My friendships with women have never been overtly sexual, but a good many of them have been what bell hooks in her book Communion: The Female Search for Love called romantic, in the soul-inspiring way that someone being thoughtful about loving you and showing up for you is romantic. Often those connections have what hooks called “an erotic dimension … that acts as an energetic force, enhancing and deepening ties.” There is no room in my life for shallow or basic connections.
