Girls Can Kiss Now: Essays

by Jill Gutowitz

Overview

“Wickedly funny and heartstoppingly vulnerable...every page twinkles with brilliance.” —Refinery29

Perfect for fans of Samantha Irby and Trick Mirror, a hilarious, whip-smart collection of personal essays exploring the intersection of queerness, pop culture, the internet, and identity, introducing one of the most undeniably original new voices today.

Jill Gutowitz’s life—for better and worse—has always been on a collision course with pop culture. There’s the time the FBI showed up at her door because of something she tweeted about Game of Thrones. The pop songs that have been the soundtrack to the worst moments of her life. And of course, the pivotal day when Orange Is the New Black hit the airwaves and broke down the door to Jill’s own sexuality. In these honest examinations of identity, desire, and self-worth, Jill explores perhaps the most monumental cultural shift of our lifetimes: the mainstreaming of lesbian culture. Dusting off her own personal traumas and artifacts of her not-so-distant youth she examines how pop culture acts as a fun house mirror reflecting and refracting our values—always teaching, distracting, disappointing, and revealing us.

Girls Can Kiss Now is a fresh and intoxicating blend of personal stories, sharp observations, and laugh-out-loud humor. This timely collection of essays helps us make sense of our collective pop-culture past even as it points the way toward a joyous, uproarious, near—and very queer—future.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781982158507
Publisher:	Atria Books
Publication date:	03/08/2022
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	173,811
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Jill Gutowitz is a writer from New Jersey. Her writing has appeared in publications such as The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Vulture, and more. She lives in Los Angeles with her partner and a very small cat.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Five Eras of Celesbianism 1

Memeing with the FBI 15

I'm a Famous Actress, MOM! 35

One Day, You'll All Be Gay 51

The Ten Most Important Sapphic Paparazzi Photos in Modern History 75

A Supercut of Lesbian Yearning 83

Kill the Creator of Entourage in Your Head 107

A Britney Spears Blackout-No, Not That One 129

Crush Me at the Forum 135

Step on Me, Julianne Moore 147

I Know This Now 157

Kiss Me, Murder Me in the Woods 175

The Current Lesbian Canon, as It Stands 185

Clueless at Chateau Marmont 195

The Beast 213

Editorial Reviews

★ 01/10/2022

Journalist Gutowitz debuts with an incisive and funny collection of essays on coming of age as a queer woman in the early 2000s. In “One Day, You’ll All Be Gay,” she writes of Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson’s 2008 relationship—they were “ravenously exploited”—and how she was affected by the narrative of a queer female sexuality centered on drugs and mental illness: “I remember thinking: I’m a good student. I come from a great family... I’m not some weak-minded chump, able to be indoctrinated by lesbianism.” In “Kill the Creator of Entourage in Your Head,” she reflects on coming to terms with her sexuality while watching Orange Is the New Black; “The Ten Most Important Sapphic Paparazzi Photos in Modern History” lists “Cara Delevingne and Michelle Rodriguez vaping” and “Janelle Monáe and Lupita Nyong’o grinding at Met Gala afterparty” as key cultural moments; and the slightly more somber “The Beast” considers the superficiality of celebrities through their asinine tweets sent during the pandemic—Kim Kardashian, for example, showed off one of her 14 Friesian horses. Gutowitz blends candid reflections on the experience of being closeted with witty analysis on how the media affects one’s perception of the world. Fans of the personal essay will be eager to see what Gutowitz does next. Agent: Katelyn Dougherty, Paradigm Talent Agency. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

Fresh and witty.” —Vogue

“Compulsively readable.” —The Skimm

“Gutowitz maps the current lesbian canon with a lot of humor and more than a few wonderful, and wonderfully mortifying, personal anecdotes.” —Wired

“Comedy gold...If you were to mark every single funny thing in this book, you would mark the entire book.”—Isaac Fitzgerald, Today

“Ever-hilarious and insightful...Gutowitz explores how lesbianism went mainstream.” —Bustle

“Between every one-liner and guffaw, Gutowitz delivers not just herself, but universal truths everyone can relate to.” —USA Today

“[A] thrilling excavation of lesbian pop culture... a perfect combination of humor and sincerity, of wit, self-deprecation, and most importantly, self-love.” —Associated Press

“Hilarious...Girls Can Kiss Now is going to be one of the most important accessories of 2022.” —Glamour

"A laugh-out-loud look at the mainstreaming of queer culture...Gutowitz’s book is perhaps the definitive authority on what it means to be gay and a little too online.” —Harper's Bazaar

“A hilarious, heartfelt eye-opener, helping readers laugh, get emotional, and, most importantly, consider how the world has wronged the lesbian community and the work that still needs to be done for true acceptance.” —Shondaland

“Super-funny, personal, honest, insightful and filled with pop culture references, Gutowitz’s essays on queer culture will leave you laughing out loud.” —CNN

“Irreverent and insightful...[a] heartfelt celebration and defense of the importance of pop culture in helping queer people feel seen.” —Buzzfeed

“An equal mix of illuminating analysis and laugh-out-loud anecdotes.” —Thrillist

“Wickedly funny and heartstoppingly vulnerable...every page twinkles with brilliance.” —Refinery29

“Hilarious...Jill Gutowitz explores how pop culture has shaped society's perception of lesbianism, how it's impacted her own life, and, ultimately, what we can expect from a very queer future that's in store for us.” —Marie Claire

"Incisive and funny...Gutowitz blends candid reflections on the experience of being closeted with witty analysis on how the media affects one’s perception of the world. Fans of the personal essay will be eager to see what Gutowitz does next.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Shines with humor, vulnerability, and poignancy...formally inventive and searingly personal...A witty essay collection about pop culture and queerness.” —Kirkus Reviews

"Readers who recall where they were – because these iconic moments were lifechanging – when Orange is the New Black debuted or when paparazzi pictures of Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson arguing were published will relish re-living their importance with Gutowitz." —Booklist

"Every single sentence glitters, quivers, and shakes with a kind of unhinged lesbian brilliance that is both wickedly funny and deeply self-aware. GIRLS CAN KISS NOW is not only the gayest book of essays I’ve ever read — it’s one of the best." —Gabrielle Korn, author of Everybody (Else) is Perfect

"Jill Gutowitz's brain is full of lightning bolts. I loved every word of this hilarious and heartfelt book." —Diablo Cody, award-winning screenwriter and author of Candy Girl

“Snaps, crackles and pops with sharp one-liners and biting wit. But when Gutowitz deftly uses her encyclopedic knowledge of pop culture to interrogate her own personal history and relationship to her queerness, her prose reaches a level of depth and tenderness that left me reeling with emotion. 10/10. You must read this book if you're gay, human, or both.” —Ryan O'Connell, author of I'm Special and Just by Looking at Him

“Queer social media icon Jill Gutowitz weaves pop culture, relationships and humor together in a memorable, enjoyable collection...Lesbianism and shame intersect in an entertaining, thought-provoking way in these irreverent stories.” —GMA

“You’ll certainly be entertained, but there is a certain level of tenderness and care that really makes this book shine.” —Buzzfeed

From the Publisher

2021-10-30
A White, gay woman uses her love of pop culture to reflect on her continuing journey toward accepting her whole self, including her sexuality.

Gutowitz grew up in New Jersey in the “aughts,” a time she describes as “the least romantic era of pop culture, or just culture, in modern history.” Aside from the terrible fashion decisions and the lack of decent pop music, the author classifies the early 2000s as a time of rampant homophobia that was both created and reinforced by mainstream media. After imbibing this toxic media throughout high school, she went to college, where she found herself catering to the needs of men rather than discovering her sexuality—an experience she compares to the underlying sexist messaging of the TV show Entourage. Gutowitz finally realized her sexual orientation at the age of 23, when she fell in love with her best friend—a love that was, sadly, unrequited—and extricated herself from an abusive heterosexual relationship. The author concludes with several essays celebrating the love she shares with her current partner, Emma, whose presence has made her question the obsession with celebrity that she says governed her life before they met. At its best, the prose shines with humor, vulnerability, and poignancy. Particularly noteworthy is the chapter detailing Gutowitz’s experience with sexual assault, which is written in the form of a letter to her past self, both formally inventive and searingly personal. Unfortunately, the author’s tendency to consistently center Whiteness and to avoid intersectional analysis makes the book feel somewhat superficial and outdated.

A witty essay collection about pop culture and queerness that privileges Whiteness to its disadvantage.

Kirkus Reviews

Author/narrator Jill Gutowitz’s collection of reflective essays is funny, insightful, and very queer—in a good way. Her memories of her younger years in the ‘90s and ‘00s bring some sadness and, one imagines, healing for her and others. Her storytelling is engaging and often self-deprecating. Reminiscences about the importance of the television show “Orange Is the New Black” and the acceptance of Sapphic fashion—and how they and other iconic moments in pop culture over the last 30 years have transformed the public view of lesbianism—will resonate even with straight folks. No one else could convey her personal vulnerability with the finesse she does. Listeners will find themselves thinking of Gutowitz as a dear friend they need to invite over again. C.F. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

APRIL 2022 - AudioFile

Author/narrator Jill Gutowitz’s collection of reflective essays is funny, insightful, and very queer—in a good way. Her memories of her younger years in the ‘90s and ‘00s bring some sadness and, one imagines, healing for her and others. Her storytelling is engaging and often self-deprecating. Reminiscences about the importance of the television show “Orange Is the New Black” and the acceptance of Sapphic fashion—and how they and other iconic moments in pop culture over the last 30 years have transformed the public view of lesbianism—will resonate even with straight folks. No one else could convey her personal vulnerability with the finesse she does. Listeners will find themselves thinking of Gutowitz as a dear friend they need to invite over again. C.F. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

APRIL 2022 - AudioFile