If you’ve ever read a fashion magazine, you’ll notice some words have planted themselves firmly into our lexicon – and none more so than the ‘girl crush’. Used to describe an attractive female, it’s become a default term in fashion for any woman you’re super into (but not in, like, a gay way).
A quick Google search turns up hundreds of women who are girl crush material: Lupita Nyong’o, Jennifer Lawrence, Clémence Poésy, Olivia Wilde… There’s even a Girl Crush Colouring Book featuring Beyoncé and Alexa Chung.
But according to an article by Fashionista Assistant Editor Tyler McCall, the term might actually have homophobic connotations. For McCall, it draws parallels with ‘no homo’, the widely-criticised slang briefly popular with rappers like Lil Wayne and locker room jocks.
‘Essentially, [girl crush] is a qualifier to what you're saying that makes sure the reader or listener knows you're straight,’ McCall explains to The Debrief. 'It’s a caveat that also functions as a cop-out: you like, no, love this woman – but no homo, dude! Basically, ‘girl crush’ and ‘no homo’ speak to the same idea: that it’s necessary to qualify your love for someone of the same gender by asserting your straightness.'
Before you start screaming about political correctness gone mad, hear McCall out. ‘The term itself isn't the problem,’ she says. ‘I don't think it's ever meant maliciously. That being said, I do think it's a good way to start a conversation about why we feel the need to use it.’
For Jezebel writer and fashion blogger Caro, who writes under the pseudonym Lingerie Lesbian, the increasing popularity of ‘girl crush’ is just another ‘symptom of the overall issue of queer invisibility in the fashion world’.
‘Whenever I go to events, I end up coming out to everyone within the first ten seconds of meeting them when I tell them the name of my blog,’ she tells The Debrief. ‘I've gotten the strangest range of responses, from nervous laughter to inappropriate leers to offensive jokes. I often get the comment that I don't 'look like a lesbian' or they 'would never have guessed’.
While gay male designers are ten a-plenty, queer women are much less visible in fashion. Women like Mary Portas and Eden Clark (who’s fronted Burberry and Paul Smith campaigns) are out and proud, but some women still prefer staying in the closet. The ‘girl crush’, despite its positive connotations, plays into the idea that being thought of as gay is somehow undesirable – and that has IRL ramifications for queer women in the industry.
‘It's a lot harder to look at yourself and see that maybe you're part of the problem, even if it's something as innocent as saying you have a girl crush on someone,’ says McCall. ‘I'd rather have people feel like I'm being too 'P.C.' and start a conversation than say nothing at all.’ Thoughts?
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Photograph: Lukasz Wierzbowski
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.