You Could Rattle The Stars

I'm Emily and I’m struggling to be an independent adult. Come talk to me. Currently reading: Reincarnation Blues by Michael Pool

[communitygardens]

since school is starting up again: pirate your textbooks!! my fave for this is library genesis. the most functional extension as of right now is libgen.is but literally whatever works. search by title, or better yet by ISBN to make sure you have the right edition, download...& profit. english majors make sure you’re searching in the right section (fiction will, obviously, have novels & poetry, but the default is sci-tech). i have a more in-depth post here too if you want to share your free texts with your classmates. go ham

[shatterstar]

If libgen.is stops working (frequently the site goes down to avoid the f*ds), theres a mirror website gen.lib.rus.ec. in addition if you’re trying to access academic papers which are behind a paywall, copy paste the DOI (will be near the top of the page) into sci-hub.tw to get a free PDF. and if you feel bad because you think you’re stealing from hard working scientists/postdocs/grad students, don’t, because none of the money you pay a journal for an article access goes to the actual authors

[sprachtraeume]

Why does being in your early 20s feel so much like only having 5 years of your life left in which you need to achieve as much as possible? why do I feel like I have an approaching deadline for success?

[what-even-is-thiss]

I understand more and more things about cisgender men the longer I’m on testosterone. I know why teenage boys use so much axe now. I understand the crying thing. I know why they accidentally break things. I know why they wear shorts in the snow. I know why so many of them don’t use washcloths. I see everything.

[what-even-is-thiss]

Okay. Y’all want explainations? I’ll tell you all the things.

Testosterone makes you warm. With young men especially it can actually get really uncomfortable while their testosterone levels are at their peak. Often times coats and winter pants will keep in all their heat and it gets uncomfortable. So it makes sense to pick a part of the body to be exposed to help them stay cool. The legs tend to be the least uncomfortable part of the body to feel cold on. The arms are uncomfortable, the face hurts when it gets cold, and the torso is where all the important stuff is. It doesn’t actually hurt that much to have your lower legs exposed and there’s no important organs there so that’s what they go with to keep themselves from overheating in their winter jackets. Along this same vein, they might take their shirts off to jog or just have a naked torso in general during the summer because they’re in more danger of overheating than estrogen dominant people. Older men, children, and estrogen dominant people tend to do this stuff less because they have less testosterone and are therefore colder.

The axe thing is because of testosterone as well. Early on in puberty especially and into adulthood as well boys and men will stink no matter how hard they try. People often complain about how men don’t shower enough and while there is some truth to that testosterone makes you sweaty and it makes your smell last longer. It doesn’t smell worse than women’s BO, but it is harder to get rid of and easier to get. Before I started taking T I could get away with taking a shower every other day or even every three days. Now I have to take a shower every day. And some days when I shower, put on deodorant, put body spray on my clothes, avoid heavy physical activity, I still end up smelling awful. I just smell bad and there’s only so much I can do about it and that bottle of axe starts looking really tempting.

With crying? Testosterone just makes you cry less. You still feel all the same emotions. You just don’t cry as much. Men are often socialized to not cry, yes, but even those who haven’t been taught that still cry less. That’s just how testosterone works. They hit puberty and then it’s just harder to cry. It doesn’t necessarily mean they feel less than estrogen dominant people or that they’re repressed. They just have a different physical reaction to emotion.

They accidentally break things because testosterone makes it easier to gain muscle. Sometimes you even do it without meaning to. I already accidentally grabbed or slammed things too hard. Now I have to consciously be gentle. Some people forget about being gentle for a split second. Then things break. Sometimes I look at my hands now like what the hell did I just do. Relearning how to know my own strength. It’s a learning process.

The thing where some men don’t use washcloths and use their hands or a bar of soap instead isn’t because they’re lazy. It’s because they’re covered in hair and the washcloth pulls at it. It’s really uncomfortable actually.

[1-hug-man]

WOW THAT IS AWESOME INFO

[itssuchanicemorning]

This sounds like spiderman finding his superpowers

[what-even-is-thiss]

God, I love that comparison.

[shitposting-hobbits-to-gallifrey]

Op have you felt the urge to slap the top of the doorframe yet?

[lethargic-flora]

OKAY I REALLY WANNA KNOW THAT TOO WHY DO THEY DO THAT???

[what-even-is-thiss]

That one is to test how tall they’re getting. Men are on average six inches taller than women and it’s fun when you get really tall and can reach stuff you never could before. Once they’re done growing it’s either to demonstrate how tall they are to other people or just because it’s fun. Jumping is fun and slapping the doorframe demonstrates both your height and how high you can jump, or if you’re so tall you don’t need to jump. Hitting stuff is fun too when nobody gets hurt from it. I did that even before I started T lol. I stopped growing before I started T but I still do it because it’s fun. It’s just one of life’s little joys. For a lot of people it also just becomes a habit. Like tapping on a desk when you’re thinking or giving your friend a high five whenever you pass them.

[originaljediinjeans]

wow I appreciate knowing this so much

[roseapprentice]

Most people: “Huh, looks like it’s about impossible to guess the difference between biological and socialized gender behaviors. Let’s just pick a few semi-plausible generalizations and shame everyone who–”

Trans people on hormone therapy, finally in a culture that sometimes lets them talk a little bit: “OH HEY SO IT’S STILL ALL SUBJECTIVE AND COMPLICATED, BUT WE HAVE SOME VERY PRECISE POINTS OF INFORMATION FOR YOU.”

Most people: “Oh shit that’s useful.”

[vampires-and-witches]

I saw everyone on twitter tearing Emma Watson apart for saying she’s self - partnered instead of single and decided to watch her interview for British Vogue to know what the hell was she trying to say with that. I was very surprised to find a 30 minute video in which amongst other things she talks about the following:

She felt undeserving when she was appointed as UN Women goodwill ambassador and sought out Gloria Steinem to learn about feminist activism.

She thinks the criticism she received for being a white feminist was useful because it made her educate herself.

She says there’s a desperate need to reform the education system in the UK to change the way they are taught the history of how Britain has been involved in foreign affairs and how they profited from slavery.

She felt anxious about approaching 30 because there’s a lot of pressure to have a husband and a baby by then and she’s still figuring her life out.

She was so young when she was casted in Harry Potter that she doesn’t remember much of her life before it and she went to therapy to deal with her issues with fame. She used to feel very guilty for being unhappy because she thought she should enjoy fame more.

The interviewer is a transgender woman and they discuss transgender issues for a while. Emma is in regular contact with a trans child which makes the topic of trans rights emotional for her because she’s very anxious for this kid’s safety.

She talks about her role as Meg March in the new Little Women movie and defends that unlike what many people say choosing to be a wife and a mother doesn’t make Meg a less feminist character and quotes a line from the movie, “Just because my dreams are different than yours it doesn’t mean they are unimportant.”  

She wishes more people would realize she’s not Hermione Granger but also understands why they want to see that in her because Hermione is a symbol for her too.

She used to think she could never be happy without a partner and now that she has learnt to navigate that better and is genuinely happy single she’s started to think of herself as self - partnered in contrast to the time when she thought of herself as single = lonely.

Every media outlet decided to focus in an out of context quote from the three minutes she talked about her dating life when the actual interview had a lot of depth and way more important things were discussed. I’m sad and angry but not surprised.

[illicitbehaviour]

you deserve to be loved without having to hide the parts of yourself that you think are unlovable.

[xeras-ankar]

[ndiecity-deactivated20241101]

This is a good sentiment that I agree with but I have just the right chemical inbalance that this emoji is sending me into hysterics

[caroldanversenthusiast]

When Emilia Clarke wears a suit she looks like a rich CEO who would steal your wife and laugh at your inability to keep a woman.

[writershapeholeonthedoor]

She could steal me any time

[s-gellar]

[mishasminions]

IT’S BECAUSE THEY’RE FRED & DAPHNE

[misha-let-me-touch-your-assbutt]

FUCK YOU AND YOUR BITTER JEALOUS LONELINESS HOWARD STERN

[lastseasonsloser-deactivated201]

YES SO GOOD!!!!!

[illogical-bullshit]

And she will be a completely different woman, but that’s alright.

Most folks with this guy’s mindset will go far in life. 

[cartoongoblin]

I’m still proud of the fact that a couple of years ago, I tweeted to Sarah Michelle Gellar and asked if Stern had paid up on his bet. To my great surprise, she actually replied and said he hadn’t and he owed them money. 😂😂

[tblaberge]

It’s hard sometimes, but it’s important to remember.

[stvrmhondss]

📍 300 fox way; henrietta, virginia, u.s.a.

„the people who came to the little, bright blue house at 300 fox way didn’t mind the imprecise nature of their fortunes. it became a game, a challenge, to realize the exact moment that the predictions came true.“

[stevienick]

[witches-ofcolor]

very much so :/ this is actually something that infuriates me

[sunnyandpositive]

"She will take it back some day." -Pink Floyd

[kingscrown666]

slowly but surely

[virtuous-thing]

This might be one of my favorite posts because it blows my mind how well we keep nature off of man made things when in reality it can grow over like we were never here

[slopaganda]

permission to get depressing on main?

[slopaganda]

you ever just think about how many women have had to give up decades of their lives, if not the entirety of their lives, in service of their husbands (INCLUDING husbands who aren’t per se abusive, but who see their wives as primarily playing a supporting role in mens lives and not as full people in their own right), and never have the opportunity to pursue their own goals and dreams, to even explore their potential let alone live it out to the fullest

[lofijazz]

[dollymyfolly-deactivated2026032]

I’m the type of person who holds on to ticket stubs and photos and presses flowers but never puts them into a scrapbook I just have them scattered everywhere which brilliantly illustrates how I’m a sentimental piece of shit who can’t put their life together

[squeakowl]

Why limit myself to choosing between a pretty, feminine aesthetic, or a dark, fierce one? If Persephone can be both the Goddess of Spring & Queen of the Underworld at the same time, then so can I!

[anyasmusicbox-deactivated202103]

Epic III, Hadestown

But even that hardest of hearts unhardened Suddenly, when he saw her there Persephone in her mother’s garden Sun on her shoulders, wind in her hair

[richardmadens-archive]

Maya Hawke for Who What Wear || July 2019 photographed by Heidi Tappis.