As the number of Suicide Girls increased it became harder to grok each person as an individual.
Nudity is cheap, porn is free and universally available. The value wasn't in the nudity and it wasn't in the tattoos. It wasn't in the quality of the photography or the subjective aesthetic appeal of the individual women.
Instead, the value was in the interaction with approachable and unique individuals. Seeing a person as a symbol of sexuality, and interacting with them as an individual provided a unique product. Nudity and porn are available free, but the individual is lost entirely and replaced with a symbol. Being able to see the person as a symbol while interacting with them as an individual was a unique combination. When combined with the quality of discussion in the community forums and the capacity for community organization in the groups Suicide Girls possessed a clear value as a unique product.
As the number of SGs and members began to increase dramatically it became more difficult to interact with and approach individuals as individuals. The increase in membership correlated with an apparent decrease in quality of the community aspects, the forums especially. The rapidly increasing number of models made approaching any new model as a unique individual somewhat more difficult. Old models and friends began to drop out. Personal and professional issues between SG Inc., it's members, and it's models came into the public sphere, and the actions of the various groups involved undermined an important part of SGs advertising; that SG Inc. was actively creating a community that was concerned more with community, empowerment of women, and breaking down of objectifying, dehumanizing, or destructive sexual products than it was with the pursuit of profit for profits sake. With the understanding that their was no altruistic social justice motive to the business Suicidegirls immediately lost an important element of it's appeal. The continual attrition of early Suicidegirls and members and the enormous influx of new Suicidegirls and Members rapidly changed the nature of the community at a pace that was difficult for some established members to follow. The appearance of many competeing alternaporn sites removed the monopoly of novelty. The emergence and wide adoption of social networking sites reduced the importance of the social networking aspect of suicidegirls.
In the end, the products offered by SG at cost could be found for free or at reduced cost in other venues, the community value was absent or severely diluted, and SG had lost the very valuable image of a progressive organization with a social justice and underground culture agenda that was advanced as being more important than profit. Ultimately, the product was no longer worth the price.
Nudity is cheap, porn is free and universally available. The value wasn't in the nudity and it wasn't in the tattoos. It wasn't in the quality of the photography or the subjective aesthetic appeal of the individual women.
Instead, the value was in the interaction with approachable and unique individuals. Seeing a person as a symbol of sexuality, and interacting with them as an individual provided a unique product. Nudity and porn are available free, but the individual is lost entirely and replaced with a symbol. Being able to see the person as a symbol while interacting with them as an individual was a unique combination. When combined with the quality of discussion in the community forums and the capacity for community organization in the groups Suicide Girls possessed a clear value as a unique product.
As the number of SGs and members began to increase dramatically it became more difficult to interact with and approach individuals as individuals. The increase in membership correlated with an apparent decrease in quality of the community aspects, the forums especially. The rapidly increasing number of models made approaching any new model as a unique individual somewhat more difficult. Old models and friends began to drop out. Personal and professional issues between SG Inc., it's members, and it's models came into the public sphere, and the actions of the various groups involved undermined an important part of SGs advertising; that SG Inc. was actively creating a community that was concerned more with community, empowerment of women, and breaking down of objectifying, dehumanizing, or destructive sexual products than it was with the pursuit of profit for profits sake. With the understanding that their was no altruistic social justice motive to the business Suicidegirls immediately lost an important element of it's appeal. The continual attrition of early Suicidegirls and members and the enormous influx of new Suicidegirls and Members rapidly changed the nature of the community at a pace that was difficult for some established members to follow. The appearance of many competeing alternaporn sites removed the monopoly of novelty. The emergence and wide adoption of social networking sites reduced the importance of the social networking aspect of suicidegirls.
In the end, the products offered by SG at cost could be found for free or at reduced cost in other venues, the community value was absent or severely diluted, and SG had lost the very valuable image of a progressive organization with a social justice and underground culture agenda that was advanced as being more important than profit. Ultimately, the product was no longer worth the price.
APR 07, 2009 06:48 AM
APR 07, 2009 08:49 AM
APR 07, 2009 12:02 PM
I am (relatively) a newbie. (Member since August 2008; SG since November 2008.) This post makes me sad and it makes me wonder what life on SuicideGirls was like back in the good ol' days... *Sigh* I suppose I'll never know... 
APR 07, 2009 12:18 PM
APR 07, 2009 05:23 PM
APR 09, 2009 05:02 PM
APR 10, 2009 05:22 PM
APR 12, 2009 02:57 PM
APR 22, 2009 10:12 AM
APR 22, 2009 03:33 PM
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