girl crush?

Why can we not just say, “I have a crush on Cate Blanchett? [for example]” Why do we feel the need to specify “girl crush”?

I was browsing through Self a while back and saw that one of the readers wrote that Amanda Peet is her girl crush. Is a “girl crush” something we are expected to have, as if to prove our normalcy? Why can’t we just say “crush”? Do we have to point out that, “Oh no! Someone might think I’m gay if I don’t specify ‘girl crush’”? Whatever.

I have a crush on Cate Blanchett (among other people).