9 Feature Stories You Can't Miss This Week: Problems, Parents, And The Paranormal

This week for BuzzFeed News, Madison Pauly discovers why Taylor Woolrich wanted a gun. Read that and these other great stories from BuzzFeed and around the web.

1. Why Taylor Woolrich Wanted a Gun — BuzzFeed News

Ariana Drehsler for BuzzFeed News

For four years, a Dartmouth student had been relentlessly stalked by an older man. The legal system couldn’t protect her, so she wanted permission to carry a gun on campus. One year after becoming a gun-rights poster girl, Taylor Woolrich tells her story. Read it at BuzzFeed News.

2. ISIS Enshrines a Theology of Rape — The New York Times

Photograph by Mauricio Lima for The New York Times

Rukmini Callimachi travels to Iraq, where the systematic rape of women and girls at the hands of ISIS underscores the extent to which the group has incorporated sexual assault into its ideology. “He said that raping me is his prayer to God. I said to him, ‘What you’re doing to me is wrong, and it will not bring you closer to God.’" Read it at The New York Times.

3. The Story of New Orleans’ Public Defenders — BuzzFeed News

Times-Picayune / Landov

Before Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans didn't even have a full-time public defender program. Now, as Albert Samaha discovers, the one they built remains overwhelmed and underfunded. Read it at BuzzFeed News.

4. Rose McGowan Is Starting a Revolution — BuzzFeed News

Getty Images

Kate Aurthur catches up with Rose McGown who — after 20 years of acting, and finally realizing she hates it — has become Hollywood’s feminist whistleblower. To the industry, she says, “Fuck your rules.” Read it at BuzzFeed News.

5. The Ghosts of Pickering Trail — The Atavist

Google

Will Hunt and Matt Wolfe tell the unsettling story of a family and a new home, where all was not what it seemed. "Did something happen in my house?" Read it at The Atavist.

6. The Untreated Trauma of Having a Parent in Prison — BuzzFeed News

Shaun Mader

Millions of American kids have an incarcerated parent, which can trigger PTSD, depression, and other mental health disorders. Cat Ferguson learns how a unique Brooklyn organization is trying to help, one family at a time. Read it at BuzzFeed News.

7. This Is What It's Like Being a Gay Christian Rock Star — BuzzFeed News

Lynzy Billing for BuzzFeed News

Last year, Christian singer-songwriter Vicky Beeching announced she was gay. In the months that followed, she’s fallen in love, been diagnosed with a chronic medical condition, and been picketed, attacked, and boycotted. But, she tells Patrick Strudwick, “I don’t regret it for a second.” Read it at BuzzFeed News.

8. The Improbable Legacy of Fucked Up — Pitchfork

Photograph by Brendan George Ko for Pitchfork

Stuart Berman profiles Fucked Up, the ascending Toronto punk rock band whose aims are as social as they are musical. “We hit a point where we grew up and thought, ‘What the fuck are we if we’re not saying something?’” Read it at Pitchfork.

9. Coming to America — The New Inquiry

The New Inquiry

A nuanced essay by Yahdon Israel that explores a complex dichotomy: What it means to be African in a country that sees you as African American. "If we were Kings and Queens, why were we on their welfare—instead of them on ours?" Read it at The New Inquiry.