Womance
{{Short description|Close but non-sexual relationship between two or more women}}
{{redirect|Girl crush|the Little Big Town song|Girl Crush}}
{{Close Relationships}}
A womance is a close but non-sexual, non-romantic relationship between two or more women. It is an exceptionally tight affectional, homosocial female bonding relationship exceeding that of usual friendship, and is distinguished by a particularly high level of emotional intimacy.
The word womance is a portmanteau of the words woman and romance. The emergence of the terms bromance and womance has been seen as reflecting increased relationship-seeking as a modern behavior. Although womance is sometimes seen as the female flip side of bromance, some have seen different nuances in the social construction of the two concepts. Hammarén sees "different values assigned to male and female friendships"{{Explain|date=March 2022}} and a dissimilarity in the "underlying power relation between the concepts",{{Explain|date=March 2022}} and Winch has asserted several differences in the social construction.{{Explain|date=March 2022}}
Cultural references
=Film=
Examples of film womances seem to be less prevalent than bromances. In Her Shoes (2005), Baby Mama (2008), The Women (2008), Bride Wars (2009), The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (2005), Desatanakkili Karayarilla,
an Indian Malayalam language movie (1986), and Bridesmaids (2011) have been seen as womances, and their characteristics and tropes discussed. Winch expands on the assertion that "The womance can be distinguished from earlier friendship films because of its focus on the female self as entrepreneurial self-project." She sees differences from bromance, in "practices of consumption and hypervisability differentiates their togetherness from the togetherness of the buddies of the bromance" as well as dissimilar themes—girlfriend competition, female solidarity in the face of concerns about economic security and bridezilla behavior.
The Australian feature film Jucy (2010) is billed as a "womantic comedy". Frances Ha (2013) has been seen as a character study, with two close female protagonists, who "have quite a womance going".
=Television=
Several 2010's TV series feature notable "womances" as well as the earlier TV series Laverne and Shirley and Mel & Sue.Ginny Dougary. Mel & Sue on "womance" and their new chat show Monday 12 January 2015 [http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-01-12/mel--sue-on-womance-and-their-new-chat-show]
=Other=
The first all-female podcast is a comedy duo from Brisbane.{{better source|date=December 2022}}
"Womance" has also been used to describe the real life friendship between female celebrities.
In the Now.Here Book Saga, the main character, Kiona, has a strong womance relationship with Rubecula, but is also shared with her closest friends like Abenanka and Birtá.
See also
{{Wiktionary}}
{{div-col}}
- Boston marriage
- Bromance
- Buddy film
- Female bonding
- Female buddy film
- Friendship
- Man date
- Platonic love
- Romantic friendship
- Showmance
- Sorority
- Queerplatonic relationship
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References
{{Reflist|refs=
Aggarwal U. Womance in the virtual world: Cool or creepy? Times of India May 31, 2014
[https://web.archive.org/web/20120407125923/http://www.tmaonhulu.com/blog/year-of-the-womances/ 'Top 10 Womances On TV Today' by Lauren Barbato, The Morning After on Hulu, September 28, 2011]{{better source|date=February 2015}}
Deborah Ross. The Spectator, 27 July 2013.
Winch A. Girlfriends and Postfeminist Sisterhood. Palgrave Macmillan. 2013. {{ISBN|9780230348752}}
}}
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