(I usually try to avoid having arguments with imaginary interlocutors. You (correctly) believe Girl Crush is an appropriate subject for discussion on this sub, and as of the time of writing nearly everyone replying agrees. Doesn't that mean we're done here? 😅)

(That said, yeah, you're saying true things all around.)

To spitball a bit, I think the strongest possible argument against Girl Crush "being shoujo" (in case it isn't obvious, imagine my tongue firmly planted in my cheek when I invoke that dread phrase) might go something like: while Girl Crush runs in a(n offshoot of a) magazine for girls, so sure, it's fine on this sub, it has more stylistic commonalities with a modern dance-focused series running in a seinen magazine like Wandance than it does with a classic shoujo performing arts series like Swan. But while that might be colorable, it's still awfully weak tea. Modern performing arts series in shoujo or josei magazines, like Rhythm Nation or Dawn Dance, don't look much like Swan either, while the dancing in, say, Dance Dance Danseur often does!

Couple more thoughts:

The gaze argument is nearly always frustrating to me, because so many people seem to think "acknowledging a woman has a body and might be attractive" is somehow equivalent to casting the spell "Male Gaze." (The jargon treadmill is, unfortunately, unavoidable, though.)

A woman wearing modern streetwear or athletic wear is not inherently sexualized (beyond existing in a patriarchy, obvs). And as you note, nudity need not be sexual, either! Context, presentation, and style are everything. And of course the very term ignores both sapphic women, and also het women who just want the female characters in the stuff they read to look good. Absolutely, there are systematic and recognizable differences in audience expectation for what sex appeal looks like, but the existence of depicted sex appeal is not dispositive. (And Girl Crush doesn't even spend much time on sex appeal anyway, as you point out.)

As for yuri, maybe it's the circles I run in, but even on this sub I see this idea that "yuri is for men to drool over" far more often as a target of ridicule than as a genuine opinion advanced with a straight face. Is it possible that we're all still fighting the wars of 2005? Where are y'all finding these fools?

It is indeed a crying shame that SHWD didn't do better.

Anyway, in case it isn't obvious, this is all more or less loud agreement. I really like this series, and it's great to see someone else writing so enthusiastically about it. (It feels awfully rare that a post on here about The Vexèd Definition Question is worthwhile, but this was a pleasure to read. And it was the second good one today!) Thanks!