If SLOG entries had sub-heads, this one would be “Let’s Have Another Bisexuality Argument!” The New York Times has a dumb article today about an interesting phenomenon: the return of the girl crush.

As the article briefly notes, the acceptability of girl-on-girl crushes has waxed and waned, reaching a high point in the late 19th century, when (mostly adolescent) girls would write goopy letters to each other stating their mutual desire to hug and kiss all night long (this book, which I haven’t read, seems to be the definitive lay introduction to the passionate friendship vogue, though I think it probably makes the argument that the girls were proto-lesbians and not really passionate friends at all).

I use the phrase “girl crush” all the time, and I think the article is right to say that the phenomenon is more about admiration and emulation than lust, but wrong to claim there’s no erotic component whatsoever.

On girl crushes, see also the film Mädchen in Uniform and Simone de Beauvoir’s awesome first novel, L’Invitée.