Chapter 4 Summary: The Ten Most Important Sapphic Paparazzi Photos in Modern History

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

Jill Gutowitz opens Chapter 4 by recalling her teenage years as a closeted lesbian whose education in romance came from paparazzi photos in checkout‑line magazines. She internalised heterosexual tropes such as “cozying up in Miami,” “leaving LAX,” and “kissing courtside,” but never saw herself represented. The essay then presents a curated list of ten Sapphic paparazzi photos that, over the past two decades, have queered those same romantic gestures and made queer desire publicly visible. Each entry analyses a specific image—from Cara Delevingne and Michelle Rodriguez vaping at a Knicks game, to Miley Cyrus and Kaitlynn Carter kissing on a yacht, to the iconic shot of Cara Delevingne and Ashley Benson carrying a sex bench into their home. Gutowitz uses humour and cultural commentary to argue that these photos are essential queer artifacts, redefining what it means to be in love and be photographed.

Key Events

Cara Delevingne and Michelle Rodriguez vaping: The couple kissed and vaped courtside at Madison Square Garden in 2014, queering the archetypal “kissing courtside” photo.
Miley Cyrus and Kaitlynn Carter on a yacht: In August 2019, the pair was photographed kissing beneath sun hats on Lake Como, performing a classic heterosexual couple activity.
Queen Latifah photographing her girlfriend: Queen Latifah lay on the ground in Brazil to capture content for her partner Eboni Nichols, subverting the “Instagram husband” role.
Gillian Anderson and Megan Fox walking: The two actresses held hands on a film set in 2007, creating a fleeting but memorable image of bisexual visibility.
Gillian Anderson walking with Ellen DeGeneres and Alexandra Hedison: A 1990s photograph of three women wearing jackets and walking together becomes a cultural touchstone of lesbian history.
Cara Delevingne and St. Vincent with water guns: The couple squirted photographers with Super Soakers outside a 2015 Christmas party, playfully queering the idea of “wet and wild.”
Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson at Fashion Week: In 2008, the pair posed for a photo at a New York Fashion Week event, publicly outing their relationship and claiming space in gossip media.
Janelle Monáe and Lupita Nyong’o grinding at the Met Gala after‑party: A 2019 candid shot of the two celebrities canoodling, with Danai Gurira walking away, became lesbian folklore.
Kristen Stewart hanging out of a car to photograph Stella Maxwell: In 2017, Stewart leaned out of a moving car to take photos of her girlfriend, demonstrating unmatched “simping” for a partner.
Cara Delevingne and Ashley Benson carrying a sex bench: The most legendary photo shows the couple hauling a master‑series sex bench into their West Hollywood home, symbolising unapologetic queer sexuality.

Character Development

The chapter does not follow a traditional narrative arc, but it traces a personal evolution in the author’s relationship with paparazzi culture. Gutowitz begins as a repressed teenager who passively consumes heteronormative images. By the end, she becomes an active critic and curator, using humour to reclaim these photos for queer audiences. The celebrities themselves are not developed as characters; rather, they function as icons whose actions challenge or reinforce queer visibility.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Queering public space: Vaping, carrying a sex bench, and lying on the ground to photograph a partner are framed as acts that transform ordinary spaces into queer spaces.
Visibility through consumption: Paparazzi photos are treated as essential queer media that allow closeted individuals to see themselves reflected.
The “sex bench” as symbol: The explicit, branded sex bench represents the shift from coded lesbian representation to overt, unapologetic displays of queer desire.
Heteronormative tropes reclaimed: Traditional romantic acts (cozying up in Miami, leaving LAX, kissing courtside) are listed and then re‑performed by queer couples, queering the originals.
Humour as analysis: Gutowitz’s deadpan tone and absurdist categories (e.g., “the ten most important”) serve both as entertainment and as a serious argument about cultural significance.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 4 illustrates how celebrity gossip and paparazzi photography have historically provided a limited but powerful window into queer life. By cataloguing and analysing these images, Gutowitz demonstrates that representation often emerges from unexpected, lowbrow sources. The chapter also argues that queer people have actively reshaped the visual language of romance, inserting themselves into tropes that once excluded them. The sex‑bench photo, in particular, marks a watershed moment of unapologetic lesbian visibility in mainstream media.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Gutowitz consider paparazzi photos “essential queer viewing”?
She explains that as a repressed, isolated teenager, she lived vicariously through celebrities’ “sex‑filled lives.” The photos provided a romantic template she couldn’t access in her own life, and later, seeing queer couples in similar photos affirmed that she could have those experiences too.

2. What does the sex‑bench photo symbolise for the author?
It represents the ultimate departure from subtle or coded lesbian representation. Gutowitz notes that after years of queer women performing the same romantic acts as straight couples, the explicit image of carrying a sex bench into a home signals that queer desire is no longer hidden. She calls it “the most legendary and most lesbian paparazzi photo taken in modern history.”

3. How does Gutowitz “queer” traditional paparazzi tropes in this chapter?
She recontextualises familiar magazine‑cliché scenarios—vaping, using Super Soakers, photographing a partner on the ground—by assigning them to known queer couples and framing them as acts that “queer a space.” For example, she writes that every time a lesbian blows vape smoke, “a space is queered.” She also creates a taxonomy of couple dynamics that explicitly includes tops, bottoms, subs, and doms, replacing the heteronormative “Instagram husband” with a queer version.