The picture shows a man and woman kissing on V-Day after the end of World War II and was historically taken to symbolize freedom, love, and joy. However, when the woman in the picture revealed decades later that she was forced into the kiss by a stranger and held there against her will, those participating online in the portal deconstruct the message of this photo. This historic photograph is discussed by the protagonist as a symbol for forced love, capture, and acceptance of the norm (11).

The woman in the picture symbolizes the portal itself, in which each user is approached by something that might or might not be agreeable (the man) and is then forced into an inescapable grasp. The woman remains held in place by the man and forced to accept his embrace. Each participant in the portal is held in a similar way by the other voices of the portal. Each is held against their will in a false display of affection. The protagonist connects this picture and its symbolic representation with her repeated question: “Are we all just going to keep doing this till we die?” (12).

In addition to symbolizing the novel’s theme of technological tyranny, this picture also symbolizes the topic of “modern womanhood” that the protagonist encounters when her sister’s pregnancy becomes life-threatening. The inability to get an abortion in the state of Ohio despite a potentially dangerous pregnancy connects the sister with the woman in the V-Day Photograph. The sister’s body is held in place by men in power, and it isn’t until after the pregnancy that the sister attempts to speak to her state representative. The photograph expresses the oppression of gender norms that the sister encounters after the baby is diagnosed with Proteus syndrome.