GodsGirls is a California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

-based alt porn website

Website

A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...

 featuring softcore

Softcore

Softcore pornography is a form of filmic or photographic pornography or erotica that is less sexually explicit than hardcore pornography. It is intended to tickle and arouse men and women. Softcore pornography depicts nude and semi-nude performers engaging in casual social nudity or non-graphic...

 nude photography

Photography

Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...

 and video

Video

Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...

. The website also serves as a social networking community, featuring model

Model (person)

A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....

 and user blogs, email, discussion forums

Internet forum

An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...

, original writing, and interview

Interview

An interview is a conversation between two people where questions are asked by the interviewer to obtain information from the interviewee.- Interview as a Method for Qualitative Research:"Definition" -...

s.

History

GodsGirls was founded by entrepreneur Annaliese Nielsen (real name: Lara Nielsen) and model Kayla-Jane Danger (who is no longer affiliated with the site), with the backing of Offworld Media Group Inc. in an attempt to bring forth a change in what Nielsen considered a severely under-served market. The website's original lineup featured models Kayla-Jane, Seniel, Heather, Katie, Veronica, Pia, Adrianne, and Malaya, all local friends and acquaintances of the founders. The name "GodsGirls" was adopted by models as an homage to a song bearing the same title, written and performed by LA-based indie band Scarlet Grey.

Before launching as a stand-alone website, GodsGirls maintained an active and popularly visited page on the social networking site MySpace

MySpace

Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....

, logging 33,870 "friends" by the time of Godsgirls.com's official opening.

Development

Officially registered under the name God's Girls L.L.C., the Godsgirls website began to operate in June 2006, with headquarters in West Hollywood, California. Since its launch, the website has noted the participation of well-known alt-porn models such as Melodie Gore, Charity Laurus, Penthouse Pet Ashlee Adams, and former SuicideGirl

SuicideGirls

SuicideGirls is a website that features softcore pornography and text profiles of goth, punk and indie-styled young women who are known as the "Suicide Girls"...

 Apnea. Former staff members include make-up artist and singer Jeffree Star

Jeffree Star

Jeffree Star is an American model, fashion designer, make-up artist, DJ, and singer-songwriter residing in the Beverly Hills area...

, and photographer Christine Kessler.

Print

GodsGirls stories or interviews have been featured in publications and journals such as Skin Art, Bizarre

Bizarre (magazine)

Bizarre is a British alternative magazine published from 1997 to the present. It is currently published by Dennis Publishing; it is a sister publication to the Fortean Times.-Content:...

, Prick Magazine

Prick (magazine)

Prick magazine is a free monthly tabloid-sized newspaper publication based out of Atlanta, Georgia.The bulk of Pricks content focuses on the tattoo and piercing industry and the lifestyles that surround it....

, Jane

Jane (magazine)

Jane was an American magazine created to appeal to the women who grew up reading Sassy Magazine, both of which had Jane Pratt as founding editor. Its original target audience was aged 18–34, and was designed to appeal to women who are irreverent...

, Spin

Spin (magazine)

Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...

, Rock Sound

Rock Sound

Rock Sound is a British magazine which champions rock music. The magazine aims at being more "underground" and less commercial, whilst also giving coverage to more well known acts.-History:...

, Skin Deep, and Penthouse

Penthouse (magazine)

Penthouse, a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione, combines urban lifestyle articles and softcore pornographic pictorials that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore. Penthouse is owned by FriendFinder Network. formerly known as General Media, Inc. whose parent company was Penthouse International...

. Various articles and photographs have also been published in online blogs such as drivenbyboredom.com and Fleshbot

Fleshbot

Fleshbot is a sex-oriented weblog, published by Gawker Media. It was launched in November 2003 as the third online title from Gawker. The range of subject matter includes everything from amateur sex blogs and thumbnail gallery posts to news about sex in popular culture and advertising...

.

Radio

Interviews with Godgirls owner Annaliese Nielsen and various Godsgirls models have been broadcast by Music Plus TV, thestreamtv.com, and Playboy Radio

Playboy Radio

Playboy Radio is a radio station on Sirius Satellite Radio. Playboy Radio was originally launched on XM Satellite Radio in September 2002. Included were programs such as Night Calls Radio, originally hosted by adult film star Juli Ashton and Playboy TV star Tiffany Granath...

. Model Chelsea is the former host of the talk show

Talk show

A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....

 Pillow Talk, and has made numerous appearances as a guest DJ, along with Nielsen, on littleradio.com

Music

GodsGirls models have been featured in music videos such as The Sounds

The Sounds

The Sounds are a Swedish Indie Rock band. Formed in Helsingborg in 1999, the group's musical style has been compared to New Wave acts such as Blondie, The Cars, the Epoxies and Missing Persons....

' "Tony the Beat," Kelis

Kelis

Kelis Rogers Kelis Rogers Kelis Rogers (born August 21, 1971 is an American musical artist. She is a BRIT Award, Q Award and NME Award winner and has been nominated for two Grammy Awards. She has had nine top 10 singles on the UK Singles Chart...

' "Bossy," Teddybears

Teddybears

Teddybears is a Swedish band formed in 1991, known for mixing pop, rock, hip-hop, electronica, reggae, punk and many other genres.-History:...

' "Cobrastyle

Cobrastyle

"Cobrastyle" is a single performed by Teddybears featuring Mad Cobra from two of their albums, Fresh, and Soft Machine. Cobrastyle uses the piano riff from "Good Thing" by Fine Young Cannibals, and uses elements from Erick Sermon's "Bomdigi" and Sugar Hill Gang's "Rapper's Delight"...

," Saliva

Saliva (band)

Saliva is an American rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in September 1996 and currently under Island Records. Saliva released their self-titled debut album on August 26, 1997, under Rocking Chair Records....

's "Ladies and Gentlemen," Hollywood Undead

Hollywood Undead

Hollywood Undead is an American rap rock band from Los Angeles, California. They released their debut album, Swan Songs, on September 2, 2008, and their live CD/DVD Desperate Measures, on November 10, 2009. Their second studio album, American Tragedy, was released April 5, 2011...

's "No. 5" and Good Charlotte

Good Charlotte

Good Charlotte is an American rock band from Waldorf, Maryland that formed in 1996. Since 1998, the band's constant members have been lead vocalist Joel Madden, lead guitarist and back-up vocalist Benji Madden, bass guitarist Paul Thomas and rhythm guitarist and keyboardist Billy Martin...

's "The River".

Art

Contemporary artist

Artist

An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...

s Sylvia Ji and Joshua Petker depicted various GodsGirls models in portraiture format for their exhibition Behind Bedroom Doors. Model Aprella is known for modeling for New York based artist David Stoupakis

David Stoupakis

David Michael Stoupakis is a New York based surrealist/gothic artist. He is primarily a painter; he has also done artwork for Korn's album See You on the Other Side and Haloburn's debut album...

, who goes as far as to call her his "muse". Godsgirls models are also known to participate in signing booths and burlesque

Burlesque

Burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects...

 performances at various tattoo convention

Tattoo convention

A tattoo convention is a meeting and exhibition for tattoo practitioners and enthusiasts, as well as anyone who wishes to see the world of tattooing up close....

s across the globe.

Controversies

GodsGirls has been the subject of lawsuit

Lawsuit

A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...

s by competitor alt-porn website SuicideGirls

SuicideGirls

SuicideGirls is a website that features softcore pornography and text profiles of goth, punk and indie-styled young women who are known as the "Suicide Girls"...

, mainly due to modeling contract altercations. SuicideGirls' modeling contract prevents former and current models from collaborating with competing sites or agencies in the same field by the inclusion of a non-compete clause

Non-compete clause

A non-compete clause , or covenant not to compete , is a term used in contract law under which one party agrees not to pursue a similar profession or trade in competition against another party . As a contract provision, a CNC is bound by traditional contract requirements including the...

. Many former SuicideGirls models who have allegedly violated their contracts by pursuing modeling with competing websites have been threatened by legal action as well. However, as of, none of these lawsuits had resulted in a victory for the plaintiff.

In July 2009, Canadian newspaper Le Soleil

Le Soleil

Le Soleil is a French-language daily newspaper in Quebec City, Quebec. It was founded on December 28, 1896 and is published in compact format since April 2006...

 stated that French-Canadian singer Cœur de pirate was a nude model for GodsGirls while she was a minor, using the name Bea. In the article, Annaliese Nielsen claimed not to know Cœur de pirate or Bea. But in November 2009, Cœur de pirate, then 20 years and 2 months old, said on the Quebec television show Tout le monde en parle

Tout le monde en parle (Quebec)

Tout le monde en parle is a Quebec talk show hosted and co-produced by Guy A. Lepage, broadcast on Radio-Canada since 2004. It has been adapted from the French show of the same name, created and hosted by Thierry Ardisson.- Concept :...

that photos she appeared in on the Godsgirls site were taken 2 and a half years earlier, apparently confirming that she was in fact a minor when she posed for the photos. However, GodsGirls has never been indicted for the publication of the photographs.