This is my fourth year working with Suicide Girls as a photographer, almost exclusively. Whilst I do photograph other things, I consider SG to be my ‘main job’ as a freelance photographer. Focusing on SG is something that has happened gradually but was definitely a conscious decision of mine.
I used to shoot for a number of UK glamour magazine as well as syndicating images worldwide but I very quickly realised the unique attitude SG have towards nude modelling (particularly towards the models themselves as well as their fabulous ‘fuck you’ to traditional beauty standards) and the supportive and respectful fanbase they have attracted over the years. It’s something I wanted to be a part of and it’s something that, once you are involved, makes it difficult to be involved with other companies that don’t come with such a positive passion towards women and redefining beauty.
As amazing as I think SG is, many people don’t actually know exactly what it is – even the girls applying often email me for information regarding photoshoots without fully realising the concept of what SG or being an SG is. Many don’t realise there’s even a website or didn’t know that it features nude modelling.
As someone that’s always been alternative, I can remember SG back in the early days on MySpace. I was never a member (didn’t realise that was even a thing) but I enjoyed seeing all these confident girls with radically different looks to each other and, now, my best friend from that time is a Suicide Girl! Over ten years later we shot for SG, they loved her and bought her first set – such a cool moment for us both.
When you’ve always known of SG, it doesn’t seem that weird but to someone hearing about it for the first time, a brand with the name ‘Suicide’ in the title can be a little difficult to explain! It’s nothing to do with suicide, only referencing the idea of women that have committed social suicide by the way that they look and live their life – having too many tattoos or piercings, brightly coloured hair or simply their personality. Things that women have struggled with concealing as ‘negative’ attributes – too feisty, too bossy, too promiscuous…too opinionated! It might be women that have disabilities that hold them back from modelling elsewhere or women that are ‘too short’, ‘too muscular’ or ‘not thin enough’ for what is expected of mainstream fashion models – or maybe they are ‘too thin’, ‘too old’ or their boobs ‘too small’ for mainstream glamour modelling.
Suicide Girls is an online membership community that has evolved over the years to act as a social media site like Facebook. You have a profile page, followers, blogs, status updates, bio information, private inboxes as well as an array of different groups you can join – some open, some private. Some are fun, lighthearted groups and some are very special safe spaces for its members to speak openly amongst a small group where others cannot see. These groups range from anything to do with your love of cats or butts to personal battles with your weight, mental health and even private groups for survivors of sexual assault or those that have experienced miscarriages. Somewhere you can find likeminded individuals no matter what your situation. Profiles are set out like mine in the example above, the home button takes you to your feed which is where you see posts from those that you follow. You can browse profiles, groups or simply just photos where you will find the nude photosets in member review. You can see my activity on my page as well as my two most recent blog posts, some girls are more active than others, though.
Aside from the social media aspect, there are, of course, the models themselves. The Suicide Girls as well as the ‘Hopefuls’ – title given to those that have not yet been chosen as an SG but have submitted photosets. The community as a whole celebrates alternative beauty with the passionate objective to redefine what we see as beauty. Beginning in 2001, SG has been live for nearly 16 years now and is currently home to 3,017 Suicide Girls and over eight million photos featuring thousands and thousands of different women. The community and staff come together to choose the most unique, beautiful and badass women to receive the SG title which they keep for life.
The most special thing about Suicide Girls is the attitude of its members – nothing like what you might see on the Facebook or Instagram page comments, the members are kind, welcoming and no abuse is tolerated – I’ve seen rude men responded to by one of the founders himself before being booted as a member. The website is made up of 51% female members, with most of it’s members being in the 18-25 category…which I’ve just realised I’m no longer in, yikes. They have six million page likes on Facebook and even more on Instagram, so they really are an online force to be reckoned with and over the past few years have come back to bringing that force to life on stage in the form of the Blackheart Burlesque.
I love working for Suicide Girls and what they do as a company both online and offline – it certainly isn’t for everybody but they do their best to represent as many women as possible. The imagery is natural and honest, much less retouching than you will be used to from magazines. I have never reshaped a girls body and some photographers don’t even edit out things that aren’t permanent like bruises/spots. I’ve lightened my retouching process over the years and it’s refreshing that it’s changing.
The Suicide Girls are a bunch of amazing, beautiful women with loud, intelligent voices…Mothers, students, wives and business women. I’m proud to know so many.
Other posts in this series:
How Can I Become a Suicide Girl? Pros and Cons.
Photographers: Shooting for Suicide Girls in Five Steps
Models: Preparing For Your First Nude Photoshoot
Some useful links:
Please enjoy this selection of SGs I’ve photographed and links to their profiles which you can view fully as a member:
ItsGemmaEdwards 
I’ve been a member for almost 3 years and I’ve never thought to ask about the Suicide bit in the name. Makes perfect sense now!
I think you’ve summed it all up perfectly although you’ve made me feel a little on the old side haha!
hahaha, oops! Yeah, I didn’t realise such a large amount of members were so young. The Suicide part never dawned on me either but my parents and grandparents have definitely questioned it :’) Thanks for reading!
I don’t know if it’s a good thing or bad thing that I knew the names (or at least IG handles) of all but 3 of the girls you posted before scrolling past each picture. Love the site and all the girls. Keep up the good work.
Amazing – well you’ve learnt three more then haha! Thank you for reading 🙂
Awesome blog, Gemma! I wish that as a male member I could be more involved but, SG is by far, my favorite social media outlet. I post here there first because I don’t feel like I’ll get the same judgment and ridicule like I would in other places on the web. And I hate the misogyny I see in other places as well. Again, great post!
Thanks very much for reading – it’s a great community 🙂
And call me crazy but, seeing all of the SG and SGH being photographed by all of the talented photographers while nude, makes me want to get nude and be photographed. At least once. Probably won’t get posted anywhere but, I’d love to see what results from it 🙂
I’ve been a member of SG for the last 2 years. It was actually one of your photos of Mel that introduced me to the site. Mel is still one of my favourite SGs and you’re definitely my favourite photographer (no, I’m not just saying that).
The one thing that’s always confused me about the site is the decision making process on how a hopeful becomes a suicide girl. There are some absolutely stunning girls that have had 6 or 7 amazing sets as hopefuls but never turn pink yet some others post their first set and get a SoTD and become a Suicide Girl.
I read somewhere on the site they get up to 3,000 applications a day to become a Suicide Girl yet only 3, 017 have made it in 16 years. I’m not asking for numbers but do they pay for hopeful sets? Do they pay a lot more for SG sets? Just interested.
Keep up the good work Gemma.
Hey! Thank you so much and, yes, Mel is fab! There’s no set standard to what will or won’t be chosen really, there’s a lot of factors – something I’ll write about in a future post! 🙂 a Set of the Day is a set that has been purchased by SG, the rest (hopefuls and SGs) are simply submissions to be considered for Set of the Day…hope that makes sense!
There are tons of links to articles on how to apply as a suicide girl or what the company is but all of them have just been a giant run around like this article which never mentions WHY any girls would want to be a suicide girl! What the hell do you gain from it? I’ve done nude tattoo modelling professionally for 5 years and have been published repeatedly and I keep googling and looking on their website to try to find out exactly what the f*ck a membership entails, what the benefits are, what is the pay/ requirements all articles like this one have been rediculously vague and mosty just a long drawn out add for the company stroking their own metaphorical shlongs instead of getting to the point and it seems a bit shady to me. Why wouldnt they be more open about the awesome pay and benefits girls get by being on their site. The only benefit I’ve ever managed to find out that you could get is just “sexy pictures and some online lady friends.” Like, that’s the best you have???
This is a really miserable way to ask a specific question, which is answered in the second post of this series (which I wrote entirely for free, and get nothing from, besides helping people with easy to understand information) as well as being answered on the SG website. Since you clearly don’t want to be involved with SG I would suggest you just??? Don’t?? Besides that I’d suggest you actually read this blog series, it’s really helpful and informative and even has a whole list of pros and cons so certainly not trying to convince anyone.
“ If your set is chosen, you will have a free account for life as a Suicide Girl (a title you won’t ever lose!) as well as getting paid $500 for your photoset”