Female friendships in Jacqueline Wilson books rated by how much viscerally lesbian energy I perceive in them
This is excluding the books where the best friends in question are twins or revealed to be long lost sisters, as well as books like Sleepovers wherein there were so many friendships I couldn’t keep track of them.
Best Friends, 2004: Gemma & Alice
This one is a mixed bag because on the one hand Gemma and Alice have the baby butch/femme dynamic down pat (rowdy short-haired tomboy and sweet pretty girly-girl have a close devoted friendship? HELLO?), but on the other hand they are literally ten years old and weirdly intense best friendships tend to peak at that sort of age anyway. There’s also the fact that they’ve both known each other since infancy, and it’s generally uncommon (although not unheard of) for people who go back that far to be attracted to one another because of the Westermarck effect or whatever. Nevertheless, the fact that these two literally attempt to run away together to avoid separation, and the fact that the entire narrative treats them as star-crossed lovers, and the fact that Gemma views Alice with the same above-all-else reverence a lot of people would reserve only for a partner or perhaps God, means I can’t possibly pretend this book is void of lesbian energies. It’s an 8/10 from me.
Secrets, 2002: Treasure & India
This one is weird and convoluted and depressing as hell, so it was never one of my favourites and I don’t particularly want to reread it to assess the lesbian energies therein with real accuracy. However, I do recall that the two girls (and especially India) were queens of friendlessness until they met each other, so they definitely get bonus points for lesbian loneliness. They also get bonus points for being bright spots in one another’s lives, although given that both come from abusive and/or neglectful homes and both have no other friends that may not be saying too much. The close friendship between the two girls remains at the heart of the novel yet again, however, and they really do both go to extreme lengths to protect one another. 7/10.
Midnight, 2003: Violet & Jasmine
This one really has it all. Violet literally says ‘I fell in love with her instantly’ the first time she meets new girl Jasmine. She spends the entirety of their subsequent friendship waxing lyrical about how beautiful and ethereal and superior Jasmine is and how she can’t BELIEVE Jasmine deigned her worthy of friendship and how she wants Jasmine to think highly of her all the time because her opinion is of Utmost Importance for Some Reason. She talks about how nice her friend smells and how well she dresses and how she’s SO unlike EVERYONE ELSE in their BORING SCHOOL. It’s like reading my own teenage diaries, except Violet has a creepy older brother and a load of sinister homemade fairies hanging from her bedroom ceiling. Nonetheless, one of the defining events of the novel comes up when Violet catches Jasmine kissing her brother and freaks out on both of them for reasons that absolutely definitely couldn’t possibly be related to feelings of jealousy or betrayal. You literally couldn’t pay me enough to make me say this book wasn’t about Violet’s first gay crush, and it gets extra points for the intense feelings of lesbian loneliness emanating from Violet’s character as a whole. Solid 10/10 for lesbian energy.
Bad Girls, 1996: Mandy & Tanya
I’m going to say pre-emptively that given the fact that Mandy is 10 and Tanya is 14 I’m not going to pretend these two girls are in any sort of relationship, or that the latter girl crushes on the former. HOWEVER, I will say that I get lesbian friendship vibes. Tanya’s dress sense is undeniably butch, and Mandy’s older mother disapproves of the two hanging out together (signalling not only obvious classism, but perhaps homophobia as well? Makes you think). Mandy is bullied at school and likes to fantasise about being a different version of herself called ‘Miranda Rainbow’. I never owned this book and I’m not running back to the library for a flip-through but I’m pretty sure there was something about rainbow hair dye, too. Big Hmmm. Personally, I give a 9/10 to this one for wholesome lesbian mentorship/friendship vibes.
Vicky Angel, 2000: Vicky & Jade
This is a weird one because whilst Jade’s extreme obsession with and idolisation of Vicky would seem romantic if Vicky wasn’t dead, Vicky IS in fact dead, and I can’t help but feel like I’d get a bit obsessed with any one of my platonic close friends if I witnessed their death as well. Nonetheless, it appears that even before Vicky died, she was a total bitch to Jade 24/7, so you’ve got to question exactly why Jade kept her around for so long. Perhaps because love is blind? I give this one a 7/10 for interpretation-based potential.
The Girls Series, 1997-2002: Ellie, Nadine and Magda
A disappointing lack of lesbianism here. All three girls only date boys and seem quite legitimately attracted to them, as well. Also, they were sort of shitty friends to each other a lot of the time. Although Ellie seems pretty heterosexual to me, I wouldn’t rule out bisexual Nadine and Magda. I mean, Nadine is a goth girl, for goodness sake, and how many heterosexual goth girls do you actually know? I give these girls a 5/10, to balance between wasted potential on Wilson’s part and wishful thinking on my own.
Candyfloss, 2006: Floss & Susan
Let’s get this straight (or not. Ha!). Floss is best friends with Rhiannon who is super beautiful and mean to her all of the time. She then ditches her and becomes best friends with Susan, instead, who is super nice and sweet to her all of the time despite being a bit of a geek. Now, if this isn’t a metaphor for getting over your emotionally distant adolescent crush and finding new love in somebody who actually deserves you I don’t know what is. These two then have a very sweet friendship with some definite lesbian undertones, including instances where both are nervous to meet one another’s parents and a tearful parting of ways when Susan goes away to France for the summer at the end. Floss is also planning to dye her hair pink for summer at the end of the novel, perhaps in preparation for pride. I give this book an 8/10 for the sheer baby lesbian possibilities beneath the mundane, lesbianless surface.
Hetty Feather Trilogy, 2009-2012: Hetty As A Character In General
Hetty doesn’t actually have many intense female friendships during her time at the foundling hospital or afterwards: there IS Polly, but we don’t see much of her and she moves away quite early in the series, never to be seen again. That said: Hetty Feather is a lesbian. I say this in full confidence. Hetty has two semi-crushes semi-relationships with boys, neither of whom she is consistently interested in. Bertie supposedly breaks her heart but she really doesn’t seem lastingly bothered about it, whilst Jem smothers and overwhelms her as soon as their relationship becomes an actual possible reality towards the end of the books. Supposedly she wanted to marry him aged five, but that doesn’t really mean anything given that she was five and didn’t see him for years after that anyway – also, he was her adopted brother, so the whole thing was just a bit weird even for Victorian times. Anyway, faced with this love triangle and the two men she could choose between at the end of the trilogy, Hetty says “fuck that”, takes a third option and runs away to join the circus instead. Gay legend. 10/10.
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