A womance is a close but non- sexual, non-romantic relationship between two or more

women A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional u ...

. It is an exceptionally tight affectional,

homosocial In sociology, homosociality means same-sex friendships that are not of a romantic or sexual nature, such as friendship, mentorship, or others. Researchers who use the concept mainly do so to explain how men uphold men's dominance in society. ' ...

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 In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of the words ''woman'' and ''romance''. The emergence of the terms

bromance A bromance is a very close and non-sexual relationship between two or more men. It is an exceptionally tight, affectional, homosocial male bonding relationship exceeding that of usual friendship, and is distinguished from normal friendship by ...

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 ''

'', some have seen different nuances in the social construction of the two concepts. Hammarén sees "different values assigned to male and female friendships" and a dissimilarity in the "underlying power relation between the concepts", and Winch has asserted several differences in the social construction.

Cultural references

Film

Examples of film womances seem to be less prevalent than

s. '' In Her Shoes'' (2005), ''

Baby Mama A baby mama (or baby momma, also baby mother) is a slang term for a mother who is not marriage, married to her child's father, although the term often carries other connotations as well. This term is associated with African American slang, African ...

'' (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 201

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Other

The first all-female podcast is a comedy duo from Brisbane. "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.

References

{{Interpersonal relationships 2010s slang Friendship Homosociality Women in society 2010s neologisms

Cultural references

Film

Television

Other

See also

References