SuicideGirls
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Type of site
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Nude pin-up photography |
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| Available in |
English Spanish |
| Owner | Selena Mooney Sean Suhl |
| Website | suicidegirls |
| Alexa rank |
 14,192 (July 2016[update]) |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | Yes |
| Launched | September 3, 2001 |
SuicideGirls is an online community based website that revolves around pin-up photography sets of 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 only accessible 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 as well as being portrayed by actresses in others, such as the character Dani California on the TV show Californication.
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 the two founded the website. SuicideGirls was originally based in Portland, but relocated its operations 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.
Mooney has stated that the purpose of the site is to give women control over how their sexuality is depicted. The site is privately co-owned. According to Missy, the term "Suicide Girl" originally comes from Chuck Palahniuk's novel Survivor (1999): "It's the same with these suicide girls calling me up." Missy also states that the name describe girls who commit 'social suicide' by breaking away from the norm of society, 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. Justice Department standards at the time. The images involved depicted bondage, weapons, or simulated blood. The Justice Department 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 an episode of CSI: NY titled Oedipus Hex.
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