Kate McKinnon Is Everyone’s New Girl Crush

Ever since the release of Ghostbuters on Friday, social media’s been buzzing with women, both straight and gay, drooling over Kate Mckinnon and her character in the movie, quirky inventor Jillian Holtzmann.

It’s easy to see why the comedienne’s the girl crush du jour for so many. As Holtzmann, McKinnon transmits an unrivaled charisma and seductive physicality, swinging her proton pack (itself quite phallic) around confidently. In one of the best scenes in the movie — spoiler alert! — licking the barrel of her gun before proceeding to break open a can on some ghosts. With a trademark swoosh of blond hair and an unconventional steampunk style, she’s never once objectified, seeming fully in control of her sexuality, and confident in a way that women in Hollywood are so rarely allowed to be.

And then there’s the wink that launched a million swooning girl crushes.

McKinnnon is the first openly gay Saturday Night Live castmember, and director Paul Feig has hinted that her Ghostbusters character is as well, noting, “If you know Kate at all she’s this kind of pansexual beast where it’s just like everybody who’s around her falls in love with her and she’s so loving to everybody she’s around. I wanted to let that come out in this character.”

That part about everyone falling in love with her has proven to be true — McKinnon may just be the new Ruby Rose when it comes to making straight women question their sexuality and queer women reaffirm theirs.

And this is in a movie where Chris Hemsworth is repeatedly pictured shirtless.

But we don’t just love McKinnon for how good she looks in goggles — her slightly bizarre and gleefully destructive performance as Holtzmann quite simply steals the film. It’s a career-making star turn that is likely to do for McKinnon what Bridesmaids did for Melissa Mccarthey.

And even if Holtzmann’s sexuality is not explicitly defined, it’s a stunning victory for LGBTQ representation in Hollywood. Last week, another Ghostbusters star, Leslie Jones, tearfully thanked Whoopi Goldberg for providing a role model who “looked like her” as a child. Let’s hope that McKinnon and Holtzmann are doing the same thing for all the little girls out there who not only want to be with her, but want to be her as well.

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