SuicideGirls is an online community-based website that revolves around pin-up photography sets of models known as the Suicide Girls. The website was founded in 2001 by Selena Mooney ("Missy Suicide") and Sean Suhl ("Spooky"). Most of the site is accessible only to paying members. It offers members access to images provided by models and photographers worldwide, as well as personal profiles, blogging platforms, and the option to join numerous groups based upon different interests. There is also an online merchandise store offering a range of clothing, books, and DVDs. Suicide Girls have appeared in a variety of media outlets including television shows and music videos. They have also been portrayed by actresses in others, such as the character Dani California on the TV show Californication. History In 2001, Mooney returned to Portland, Oregon to study photography after working as director of technology at Ticketmaster. Inspired by Bunny Yeager, Mooney began photographing her friends in the pinup style and wanted to create a website that featured her photographs as well as message boards and blog posts from the models. Mooney's friend Sean Suhl joined her and the two founded the website. SuicideGirls was originally based in Portland, but relocated to Los Angeles, California in 2003 to be closer to its distributor, label and publisher. That same year, 70 models from the website appeared in a music video for the band Probot. Mooney has said that the site's purpose is to give women control over how their sexuality is depicted. The site is privately co-owned. According to Missy, the term "Suicide Girl" comes from Chuck Palahniuk's novel Survivor (1999), in which a character talks about masturbating to the troubles of young girls who look up to him: Missy also said the name describes girls who commit "social suicide" by breaking away from societal norms, and created the site "as a place to celebrate beautiful women who choose not to fit into the norm and as a corner of the where outsiders could congregate and be appreciated for being themselves". In September 2005, SuicideGirls announced that it would remove a large number of images from its pages in an effort to collaborate with the U.S. Department of Justice standards at the time. The images involved depicted bondage, weapons, or simulated blood. The Department of Justice indicated that images of that type might be the subject of obscenity prosecutions. Although SuicideGirls was not mentioned