In tempi come questi il corpo femminile è sovraeposto in ogni frangente, a partire dalla televisione, al cinema, sui giornali e ovviamente nel web. Veline, meteorine, vallette incorniciano la maggior parte dei programmi televisivi mentre diversi reality show sui canali satellitari si incentrano sulla vita di aspiranti modelle. Sembra che le ragazze non vogliano nient’altro.

Quello che una volta era il femminismo ora è relegato nei frangenti pià alternativi del web, rimodellato in versione duemila, come la community di www.suicidegirls.com

Il sito nato nel 2001 in America raccoglie e distribuisce a pagamento foto di ragazze dalla bellezza alternativa, con tatuaggi, piercing e quant’altro. L’obiettivo era quello di divulgare un modello femminile in opposizione allo stereotipo comune e soprattutto di creare una community in tutto il mondo di ragazze e fan dai gusti anticonformisti. Ogni Suicide Girl fa servizi fotografici a tema che vengono poi commentati dagli utenti che devono pagare e iscriversi per poterli vederli. Inizialmente le ragazze erano poche, mentre oggi questo fenomeno si è allargato in tutto il mondo rendendole famose. Le Suicide italiane sono più di 30 e spesso fanno parte degli ambienti alternativi come cantanti,tatuatrici,performer o dj.

Come ogni cosa che quando si ingrandisce sembra perdere la connotazione originale, anche la community Suicidegirls.com ha subito dei cambiamenti che non sono piaciuti a tutti i membri. Allargando la cerchia di ragazze che vogliono cavalcare la moda del momento, la community sembra essere diventata solamente una vetrina di corpi softcore.  Che cosa c’è di diverso dal mostrare e mercificare il proprio corpo in televisione dal farlo su un sito internet? Non sono i tatuaggi a fare la differenza. Dal momento che il corpo femminile viene usato come esca per creare business è inutile nascondersi dientro al parametro della “diversità”.

Un caso analogo sono le antagoniste italiane, le Sick Girls(www.sickgirl.it) , che si pongono come “anti-veline” giocando con l’ironia e l’eroticità in spettacoli dal sapore Burlesque e fotoset rigorosamente mai oltre il topless. Le sick girl rivendicano il fatto di non usare il corpo in modo volgare per guadagnare soldi, ma le ritrovi poi in televisione a fare sketch e  balletti così come ci sono le veline la sera a Striscia la Notizia.

Quando si parla di ideali che vorrebbero essere baluardi di un nuovo femminismo, e si critica chi sta al gioco mainstream e si fa trattare come carne al macello, come minimo bisognerebbe avere dalla propria un atteggiamento di reazione. La figura della donna è altamente denigrata nella nostra ‘società dello spettacolo’, i modelli di televisione commerciali dagli anni 80 in poi hanno creato una vera e propria ‘rivoluzione culturale’, che ha relegato la donna ad essere oggetto decorativo.

Attraverso le controculture degli anni 70 invece, come quella punk e prima ancora quella hippy, la donna ha voluto dimostrare di non stare al gioco e di voler continuare il movimento oppositivo iniziato col Femminismo. Oggi invece troviamo le controculture impregnate di elementi totalmente mainstream,a cui dovrebbero invece essere in opposizione. Tatuaggi, piercing, abbigliamento alternativo usato niente meno che per apparire e diventare famose così come si fanno i casting per entrare nei Reality show.

Non si tratta di condannare questo o quell’altro atteggiamento, ma di essere coerenti con quei valori a cui si afferma di ispirarsi.

Gran polémica ha causado la práctica que lleva a cabo desde el año 2001 el sitio de Internet SuicideGirls, al invitar a millones de chicas a subir sus fotografías al desnudo, ofreciéndoles a cambio, la cantidad de 500 dólares (6,600 pesos), en caso de que su imagen sea la más votada del día por los internautas.

A pesar de que el sitio ya lleva ocho años operando, fue hasta ahora, que algunos países se han mostrado alarmados por la gran cantidad de mujeres que forman parte de la competencia, tal y como ocurre con Argentina, quienes en el último conteo realizado, notaron que 300 de las contendientes provienen de aquel país:

“Algunas lo hacen por plata, otras porque les gusta y otras simplemente por diversión”, declaró Benjamín Furland, fotógrafo del sitio en el país sudamericano, quien a su vez explicó que uno de los principales objetivos de la propuesta va más allá de mostrar mujeres desnudas, ya que buscan promover un modelo de belleza alternativo y más real, al ir en contra del estereotipo de mujer al estilo “Barbie”. (Con información de El Universal)
Fuente: e-consulta.com

Photo via SuicideGirls.com

The Foodinista is flattered to get a link back to my Pimm’s Cup cocktails from the always saucy Suicide Girls. My friend Missy Suicide founded the site (featuring pin-up photos of naked punk rock, goth and indie girls) in 2001, about a year after we met and discovered a shared love of louge. It’s pretty awesome how big a brand it is now. And even more awesome that the girls are throwing a little love the Foodinista’s way! Cheers, ladies!

Photo via SuicideGirls.com

Toute la journée (sauf quand je démissionne d’unjob) je me ballade en costard cravate tentant de dissimuler les larges tatouages qui recouvrent mon corps.

J’oscille constamment entre ces deux personnalités d’homme propre sur lui, présentable, “corporate” et le “tatoué” pas voyou pour un sou mais un peu rebelle.

Selon mes humeurs j’adapte ma tenue vestimentaire au grès de mes interlocuteurs, des ambiances mais j’avoue un certain faible pour l’exhibition de ces couleurs vives, des ces motifs agressifs.

Cela se retrouve par ailleurs dans mes goûts esthétiques mais également dans les attirances que je peux avoir.

Je crois que le site Suicidegirls.com est un de ceux qui m’a montré ce que pouvait être la perfection esthétique pour moi. Ce que j’entendais par l’attirance, la fascination après un simple coup d’oeil.

J’aime les femmes tatouées. J’aime ce mariage subtil entre tenues irréprochables et aguichantes, poses lascives et tatouage ou piercing qui signifient souvent tant pour ceux qui les porte. Signification d’une vie trop courte pour se soucier de ce que deviendront ses encres une fois sous une peau flétrie. Signification d’un goût assez prononcé pour ces visuels si particuliers à tel point qu’on ne se pose pas la question de savoir si l’on pourra les porter tous les jours et ne jamais s’en séparer y compris dans le plus simple appareil. Signification d’une marginalisation assumée.

Quel dommage que je n’ai jamais eu l’occasion de me noyer quelques heures dans un corps à corps passionné. De mélanger images colorées et sueurs torrides.

Mais bon… J’essaie d’y remédier !

new set goes into Member Review tomorrow. shot by Fractal

my neck is covered in spider bites ew!

over champagne the other day two  tristate area natives discussed the longing for thunderstorms in here in sunnier regions. the next morning i woke up to this

Cedar love and I celebrated on the roof

i’m still fuzzy on why the sun is out when it’s thunder storming. it felt cheap.

in the spirit of trying to sort out my life i got a day planner

nyc for a whole exciting week in july. i miss my brooklyn room. i’m going to hug it.

Audrey Kitching wrote about something I think is important to pass on considering this is the second time in a month I’ve heard of someone almost dying from the Gardasil vaccine.

I’ll be at club suicide tomorrow night presumably being drunk. I’m sure I’ll see some of you there. xo

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following post is purely driven by a shower epiphany. As a result this post could be convoluted, retarded, and bad for your health.

So. I turn 20 tomorrow. I dodged the bullet that is teenage pregnancy. I will never be a tragic teenage suicide. And it’s not a full moon outside, so sadly I will never become a Teenage Werewolf.

But what does it mean to be an adult nowadays? I’m not going to wake up tomorrow and give my Nintendo away. I’ve still got a lot of the novels I loved when I was 12. And most importantly, I’m not going to give up all my hobbies in favour of an office job that will suck my soul away. One of the factors of produsage that I see in action all the time on the Interwebs is the simple concept of making hobbies lucrative. And for me, that’s what’s driven my career pathways, much to the distress of my mother.

My mother. Practical. Wizened. Runescape player. I’m one of the less common Gen Y kids who have a pair of Gen X parents. That’s a blessing in many ways, and I’ve always been greatful for my parents. Because they’re not complete shut ins. They understand a lot of what me and my sister enjoy, we share the same humour, and we get along quite well.

But the thing about my mother …well it’s to do with what happens when she asks what I’m going to do when I grow up. She asks me this a lot. And I have given her different answers lately. Essentially though, I tell her that I’m going to blaze my own trail. The top options right now are that I will become a crash hot photographer, or I will create my own form of collectible plastic toys. Both of these answers are met with a raised eyebrow and a “But…who would pay money for that?”

Aside from this being a blow to my precious ego, I can’t help but think nowadays this is a ridiculous question. In this present day and age, e-commerce has exploded all over the place. I can give you bucketfuls of evidence to the fact. Merchants and craftspeople who would have been at home in flea markets fifteen years ago thrive on communities such as Etsy. My favourite example of this is a lovely lady called TwinkieChan. Her knitted scarves and tissue box covers are AH-MAY-ZING, but you may find it amusing to note that Twinkie’s internet fame started when she was a SuicideGirl.

An example more relevant to myself is the growing industry of vinyl collectible toys. If my business partners at Pinin are to be believed, the industry is booming. The two levels of it essentially translate into:

a) People making their own vinyl and painting it up nice and pretty.

b) People painting the blank moulds of others. This is normally done by renouned artists, making the work more valuable.

The fascinating thing about this is that it’s apparently an incredibly easy process to make your own vinyl toy. The information is accessible on numerous online tutorials, and they’re of the opinion that the only thing limiting people from partaking in this exercise is a lack of creativity.

But I digress. I haven’t yet explained why the hell this is all relevant to produsage in the new age, and I’ve already broken the 500 word limit.

In his final chapter of Blogs, Wikipedia and Second Life, Axel Bruns reflects on the future of produsage and new media, and he holds the opinion that the path from artefact to product must run both ways, fluidly, before produsage can reach the peak of its’ evolution. After the discussion that we held in class, I held the firm belief that there was no possible way to know exactly how this fluidity would be achieved. I still stand by this. I know that things like Etsy, cupcake scarves and plastic sheep are on track to such a future.

But to be honest I don’t mind. I like where produsage has taken me over the past nineteen years. But as of tomorrow, it will be twenty years.

As long as I don’t wake up a Teenage Werewolf.

GOODNIGHT LADEES AND GENERAL MEN.

References (in order of use):

Internet Movie DataBase: Teen Wolf (1985), n.d. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090142/ (accessed May 25, 2009)

Collective Works of Bec Randall, 2009. http://witcheemon.redbubble.com/ (accessed May 25, 2009)

deviantart: Mint Chip – RhS Prototype 01 by witcheemon, 2009. http://witcheemon.deviantart.com/art/Mint-Chip-RhS-Prototype-01-121629520 (Accessed May 25, 2009)

Etsy :: Your place to buy and sell all things handmade, n.d. http://www.etsy.com/ (Accessed May 25, 2009)

TWiNKiE CHAN! Eat your cake and wear it too! 2007-2009. http://www.twinkiechan.com/main.php (Accessed May 25, 2009)

The Food and the Fabulous | LCSV4 The Illustration News Portal , n.d. http://thelittlechimpsociety.com/eladear/the-food-and-the-fabulous/ (Accessed May 25, 2009)

Black Forest Cake – Tissue Cozy 2, n.d. http://www.twinkiechan.com/images/misc/Black%20Forest%20Cake%20-%20Tissue%20Cozy%202.jpg (Accessed May 25, 2009)

SuicideGirls – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, n.d. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_girls (Accessed May 25, 2009)

Pinin, tokidoki, mimobots, skelanimals, gloomy bear, anime, n.d. http://www.pinin.com.au/ (Accessed May 25, 2009)

Bruns, A. 2007, Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life and Beyond. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.

Teen+Wolf+Too.jpg, n.d. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_aX17lByymFo/R6eA9BOa2qI/AAAAAAAACf0/6yFrZZv8Kxc/s320/Teen%2BWolf%2BToo.jpg (Accessed May 25, 2009)

if you have an iphone you can download the new sg iphone app featuring yours truly

Over at SuicideGirls, I’ve been lucky enough to share screen real estate with nearly 2000 gorgeous, tattooed, pierced, alt-style-loving women, and a group of formidable writer geeks that includes Mur “Playing for Keeps” Lafferty and Wil “The Happiest Days of Our Lives” Wheaton. If that’s not enough to beggar belief, wait until you meet the new girl. Rachael Webster, aka PixelVixen707, is a New York-based gaming columnist who’s a bit more unconventional than even SuicideGirls is used to.

See, Rachael is a fictional character. I know. It surprised me, too. She publishes amazing video game reviews on her blog at PixelVixen707.com, she Twitters, and if you ask her a question, she’ll be happy to write back. She’s also a character in my friend J.C. Hutchins’ current fiction project, Personal Effects. There’s a novel called Dark Art, a freshly-released prequel, Sword of Blood, and absolute oodles of other stuff around the Internet. Start off at J.C.’s website, get lost in it, and go nuts. Actually, go ahead and literally go nuts: you can have yourself committed to the book’s mental institution, Brinkvale, and get the papers to prove it. Some of this stuff is even going to be turning up on SuicideGirls in the near future.

A few years ago, reading Daniel Robert Epstein’s interviews with some of my heroes on SG, I could honestly never have predicted that I’d get the chance to do those interviews myself. And if you had told me that one of my co-workers would be a fictional writer who brings a new meaning to “coming alive on the page,” well, forget about it.