MetaChat is an informal place for MeFites to touch base and post, discuss and
chatter about topics that may not belong on MetaFilter. Questions? Check the FAQ. Please note: This is important.
Sicily, Shera, Stormy, Voltaire, Apnea, and, er, Katie, all prominently featured on the Web site, the book and/or the 2004 burlesque tour, are all popular—and all gone.
I bet Voltaire himself would have thought the homage was cool. Seriously.
I always thought SG Was more exploitive of women then most porn. I mean, the whole idea of "suicide girls" girls so crazy you never have to care about them, because they'll just kill themselves anyway.
Still, it's kind of crazy that they've gone all facist, deleting posts, and threatening to sue the girls if they do any more work in porno.
About two years ago, I wrote a story for my magazine about Alternaporn and talked to Suhl. (I can't seem to find it on the web anymore though, and I don't have the computer that it lived on).
I was irritated by the venality of the models that I talked to, where all of them said they were being empowered but none of them said how, and I was irritated by Suhl's attempts to place himself as an enigma.
He refused to tell me his real name, instead calling himself "Spooky Suicide," and made all sorts of unverifiable claims about the popularity of his website.
So I decided to bust out the Reporter's Handbook and take a crack at him. I found the Portland incorporation records that had his name on them, and tied them to corporate tax returns and contacted his hosting site about the amount of traffic that they handled. Just as an aside, Suhl was a contributor to the Republican party and was pretty openly contemptuous of the girls even then. That he was smug and slimy just made me want to shine a light on him and see him scuttle.
That he was fucking over the girls was pretty clear, even going on his subscriber numbers and tax returns: He would have been keeping about 75-80% of the money based on my estimates (well, Suicide Inc. would have been, but there's no profit sharing). And he most certainly claimed to be the originator of the idea of Suicide Girls. Missy was portrayed as an empty suit.
In all, they've been scum for a while and I'm kinda amazed at this gasping from the internet public. Newsflash: Supercult's run by bastards too.
And what I found the most disturbing was the girls that were on forums who had been rejected from SG, who were then desperate for attention. The whole "I'm not being exploited because I'm doing it to myself" is an argument really based on negation to me, y'know? I'm selling out my rights so it's my choice is the same as lobbying for more security at the expense of freedom or whatever else. Not to draw too tenuous of a connection, but it reminds me of how people choose totalitarianism, which is a negation of choice as system of government.
Anyway, I'm glad that MoneyJane from MoFi isn't here, otherwise I'd get a lecture about how great it is to be a whore and how empowering that all is.
I only know of SG because their ads are on *SO MANY* of the music sites I visit daily, but they always struck me as incredibly creepy. I'm not in their target audience, though, so I always figured it was just my disinterest showing.
abbywinters and Ishotmyself are far sexier (and less misogynistic) porn sites than suicide girls (which was basically Playboy with Hot Topic makeup, bodypiercings and bad blogs).
klangklangston I think you might be confusing moneyjane with Medusa. MJ is proud of her ability and grateful for the money but it's just a job. Medusa is the evangelistic sex worker of MoFi.