20 years of Suicide Girls, pretty cool. I’ve been following this site pretty much from the start. My profile says 2004, but it was my second profile. And I lurked around without being a member at first. For what it is worth, here is what I remember at the moment. Just some stoned rambling on my SG experience; I'm not trying to incinerate anything...
I was a webmaster for bands and I saw that people were linking to band websites from Suicide Girls Blogs. I would follow the link back and read the blog. At first, I was just reading blogs; I didn’t care about the photos. I lurked around without being a member and after a while felt guilty about freeloading and decided I should buy the ticket.
I’ve had some girlfriends who committed suicide; I was really curious about the concept of Suicide Girls; maybe a little morbid. I like photography and art; and I have always thought there should be better outlets for erotica art. After joining Suicide Girls, I became e-friends with various girls and we knew common people at Burning Man. 20 years ago, I was so involved in Burning Man, looking at naked girls wasn’t an end in itself. I was not really totally into SG; it was something I was monitoring as an internet journalist.
At first it seemed Missy was shooting most of the sets, curating, and running the office. Then as it grew, they needed more photographers. There was a brief time period when I was hesitant to open sets; because I thought some of the photography was scary. This was very short lived as the concept of a Staff Photographer evolved. My interest in the site was really cemented by being able to follow known photographers, watch them evolve as artists, and view the models through the filter of their lens.
In the meantime; the West Coast worlds of SG moved from Seattle, Portland, and LA to world conquest. By the time of the release of the Italian Villa DVD, Suicide Girls firmly established itself as an international organization. It introduced the girls of Europe as the new wave of enthusiasm. Where people have to struggle the most to have a tattoo, that seems to fuel their dedication to the site. Soon we were getting sets from the South American country of Uruguay and then more from Brazil, Chile, etc. I was really into the evolution of South America Suicide Girls.
I love the French SG in a very special way. Those are like real sisters. Italy, Spain. Portugal, and thank God for the Russian invasion. It’s cool having regional Suicide Girls in the states, and around the world. Photographer advances from around the globe create a healthy competition as well comradeship. Interest and enthusiasm webs and flows around the globe, and so something is always happening at Suicide Girls..
The original Suicide Girls’ website was oriented towards blogs and groups; as opposed to today’s feed-based design. In the 90’s I was an internet journalist writing about bands; by 2001 I was doing work for bands and labels. A few years later I got sick of what I was writing and developed writer’s block. I couldn’t write anything. So, I started writing little blogs on SG. Nobody paid much attention to me, so I felt free to write anything or nothing. I used the Suicide Girls’ blog successfully to get past my writer block. Then the site changed to the current format and everyone’s blogs lost their magic for many years. Recently the blog has been reborn by many newer SG.
It took like 5 years for people to settle down about the site change. Everyone was complaining, making mean comments, set were lingering in MR, and by 2018 I thought it was reaching the end. I figured my main friends would quit and I was too old for the site anyway. But, then suddenly I made some new really important friends and the disgruntled old school folks had mostly left. The OnlyFans world was introduced, hopefuls with new attitudes showed up, and I think tips started to give hopefuls and someone without a SOTD; a little love and hope. After the dust settled; I could see the wisdom of the transition to the new site format.
Live stream is another fairly recent addition. I was hesitant to try a Live stream at first. One day after work, I smoked some weed and suddenly passed out. While sleeping I hit my laptop and it started a Live. I woke up and a beautiful woman in her underwear was sitting in her bedroom rolling a joint. Live streams can be so many different things. Someone to smoke weed with, a strip show, deep conversations, card games, spin the wheel, dance party, etc.
Last year, 2020, I really survived thanks to my friends on Suicide Girls. I was alone in my room for a lot of time. The Live feature was an important new feature; with Dms, Comments, and little hearts. I really felt proud to be part of what Missy did. We all had each other, because of this website. That was the most amazing part of this experience for me.
I don’t know how 20 years went by. Every time I thought of quitting, I made a new friend and had to stick around. Every 5 years the dynamic of the girls changes. If you stick around you see little hopefuls become empowered women; and that can be pretty cool. I didn’t mention any names; because I don’t want to leave people out by accident.
Happy birthday Suicide Girls!
@penny @eirenne @yessybear @lemon
