SuicideGirls

As you can see, I put a link to SuicideGirls on this site, and while I think the site's intentions are good, it seems that it really hasn't met the goals it initially set out to. The site's "About SG" page makes the following claim:

"With a vibrant, sex positive community of women (and men), SuicideGirls was founded on the belief that creativity, personality and intelligence are not incompatible with sexy, compelling entertainment, and millions of people agree. The site mixes the smarts, enthusiasm and DIY attitude of the best music and alternative culture sites with an unapologetic, grassroots approach to sexuality."

Another claim the site made for some time was that the site was owned and operated by founder "Missy Suicide." While it is a nice token for the site to try to reform social norms of beauty by allowing the models freedom to express themselves in ways they think are beautiful and post personal journal entries, it seems that the SG empire doesn't strive for this as much as they state. According to allegations against the site made by former models, not only does the site censor their journals entries, it is also not necessarily run by Missy either. In fact, the man listed as the president of the site, Sean Suhl, has been known to have much more control over the site and the images depicted on it than the models or the other women working for the site. One former model, Sicily, also claims that Suhl is verbally abusive to his models, calling them "sluts," "whores," and the like.

In 2005, the controversies above caused some major problems for the website. Due to rumors that government agencies were starting a "war on porn," the site removed images from the site that portrayed models in BDSM situations. This, along with other infringements on models' freedom like those listed above caused over thirty models to quit the site.

What is interesting to me about this dilemma is that despite the fact that all of this has happened, SG still has a large following, is still asked to be involved in so many companies and causes, and that major celebrities are still willing to promote it. This site that was made to promote alternative feminist beauty, but in reality does just the opposite. It promotes male dominance and oppression of women through Suhl's power in the company, treatment of the models, and censorship of the site. I don't understand it. I will leave the link up for you to explore the site and make your own opinion of its "feminist pornography" if you so choose.