SuicideGirls is an online community revolving around pin-up photography models known as the Suicide Girls.
The website was founded in 2001 by Selena Mooney ("Missy Suicide") and Sean Suhl ("Spooky").
Most of the site is accessible only to paying members. It offers members access to images provided by models and photographers worldwide, as well as personal profiles, blogging platforms, and the option to join numerous groups based upon different interests. There is also an online merchandise store offering a range of clothing, books, and DVDs.
Suicide Girls have appeared in a variety of media outlets including television shows and music videos. They have also been portrayed by actresses in others, such as the character Dani California on the television series Californication. They have also been featured in Hack/Slash, and vice-versa with protagonist Cassie Hack.
History
In 2001, Mooney returned to Portland, Oregon, to study photography after working as director of technology at Ticketmaster. Inspired by Bunny Yeager, Mooney began photographing her friends in the pinup style and wanted to create a website that featured her photographs as well as message boards and blog posts from the models. Mooney's friend Sean Suhl joined her and they founded the website. SuicideGirls was originally based in Portland, but relocated to Los Angeles, California, in 2003 to be closer to its distributor, label and publisher. That same year, 70 models from the website appeared in a music video for the band Probot.
A typical SuicideGirls model
Mooney has said that the site's purpose is to give women control over how their sexuality is depicted. The site is privately co-owned. According to Missy, the term "Suicide Girl" comes from Chuck Palahniuk's novel Survivor (1999), in which a character talks about masturbating to the troubles of young girls who look up to him:
It's the same with these suicide girls calling me up. Most of them are so young. Crying with their hair wet down in the rain at a public telephone, they call me to the rescue. Curled in a ball alone in bed for days, they call me. Messiah. They call me. Savior. They sniff and choke and tell me what I ask for in every little detail. It's so perfect some nights to hear them in the dark. The girl will just trust me. The phone in my one hand, I can imagine my other hand is her.
Missy also said the name describes girls who commit "social suicide" by breaking away from societal norms, and created the site "as a place to celebrate beautiful women who choose not to fit into the norm and as a corner of the internet where outsiders could congregate and be appreciated for being themselves".
In September 2005, SuicideGirls announced that it would remove a large number of images from its pages in an effort to collaborate with the U.S. Department of Justice standards at the time. The images involved depicted bondage, weapons, or simulated blood. The Department of Justice indicated that images of that type might be the subject of obscenity prosecutions. Although SuicideGirls was not mentioned as a target, they removed the images until the furor passed. In January 2007, the images were made visible again. In 2006, some of the Suicide Girls were featured in the CSI: NY episode "Oedipus Hex".
In 2015, it was reported that the website had 5 million monthly visitors, 51 percent of them female. SuicideGirls' 15th anniversary was celebrated with a feature on Maxim magazine. In 2017, SuicideGirls released a line of marijuanavape pens and cartridges called Chill Hustle Zero.
The site has staff photographers, but anyone can submit photosets. Actress Paget Brewster has photographed models for the site.
Media
Movies
SuicideGirls have released seven movies since 2005, all directed by Mike Marshall.
Katherine Suicide, from her featured set Nautical Dreams
SuicideGirls: The First Tour was self-produced and released on August 30, 2005, by Epitaph Records. It chronicles the lives of 10 performers on the first North American Burlesque Tour.
SuicideGirls: Italian Villa was released on October 24, 2006. It features interviews and photo shoots of 15 European Suicide Girls.
The horror film Suicide Girls Must Die!, directed by Sawa Suicide, was released in certain theatres on March 12, 2010. It was released as video on demand on July 16, 2010.
SuicideGirls: Guide to Living was released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 16, 2010, and features Suicide Girls putting erotic twists on otherwise everyday activities.
SuicideGirls: UK Holiday was released in September 2012 and is also available on both DVD and Blu-ray. It documents a weeklong stay in a converted mill in the UK countryside, featuring 30 Suicide Girls from across the globe.
SuicideGirls: Retrospective was released on November 3, 2012, and is a collection of videos from the previous decade.
SuicideGirls: Relaunch is the latest offering, released August 8, 2015. It chronicles the recent relaunch of the website, documenting Missy and her team's day-to-day operations of SuicideGirls.
SuicideGirls: The First Tour, SuicideGirls:Italian Villa and SuicideGirls: Relaunch all air on the US cable network Showtime in regular rotations, since the years of their respective release dates.
Games
In May 2013, SuicideGirls came to an agreement with Akaneiro: Demon Hunters game developer Spicy Horse to use likenesses of their models in a freemium browser, BigHead BASH. Players can purchase premium content for 220 in-game tokens each, to unlock 5 characters in total. The models featured are Bob, Gogo, Milloux, Venom and Radeo.
SuicideGirls: Hard Girls, Soft Light (2013, Ammo Books)
SuicideGirls: Geekology (2014, Ammo Books)
Comic books
SuicideGirls were featured in Hack/Slash: Annual Vol. 1 in 2008, released by Devil's Due Publishing, with Hack/Slash also giving its protagonist Cassie Hack a promotional SuicideGirls profile.
A SuicideGirls comic book miniseries was released in 2011 by IDW Publishing, containing four issues. The comic books feature pin-up drawings of actual SuicideGirls by artist Cameron Stewart, as well as a historical story by Steve Niles. Shortly after, a German edition of the combined miniseries was released.
Magazines
SuicideGirls has published three issues of its magazine, otherwise known as the "periodical art book" or "pin-up anthology". Issues 1 and 2 were self-published in 2007 and the third issue was released in 2014 by Ammo Books.
Music videos
The music video for Louis XIV's 2005 release "Paper Doll" was released exclusively on the SuicideGirls website. The video, featuring models Claudia, Cricket, and Xtine trying on different outfits in a dressing room, was directed by Eon McKai.
In 2010, Belle and Sebastian included a song titled "Suicide Girl", about a photographer and a friend who wishes to audition for the site, on a limited release of Write About Love (later rereleased on The Third Eye Centre), and SuicideGirls produced a music video to the track. Stuart Murdoch estimated that it was Belle & Sebastian's most-watched music video, saying that "the girls take their clothes off, so that probably has something to do with it."
Live events
Suicide Girls Blackheart Burlesque dancers performing the Star Wars number
Blackheart Burlesque
The SuicideGirls Blackheart Burlesque group first toured in 2003 and opened for Guns N' Roses and Courtney Love, before the tour was suspended for nearly a decade. The show returned in 2013 and toured across the US, Canada and Australia, selling out numerous shows in each country. The show also visited the UK and Chile. Its high-energy mix of classic and new burlesque dancing was choreographed by Manwe Sauls-Addison.
The Blackheart Burlesque hosts a show of cult-classic numbers including performances based on Star Wars and The Rocky Horror Picture Show and pop culture references like Game of Thrones and Fifty Shades of Grey. As of 2016, the show is hosted by Sunny Suicide and Katherine Suicide and features a changing lineup of dancers. The shows have an element of audience participation and guests are encouraged to take photos of the performers and share them on social media.
Controversies
In 2015, American artist Richard Prince took images from the SuicideGirls' Instagram without permission, printed them on canvas, and added remarks into comment threads. The works were displayed at the Frieze Art Fair and one image sold for $90,000. In response, the SuicideGirls sold prints of the images for $90 apiece with the proceeds going to charity.
