JenniCAM vs. SuicideGirls

The oft-quoted Jennifer Ringley of JenniCAM fame said: "I keep JenniCam alive not because I want or need to be watched, but because I simply don't mind being watched."

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/12/10/jenni.cam.reut/

That bout sums up my sense of one characteristic of the internet generation, the youth of today, that separates them from my generation. Jenni *is* of my generation but I didn't get a sense that she was common. However, now, we have reality TV (which Jenni has been credited for pioneering) and 'kids' (as in 'those darned kids') who seem to have no problem whatsoever sharing intimate pictures and private information about themselves on the internet, even--or because?--they know at least some of the audience IRL (in real life).

We have the SuicideGirls, too, now. 'Alternative' girls with heavy body mods who get paid $500 a set and a free lifetime membership to publish naked pictures of themselves for 'consumption' of the SuicideGirls community. They have a self-written profile and blogs in addition to the pictures, and participate in official SG events, or unofficial events with people they met through SG. Are they cyborgs? A combination of machine and bio-material? They don't have webcams, but they 'show' more--there are plenty of clear shots of genitilia and bewbs. But they 'show' less. We don't see any of them having sex (except occasionally with themselves with maybe a toy, but not one that gets inserted), like we could with Jenni. With Jenni, it was live-streamed and the SGs, a series of photos that tell a story. Their nakedness is guaranteed, more posed, and much more consciously artistic.

They are not like typical porn sites where the models are much more airbrushed and 'perfect,' have only a quick profile (which seemed canned enough that you wonder if they had any hand in writing them), and no journals (when they do, again, you wonder who holds the pen). Instead, SGs are a community based around the girls, where the girls and all of the members have voices, can interact, and can potentially meet up IRL.