Melissa McCarthy

TGI Tuesday! Here's our list of news links for today.

• Roxane Gay reviews Identity Thief: "McCarthy's character, Diana, is increasingly painted as lonely and miserable.... This is, it appears, the only narrative the filmmakers can imagine for an overweight woman." [Buzzfeed]
• Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique turns 50...and Bitch Media creative director and cofounder Andi Zeisler reflects on its legacy. [LA Review of Books]
• Erica Sánchez asks several women—including Muslimah Media Watch founder and Bitch contributor Fatemeh Fakhraie—to weigh in on Islam and feminism. [Huffington Post]
• Ava DuVernay, director of Middle of Nowhere, has directed a short film starring Gabrielle Union and Adepero Oduye for fashion brand Miu Miu. (Don't worry, it's no "Fashion Film"). [Shadow and Act]
• Leaders of the Idle No More movement share what they see as the next step in their protest against the Canadian government. [Indian Country]
• Remember the amazing spark-shooting guitar from Beyonce's Superbowl performance? Meet Bibi McGill, the guitarist and kale-chip entrepreneur. [Ebony]
• Need some good nonfiction reads? Check out "17 Essays by Female Writers That Everyone Should Read," from the classic (Virginia Woolf's "Street Haunting") to the contemporary (Zadie Smith's "Joy"). [Flavorwire]
 

Post your reads in the comments!

It's time for another installment of Pop Pedestal, where we pay tribute to the pop culture personalities we most admire. Up today is the greatest chef in Stars Hollow history, Sookie St. James.