Maybe It's a Girl Crush, Maybe You're Queer

An Interview with English novelist Florence Given

            I was born in England and my dad was English, so between this dual cultural identity and living in different countries, I’ve always been drawn to literature that represents struggles with a split sense of self. This fall I read English artist Florence Given’s new novel Girl Crush, and it felt a little escapist, to read about a bisexual character in a fictional version of London existing without having to worry about fascist regulations of her body or who she choses to love (as we do here). Although the main character, Eartha, doesn’t face persecution from the state, she nevertheless struggles as she comes out as bisexual and rises to internet stardom. The struggles she faces are somewhat universal: she’s constrained by binary understandings of sexuality and the intense corporate scrutiny and exploitation of her image and identity. It’s a great read, by a young writer (the novel takes aim at the formulation of labeling anyone as a “voice of a generation” but I do think her work is at the forefront of an imminent wave of Gen Z art and literature, and I just can’t wait).

            I was delighted to read the novel, and I’m even more delighted to host Florence here, for an interview with Hot Feminism. She’s a visual artist as well, and you can purchase her work here. Grab a copy of Women Don’t Owe You Pretty and Girl Crush at Bookshop or an independent bookstore near you, and check out her podcast, Exactly.

Emily: Thanks so much for talking to Hot Feminism! I really enjoyed Girl Crush and it felt especially important reading it here in South Carolina, where local and state politicians are trying to ban queer books in libraries and schools. I know how important it is for young people to see themselves reflected in culture. Did this need for representation inspire you at all to write the book? I’m thinking especially of the main character Eartha’s bisexuality and her friend Rose’s nonbinary gender identity.

Florence: It makes me sick to my fucking stomach that politicians are trying to introduce legislation to ban queer books. Part of the reason it’s frightening to come out is because you don’t know what the hell you’re doing. If those how to guide-books don’t exist, you have to rely on knowing other queer people and taking on the advice of a queer elder or someone who has more experience. Which isn’t always possible for everyone. I’d always dreamed about having a queer older sibling/sister to show me the ropes and tell me what to look out for, how to do this and that, but I didn’t have that figure. Rose was such an important character for me to write because they fill in that role for Eartha where she doesn’t know how to even talk to girls, let alone have queer sex. Queer books need to exist because banning them doesn’t stop queer people existing. Though I assume that’s what these homophobic politicians are hoping for, gay people don’t go anywhere because you stop sharing their stories. It just stops those people receiving care and guidance and representation.

Emily: In Girl Crush, Eartha’s breakup video goes viral and she finds herself suddenly famous on a social media platform called Wonderland. I was really interested in the techniques you used to weave together social media, text messages, voice memos,  all the features we have on our screens that we interact with so much every day. Was it a challenge to translate a sort of visual world into words and narrative? How did writing a novel compare to creating visual art?

Florence: Yes! It was so challenging, but I wanted to show the reality of our fragmented lives that are now lived partially online, partially offline. Our forms of communication with one another are so scattered and i wanted to communicate how many forms of inner/outer monologue that Eartha was experiencing, from the voice she uses to talk to her followers, her friends, her text messages to her mum, the girls she’s attracted to, and her inner thoughts. That’s why writing in first person was exhilarating for me!

Emily: I was also fascinated in the novel that as Eartha loses herself and becomes more disconnected from a physical reality, we see her also losing the edges of herself as separate from the older women in her life, especially her mother and her new manager, E.V. At certain points, we’re not even sure E.V. is real! I love how that makes the reader feel the same anxiety as Eartha, so that we begin to doubt what we’ve been constructing as reader. What importance do the older women have in the novel? Is E.V. real?!

Florence: Ahhh thank you so much! I really wanted to leave the reader a little confused (but not too confused) so that their experience would mirror what Eartha was going through, in having to maybe read back through the novel so that they could re-collect what was real and what wasn’t, in the same way she has to go through her old emails to see whether EV was real or not. It was quite uncomfortable to write an experience about a woman being gaslit by people she trusted, especially as it was in first person. It felt like I was experiencing it with her. The importance of EV’s character is that she’s the opposite side of the coin to Eartha. I referenced the beauty myth in the novel, Naomi Wolf mentioned in it how older and younger women are often torn apart from one another and taught to compete because they ‘want what the other has’. That there’s this patriarchal myth that younger women can be beautiful but not wise, and older women can be wise but not beautiful. We’re taught the grass is greener on the other side, and EV develops an obsession with Eartha as the ‘bright shiny thing’ she once was herself.

Emily: Once Eartha becomes a public figure, her sexual identity is scrutinized, by her followers and E.V., who wants to trade on Eartha’s newly proclaimed queerness for contracts with dating sites and who insists that Eartha only date women. Her bisexuality is heavily constrained, both by the women who follow her who don’t want her to see men and by E.V., who really becomes more and more sinister. Can you tell us how Eartha’s struggles reflect larger questions of bisexual identity and the lack of recognition it might have?

Florence: I think that being bisexual is a unique experience that is neither gay nor straight, and that should be fucking honored and celebrated! It is confusing as hell, but that’s part of it. Particularly when you can’t relate to the way either gay or straight women feel about men/women. A bisexual lens is a bisexual lens and it doesn’t have to fit into either gay or straight lenses. I think it’s a beautiful thing and I really wanted to write a protagonist that experiences this confusion, paired with a shit ton of pride for being who she is! I also wanted to discuss the theme of companies/corporations trying to co-opt this for their own gain. Eartha doesn’t even know who she is, and the people around her were trying to make it into something profitable.  

Emily: How much of the novel did you write during the pandemic? It’s been so hard on our students and I’m trying to find ways to encourage young people to reinvest in themselves, both in terms of classes but also to see themselves as writers and artists. Sometimes they seem so overwhelmed. Any advice for young people on how to do hard things and keep going?

Florence: Hmm any advice…I needed an accountability partner to even complete writing a novel!  My book agent and my editor would be expecting a chapter or two or three every Friday so they could read it over the weekend and have edits sent to me. I loved the idea of having all the time in the world to write a novel, but if you wait to be ‘completely’ free you’ll be waiting forever. I learned that most people write books with multiple projects or jobs going on at the same time and it helped me to just get my head down and complete it, knowing there would never be a perfect time. So perhaps a schedule of having someone to ‘expect’ work from you might help, otherwise there’s little motivation to complete it. I needed to know that someone was waiting for something from me to complete it at all.

Emily: And finally, we should all put your first book Women Don’t Owe You Pretty on our reading lists, in addition to Girl Crush. What else should we be reading?

Florence: Untamed by Glennon Doyle, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Bad Dyke by Allison Moon (a queer short!), Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad, The Transgender Issue by Shon Faye.

Hope you all enjoy Girl Crush as much as I did! Spread the word about queer literature by sharing Hot Feminism with all your friends, and stay vigilant about book banning efforts in your own communities. In South Carolina, the newly formed Freedom to Read SC could use your support. If you’re a student at PC, I’ll be teaching an Introduction to Literature course on banned books in the spring. See you all in the New Year!