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| Suicide Girls |
Art Feature |
Sexy Libertarians. Words by: Annie Fox
A few weeks back while having dinner with my parents I mentioned in passing that I was writing an article on the SuicideGirls. After explaining that they were not some kind of female death clan, but in fact girls that controlled their own nude photo shoots and posted them on the Internet, my mother replied with this very prophetic question: ‘I just don’t understand why girls want strangers to see them naked?’
‘These women are challenging what’s considered the beauty norm, Mum. They’re creating change’, I defended.
‘By being naked?’
Now, my mother isn’t some kind of conservative frigid. In fact her and Dad probably make out more than my boyfriend and I. Her concern was not necessarily the nudity, but how the nudity could possibly promote self-esteem, let alone social change.
At the core of the beauty debate lies a need for acceptance. Women particularly, go to great lengths to imitate and reproduce what they see in others as beautiful. For many that means fad diets, fad fitness and fad fashion. And while some may protest that beauty comes in all forms – the mass would disagree. There is a reason only a handful of women are supermodels: only a handful of women could possible fit the very specific bill of what is considered universally attractive.
Missy Suicide didn’t exactly intend for her site, started in 2001, to be a wind of change. In fact she didn’t even think it would take off quite as quickly as it has, ‘If I had known the site would be so popular, I might have thought the name out a bit more’, Missy confessed to the Tartan Online in an interview last year. Originally, the site was a place for Missy to post her photo shoots that captured the incidental sexiness of leggy lasses laundering and other such celebrations of the modern day Vargas Girl.
The term SuicideGirls was borrowed from Chuck Palanuik’s (Fight Club), Survivor: ‘It’s the same with these suicide girls calling me up. Most of them are so young. Crying with their hair wet down in the rain at a public telephone, they call me to the rescue.’ Hardly the distressed damsels of their namesakes, SuicideGirls (one word thank you very much) was used by Missy to describe ‘girls with skateboards in one hand, wearing a Minor Threat hoodie, listening to Ice Cube on their iPods while reading a book of Nick Cave’s poetry. They are girls who didn’t fit into any conventional subculture,’ she states on the sites FAQ section.
The popularity of the SuicideGirls is a sign of the sexual times and its evolution from homogenised to atypical. With more than 500 000 visitors each week it’s clear that rake thin blondes with massive mammaries are not the last word in sexy. Quite clearly (much to my mother’s disappointment) their nudity has indeed given birth to a sincere and influential assertion of modern beauty and sexual liberation. A statement, some might debate, more powerful than one yelled by angry feminists in overalls.
This is no sad story of girls hopelessly falling into the porn industry because they were afforded no other option. It’s the antithesis in fact. SuicideGirls is a place where women reclaim control of their sexuality. There are currently over 1000 SuicideGirls and more than 200 applicants a week – proof that many women worldwide share Missy’s vision. The girls direct their own photo shoots (which they can choose to do as frequently or as infrequently as they like) and they get paid. They also have their own online profiles and journals which allows them to promote their thoughts as much as their bodies.
Sydney born Fanny Suicide, like her fellow SuicideGirls, enjoys having a safe and tasteful place where she can entertain her inner ‘sExhibitonist’. Based in London, Fanny signed up after relocating to the UK back in early 2004. ‘A friend of mine suggested I check it out,’ she recalls. ‘It turned out to be exactly what I wanted to do.’
At the moment Fanny is touring with the SuicideGirls burlesque show, aptly titled SuicideGirls All Rock n Roll Live Burlesque Show. ‘This is the first time the SuicideGirls have come to Australia,’ says Fanny. ‘It’s a brilliant thing to be coming home too.’ The girls unpeel their way through classic tracks from rock legends like AC/DC, Joan Jett and The Ramones. ‘It’s very rock and metal – we choose to play dirty rock clubs so we’re definitely appealing to a particular crowd.’ That means no quiet lounge bars filled with the after work crew, lazing about in salmon. Instead, expect a high-octane show – or better yet, expect the entirely unexpected. ‘If your standing right up the front you cop it – we shake it as much as anyone can take it.’
And judging by the sold out US tour and the glowing reviews, people certainly can take it.
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Tags: Art
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