But among older girls they are a very different thing and often lead to
serious trouble and unhappiness. What has happened in such cases is
that an instinct which is designed to produce love for one of the
opposite sex has been perverted to add an element of passion to what
should have been merely a healthy friendship for another woman. And the
result is an unhealthy type of relationship. It is unhealthy because,
to begin with, in this way girls let themselves go and allow their
emotions to run away with them; and that just at a time when it is
most important that they should have themselves in firm control. And
further, when members of the same sex employ lovers' language, and
indulge in the imitation of lovers' endearments, there is something
sickly about the whole business which healthy instinct condemns. I do
not mean, of course, that when girls link arms or even embrace each
other in moments of excitement there is anything mistaken. To some
people such expressions of emotion are as natural as breathing. But
_grandes passions_ lead to much more than that sort of thing, and so
become a serious evil.
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