Girl crushes. Come on, ladies, we all have them. They are perfectly normal and, in recent years, have become socially acceptable. In fact, in our day and age, you'd be hard-pressed to find a girl without one.
Who are mine? Well, the answer is quite simple. I love Katherine Heigl to the point that, when Meredith "died" on last week's Grey's Anatomy, I was happy in thinking that Izzie would now be the primary character. Even Cosmo called her their "newest girl crush" when she was on the cover of their December issue. Believe me, this isn't the first time I've been one step ahead of Cosmo.
I also love Jennifer Aniston. I have been watching Friends for as long as I can remember and could always relate to her character. Even now when I watch it in syndication or on DVDs, I still feel like a little kid, sitting on the couch with my mom, wishing I was Rachel Greene. Back in high school, I loved The OC. A girl crush on Rachel Bilson soon followed. I dyed my hair dark and bought a lot of sundresses that year. But a girl crush is more than just thinking they're pretty. We look to these women for inspiration.
One of my friends frequently wears her cowgirl hat out in honor of her girl crush: Jewel. Another continues to get her hair cut like Jennifer Aniston in the seventh season of Friends. A friend of mine from high school has such a girl crush on Rachel McAdams that she still uses the word "fetch" and frequently watches the deleted scenes of The Notebook.
But I've got news for you, ladies. Due to recently overwhelming evidence, I have come to discover that we are not the only ones to have same-sex crushes. Yes, guys have them on each other too. This, my friends, is known as the "man crush."
A man crush is more serious and more aggressive. While girls look to their girl crushes for hair, clothes and dietary advice, men look to their man crushes for much more life-altering decisions. How much should they be working out? What is an acceptable amount to drink? How many girls should they have slept with?
A friend of mine has a man crush on Entourage's Vincent Chase. Needless to say, he feels inadequate because very few real people have hooked up with as many women as Vince. Another one of my friends repeatedly watched The Girl Next Door freshman year. He developed a man crush on the character Kelley, a porn director. Needless to say, this was a man crush that really stuck.
Having a girl crush or a man crush is the modern day version of a role model. Apparently, the previous definition of "role model" has fallen short on today's society. But that doesn't matter. As long as you aren't girl crushing on Lindsay Lohan or man crushing on Kevin Federline, there really is no cause for concern.