Ilustración: Peer Jongeling (IG)

A woman isn’t a doll by Julia Tsvetkova

real women have body hair – and it’s normal real women have periods – and it’s normal real women have body fat – and it’s normal real women have imperfect skin – and it’s normal real women have wrinkles and grey hair – and it’s normal real women have muscles – and it’s normal

On 20 November 2019 Russian activist, artist and feminist  Julia Tsvetkova was arrested and put on house arrest two days later, charged with “production and dissemination of pornographic materials”. She was also accused of spreading “homosexual propaganda” to minors, and was later fined.

On 9 June, prosecutors confirmed that Tsvetkova was still due to stand trial, provoking real life protests and online outrage. Tsvetkova would be forced to answer for several cartoonish drawings of naked women  with captions that read “Real women have body fat – and it’s normal” or “Real women have wrinkles and grey hair – and it’s normal”.

If convicted, Julia faces prison terms up to 6 years. 

(source)

Don’t Miss These 7 Spectacular Sights Of The Summer Sky

“The summer skies are there every years to offer us a respite from the hardship of our daily lives, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, they remain one of the few sights that almost all of us still have some opportunity to take in. On a clear night, overhead, an enormous but brilliant collections of stars known as the Summer Triangle dominates the skies this month. If you head outside and attempt to view any of the transient sights out there — the Moon, Comet NEOWISE, the planets, the meteor shower, etc. — take some time and enjoy these deep-sky objects, too.

The night sky is always out there for anyone curious to explore it. Even with the ever-increasing number of satellites and the (sometimes severe) light-pollution that we all must reckon with, these natural wonders are just as intrinsically spectacular as they’ve ever been. Turn your telescope or binoculars up at any or all of these seven objects, and you’ll be looking years, centuries, or even millennia back in time, from giant collections of stars to a preview of our own Sun’s death. The Universe, when you see it for yourself, never disappoints.”

Have you been going out to see the Moon at night? How about Comet NEOWISE? Maybe Jupiter and Saturn? Or perhaps you’re planning on viewing next week’s Perseid meteor shower? While you’re out there, take a glance towards the heavens and notice that giant “triangle” overhead. Inside it, there are seven spectacular sights that any telescope or pair of binoculars can reveal to you.

Even if you have no experience with telescopes at all, these seven objects are well within your reach. Here’s how to view them for yourself.

A Galaxy on Edge by Hubble Space Telescope / ESA

“Going to class to teach, I feel a little nervous about how my student might perceive me or what they think of me. But then I will remind myself, what if there’s some young lesbian student, or some student who is butch, or who might end up sort of coming out as butch later on or something.”

Gender Troubles: The Butches (watch it for free until March 29th)

Magnetic monster NGC 1275

This stunning image of NGC 1275 was taken using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys in July and August 2006. It provides amazing detail and resolution of the fragile filamentary structures, which show up as a reddish lacy structure surrounding the central bright galaxy NGC 1275. These filaments are cool despite being surrounded by gas that is around 55 million degrees Celsius hot. They are suspended in a magnetic field which maintains their structure and demonstrates how energy from the central black hole is transferred to the surrounding gas.

By observing the filamentary structure, astronomers were, for the first time, able to estimate the magnetic field’s strength. Using this information they demonstrated how the extragalactic magnetic fields have maintained the structure of the filaments against collapse caused by either gravitational forces or the violence of the surrounding cluster during their 100-million-year lifetime.

This is the first time astronomers have been able to differentiate the individual threads making up such filaments to this degree. Astonishingly, they distinguished threads a mere 200 light-years across. By contrast, the filaments seen here can be a gaping 200 000 light-years long. The entire image is approximately 260 000 light-years across.

Also seen in the image are impressive lanes of dust from a separate spiral galaxy. It  lies partly in front of the giant elliptical central cluster galaxy and has been completed disrupted by the tidal gravitational forces within the galaxy cluster. Several striking filaments of blue newborn stars are seen crossing the image.

Credit:

NASA, ESA and Andy Fabian (University of Cambridge, UK)

The sun compared to UY Scuti, largest known star.

Mayall’s Object (ARP 174)

While Galaxies can come in all shapes and sizes, with a preference to Spiral and Elliptical, few come as interesting as ARP 174. 

The designation ARP is the surname of Halton Arp, an American astronomer who in 1966 published The Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies, of which Mayall’s Object was the 174th in his catalogue. 

Originally thought to be a galaxy reacting with a normally visible line of Hydrogen in Intergalactic space, it’s now considered to be two distinct galaxies in the throws of merger. As the elongated object made contact, the ring like structure of the other was formed by a shockwave of the event. 

At 450 Million light years from Earth, we are seeing what happened almost half a billion years ago, and not what is there right now.

Some portraits of friends

Sometimes it's fun to play with gender, to subvert and mix words and roles. I like it when my friends call me bro. I like to dress in men's clothes and enjoy the power and respect they represent. I like the cool guy image.

Sometimes it's fun to pass, to accidentally trick and challenge people. They make funny stories, and I feel like a shapeshifter making fun of the social order.

But I always return to myself. Underneath it all is my real, unchangable female self, and I am a woman.

I am a woman with a shaved head. A woman in a suit. A woman called sir and bro and he. A woman who's rough and tough and handsome and bold.

I am a woman in rebellion, and there are no words or clothes or assigned roles or social standards that can take it from me.