This week, Metroblogging sites around the globe are offering up gifts that their city has given the world. Here in Portland, for our second gift to the world we offer something with uniquely Portland origins.

Founded in Portland in 2001, the SuicideGirls website featured softcore photos of women. However, unlike the vast number of airbrushed and homogeneous nudie pics available on the ‘net already, these girls had fluorescent hair, tattoos, body piercings, and a lot of attitude. Founders Spooky (Sean Suhl) and Missy Suicide (Selena Mooney) wanted to portray the kinds of girls they saw in Portland, girls who reflected the image and attitude of Portland’s vibrant alternative scene.

“Suicide girls is a term my friends and I had been using to describe the girls we saw in Portland’s Pioneer Square 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 sub-culture and didn’t define themselves based on musical taste like punk, metal, goth, etc. I think the only classifications right now people identify with are mainstream and outside of mainstream. That is why the site is called SuicideGirls.” –Missy Suicide

SG had photo sets and online journals for each ‘Suicide Girl’. The pictures on the site were shot in the style of classic pinups, with the models looking directly into the camera. This kind of aggressive sexuality worked well with the punk, goth, and indie images the girls portrayed, and in combination with the site’s reputation of being model-friendly, led to SG sometimes being referred to as “porn even feminists can love”. As membership grew and the site took off, SG ventured into print, and even produced a touring show of SG models, attracting attention and fans far outside of Portland.

Suicide Girls can take a great deal of credit for establishing that ‘alternative’ could be hot. Although site operations moved to LA in 2003, and there have been disputes with SG models, the alternative aesthetic has now become part of the mainstream, and at least some of that style came right off the streets of Portland.

To keep track of this week’s 7 Gifts, browse the numerous Metblogs, or check in periodically for updates at this post.

Tags: Metblogs7Gifts 7Gifts Metroblogging7Gifts

Related posts:

1. Gifts ‘n’ Stuff, Yo
2. Portland’s first gift to the world: The Simpsons
3. Portland’s Fourth Gift to the World: Death with Dignity
4. putting the ew! in boobies, it’s SuicideGirls!
5. Portland’s Fifth Gift to the World: Bob Packwood