on their bullshit views on reproductive health. 
• Remember the Feminist Ryan Gosling and the Hey Girl, It's Rachel Maddow tumblr blogs? Now there's a Feminist Harry Potter tumblr for all you Hogwart fans. 

Links for your weekend!

• Bitch contributor Alyx Vesey explores trash talk in Azealia Banks’ “212."
• The postfeminist notion that female empowerment can be achieved through any choice a woman makes—no matter what it is—gets the Onion treatment.
• Feminist conference hoppers! The submissions deadline for both the Allied Media Conference and Geek Girl Con are both due next week! 
• Shakesville introduces a new kind of Personhood amendment, for "women and other people with uteri to establish our rights as autonomous people."
• At Hyphen, Thanu Yakupitiyage deconstruct's M.I.A's video for "Bad Girls" (h/t Racialicious)
• Today's the last day to donate to the Feminist & Queer SXSW 2012 Music Showcase, "Get Off the Internet!"
• Adrienne from Native Appropriations is at a loss for words after seeing stills of Johnny Depp as Tonto from the Lone Ranger movie. Yikes—it does not look good.
• In the wake of Rush gate, Jamie Peck suggests, "Let’s Stop Insulting People By Comparing Them To Sex Workers (And Sluts!)"
• Read Bitch Flicks' review of Friends With Kids and consider supporting women-made media by seeing it in theaters today!
• On the Shameless blog, Julia Caron uses a popular Tumblr post to illustrate which feminist messages seem to get the most traction online. 
• GOOD takes the VIDA byline inventory and applies it to Millennial web outlets to see how where the women are. The Pitchfork stats just might surprise you (in a good way)!
• Viola Davis is making a movie about Barbara Jordan! Yes yes yes!