Uh-oh.

Well, this is potentially troubling. A group of "Suicide Girls" have quit the site,

...bashing the SuicideGirls alt-porn empire, saying its embrace of the tattoo and nipple-ring set hides a world of exploitation and male domination.

The women are spreading their allegations through the blogosphere, raising the hackles of the SuicideGirls company, which has until now enjoyed a reputation as porn even feminists can love. It offers burlesque tours, clothes and DVDs in addition to a sprawling online library of naked punk and goth women.

Wired News

Now personally, while I, of course, mainly read Suicide Girls for the articles, I admit I have browsed my way through the pictures a time or two, though I was never a member. I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, for god's sake, rocker chicks with piercings have a special place in my libido.

And I bought the hype that these were "empowered" women somehow celebrating female sexuality. As opposed to the exploited co-eds of Girls Gone Wild, that manage to make looking at naked women seem somehow sleazy.

If these allegations, and one or two other things I'm hearing around the "blogosphere" are true, you have to ask yourself: Is it possible to make "porn even feminists can love?"

ETA: I sent Lauren from Feministe a heads-up about this, because I thought she might want to blog about it. She did, and gave me a little shout-out.

ETA, again: For reasons which are not mysterious, I wanted to see what women who identify themselves as feminists thought about this story. So I sent the link to Jessica from Feministing as well; here's what she had to say. And thanks to her as well for the nod.