Kristen Stewart is with a girl. Why can't we just say it?

Sometimes, tabloid magazines and websites go somewhat overboard – but what does it mean when they go too far the other way?

Taylor Swift will be seen looking in the direction of a male and WHO IS THE MYSTERY MAN? WHEN WILL HER NEXT ALBUM ABOUT HIM BE RELEASED??

Jennifer Aniston eats lunch with her partner and SHE’S EATING FOR TWO, PREGNANT AT LAST. She eats without him, and she’s EATING HER FEELINGS, HEARTBROKEN AND STILL IN LOVE WITH BRAD AFTER 200 YEARS.

It’s trashy and terrible and yes, I’ll admit, I do occasionally buy into it (don’t we all?); but we all know that’s what tabloids are all about: they will take every ounce of a celebrities’ privacy, burn it into a billion pieces, take photos of the ashes, and tell us it’s news.

READ MORE: They dated? 20 forgotten celebrity couples.

So imagine my surprise when, a few months ago, Kristen Stewart was photographed on a beach KISSING someone- actually kissing them, not just standing a metre away or looking at them (both of which are circumstances that have sparked affair or pregnancy rumours from magazines in the past)- and the tabloids said….nothing.

There was no intense search for her mystery lover’s name, no questions about what Robert Pattinson would think, no photos of her in Twilight (because that’s the only thing she’s been in, duh), nothing at all.

The reason for this complete and utter lack of scrutiny? Was because the person Kristen was seen kissing was, in fact, a girl.

The Daily Mail posted photos of the two kissing, briefly pointing out that Kristen was ‘cosying up’ to her ‘galpal’, before going on (and on, and on) about her beach attire like wearing shorts and a singlet instead of bathers was incredibly groundbreaking.

At first I was like, “oh, cool, the world is so chill about queer stuff now that a celebrity can kiss someone of the same sex and we’re all like ‘meh, what was she wearing?!!”, but then I realised something: not once did Daily Mail actually acknowledge the kiss.

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They weren’t writing the article with an air of ‘oh, who cares about kissing, KStew’s manly Y-fronts were WILD’; they were writing the article with an air of ‘Kristen Stewart is a STRAIGHT GIRL who is STRAIGHT and has a close STRAIGHT friend who is is close with but PLATONICALLY.’

Seriously, they used the term ‘gal-pal’ more times than I have ever heard it used in all the years of my life. (What even is a gal-pal? Are they somehow better than normal pals? Is it a new fad I didn’t know about? Am I someone’s gal-pal?)

Basically: this article was an awkward mess, with the (unmentioned) kiss being the most awkward part of it.

Honestly, it kind of pissed me off.

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I mean, had K-Stew been kissing a man, the tabloids would have been all OVER it. Endlessly.

But because her apparent love interest was a woman, instead of taking the ‘oh my God, a new lover’ angle, or the ‘debatable fashion sense’ angle, Daily Mail went for the ‘don’t know how to deal with the possibility of gayness so we’ll just awkwardly pander around the edges about it instead’.

Then, this week, they did it again.

On Wednesday, Daily Mail produced a super newsworthy piece about Kristen Stewart, and her now ‘live-in gal pal’, being touchy-feely at Coachella recently.

The article went to TOWN on descriptions of the two platonic mates just being casually platonic and doing platonic casual stuff like living together, holding hands, having matching tattoos, and being casually snuggly. Just normal, platonic, gal-pal stuff.

READ MORE: This picture is more than just a d*ckhead in an offensive tshirt.

And to be fair, those are all normal platonic things to do with your best friend. I’ve lived with mine; I’ve held her hand to get through crowds; I’ve used her as an armrest more than once because she is SUPER comfy. (Alex, this is a public call to please let me snuggle you more often. Thanks.)

However, I have never holidayed with her and made out with her. Those things, I tend to do with my girlfriend. As in, girl who I am dating. In a non-platonic way.

And don’t get me wrong here. I don’t want Daily Mail to out Kristen Stewart. I don’t want to date Kristen Stewart. I do not want anyone but Kristen, if she feels the need, to out herself.

What I do want, however, is to see some freakin’ tact and respect.

READ MORE: The stereotype that won’t die: Why don’t we take bisexuality seriously?

I don’t want a world where, if a girl is seen kissing another girl, the media just yells GAL PALS GAL PALS again and again and again, like there’s something fundamentally wrong with being more than that.

I understand the point of not speculating on someone’s sexuality, and not outing them; because doing those things is incredibly damaging and does more harm than good (*cough* everyarticleonbrucejenner*cough*).

I don’t want what I’m writing to be a speculation of Kristen Stewart. Maybe she’s queer, sure, maybe she’s not. That’s not what this is about.

READ MORE: ‘Yes, the LGBTI community has an agenda: To keep kids safe from bullying.’

This article was so desperately trying to not acknowledge the girls kissing that it somehow ended up screaming about it. And that’s a cause for concern.

Check out photos of the talented actress below…