This week, we’re sharing stories from Caity Weaver, Marisa Meltzer, Jiayang Fan, Taffy Brodesser-Akner, and Jeff Maysh.

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1. The Ken Doll Reboot: Beefy, Cornrowed, and Pan-Racial

Caity Weaver | GQ | June 20, 2017 | 16 minutes (4104 words)

A behind-the-scenes look at the redesign process of the new, diverse lineup of Ken dolls.

2. Roxane Gay’s New Memoir About Her Weight May Be Her Most Feminist—and Revealing—Act Yet

Marisa Meltzer | Elle | June 14, 2017 | 15 minutes (3,874 words)

Marisa Meltzer profiles Roxane Gay as the prolific author prepares to go on tour to support Hunger, a book she calls “by far the hardest book I’ve ever had to write.” In it, Gay reflects on what it’s like to live in a world that does not accommodate her body and how she “turned to food for numbness and protection” after being gang raped as a child.

3. China’s Mistress Dispellers

Jiayang Fan | The New Yorker | June 20, 2017 | 25 minutes (6,264 words)

The mistress, or what is known in Chinese as a xiao san, or “Little Third,” has become a problem in China, and a new job has sprung up to battle these emotional and financial third wheels: the mistress dispeller. Part private investigator, part emotional confidante, the mistress dispeller is tasked with ending the relationship by any means necessary.

4. The Ideal Iceland May Only Exist in Your Mind

Taffy Brodesser-Akner | AFAR | June 13, 2017 | 16 minutes (4,000 words)

Taffy Brodesser-Akner goes to Iceland in search of relief and discovers that the island nation, with its quirky puffins and lunar landscape and crowds upon crowds of American tourists, lends itself well to the pursuit of escape.

5. The Scarface of Sex: The Millionaire Playboy Who Murdered His Way to the Top of Porn

Jeff Maysh | The Daily Beast | June 16, 2017 | 31 minutes (7,858 words)

Michael Thevis built a lucrative pornography empire in the 1960s and ’70s only to spend the end of his life in prison. His family opened his personal diaries to a journalist for the first time to get the whole, crooked, tragic story.