What’s A Girl (Friend) to Do?

Proclaims Slate magazine: You Go, Companion! and puzzles what to call the unmarried female consorts of well-known men:

"Upon reading an article this week referring to charges that embattled
World Bank chief Paul Wolfowitz had "used his influence to raise the
salary of his girlfriend," veteran New York Times readers in
mid-coffee sip could be forgiven for performing a spit-take. The use of
the g-word for Wolfowitz’s 52-year-old consort, Shaha Ali Riza, was a
new frontier for the newspaper."

And there’s more:

"Checking the appellation trail left by other news organizations on the Wolfowitz case, one finds, most commonly, girlfriend and companion, but also friend (CNN.com), romantic partner (the Dallas Morning News), a close female friend (the Money Times of India), and even gal (the Village Voice). Bloomberg News has used partner, which the Times
style guide calls "a suitable term for an unmarried companion of the
same sex or the opposite one. But if the context allows misreading to
mean a business partnership, use companion, Times style guide observes, "lover
is a suitable term for a partner in a literary or historic liaison or a
highly visible romance between public personalities in show business,
for example."

Jeesh, now I’m confused……..