We Heart: Girl Crush Media

Did you know there are a lot of people talking about girl crushes? Before today, neither did we.

I set out this morning to write about Got A Girl Crush (GAGC), a terrific new magazine dedicated entirely to, you guessed it, girl crushes. Loosely defined, a girl crush is when you fervently admire another woman from afar, or as GACC describes it:

There’s never a shortage of women we can turn to for inspiration, and Got a Girl Crush is a place for us to harness that feeling.

Many online definitions of “girl crush” include a little homophobic caveat along the lines of “not sexual in nature” (thanks, New York Times!) but I’d say that’s entirely beside the point, and thankfully, GACC seems to agree.

With the impeccable design of K. Nicole Murtagh and a beautiful hand-painted cover by Erin Wengrovius this magazine is gorgeous. The brain-child of Andrea Cheng and Meg Wachter, GAGC started as a blog in 2009 and garnered enough traffic to merit a full-fledged publication. The inaugural issue pays tribute to former Saturday Night Live comedian Jenny Slate, musician/maskmaker Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs, artist Lisa Congdon and more. (Just one downer: The lineup lacks any Black or Latina women).

What I found while doing research is GAGC is not alone in their fascination with girl crushes. Also out this month is Girl Crush, a zine by two talented New York professionals, Jenna Wortham and Thessaly La Force who defined “girl crush” to the New York Observer:

It’s someone you want to be like, and someone you think is cool. It’s a slightly silly way to say something a little serious—because it’s so earnest to be like, ‘I admire you immensely!’

They even managed to get one of their very own girl crushes, Pulitzer Prize winning author Jennifer Egan, to contribute to the zine. How cool is that?

Oh! And there’s also Wendy Withers’ blog, aptly titled Girl Crush, that features interviews with all kinds of talented women. The interviews are honest and smart and addicting to read, like this one with ice cream maker Geri Czako.

I love the way this phenomenon is about women recognizing other women for being talented, powerful, innovative and brilliant.

I think I have a girl crush on girl crush media.

Have you ever had a girl crush? Share the story in the comments!

TOP: Cartoon by Sarah Richardson. All rights reserved.

About

Sarah is a visual journalism student at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash. She has a near obsession with ending injustice and is a sucker for a good cause.