SuicideGirls sharpen the strip

DON'T BE surprised if SuicideGirls loom large when the next history of the sexual revolution is written.

Yes, their roots lie in old-school stripteasing, burlesque and the scantily clad pin-up models of the 1930s to the '60s - queens of titillation, like Gypsy Rose Lee (immortalized in the musical "Gypsy"), Blaze Starr and the "Notorious" Bettie Page, also a feature-film subject.

When jump-starting this performing troupe (and now global, multi-media enterprise) at the turn of the millennium, SuicideGirls' now 37-year-old co-founder Missy Suicide (a/k/a Selena Mooney) did her share of research about the classic art of striptease online.

"You'd be amazed what you can find on YouTube," she shared recently, with a laugh. "Everything is there."

Yet their edge - like that brand name SuicideGirls - is thoroughly modern, Mooney suggested, and on display in their Blackheart Burlesque show Sunday at TLA.

Think costumed references to movies and comic-book icons like "Star Wars" and Wonder Woman. (OK to mimic as "parodies" under fair-use copyright rules. )

Plus rocking tunes with brash, sarcastic attitude scored by the likes of the Black Keys, Arctic Monkeys and M.I.A., the latter promoting the message, "Live fast, die young, bad girls do it well."

Their comically minded choreography (in one daft bit spitting bourbon on the boys!) is conjured by Manwe Sauls-Addison, who's worked with the likes of Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez and Lady Gaga.

Where SuicideGirls really jump out and make a bold cultural statement is in their modern celebration of alternative beauty and "outsider" lifestyles that break down stereotypes and traditional role modeling, which "gives women control over how their sexuality is depicted," Mooney said.

On stage and in the enterprise's other avenues of exposure - a hugely popular website plus books, magazines, comic books, movies and TV appearances - you'll find most ("but not all," Mooney demurred) SuicideGirls sporting tattoos and body piercings. Lots have Jell-O-hued hair, dreadlocks and other nontraditional looks.

While traditional burlesque was a boys-night-out adventure, SuicideGirls attract more than a few cheering women to shows. "We'd like there to be even more," Mooney said. "They get to see women having fun and being sexy in a nonintimdating way. This is inspiring to a lot of women. . . . Our world is starting to evolve in amazing ways. It's OK to like what you like, be interested in what you want, feel confident and comfortable with your body and who you are," Mooney said.

More staggering: over on the SuicideGirls website - which features pin-up photography and profiles, blogs and networking groups - the visiting population (5 million unique visitors per month) actually skews slightly in favor of females: 51 percent. And more than 1,000 applications a week pour in from SuicideGirl wannabes.

Just like the Ringling Bros. circus, there are actually two touring SuicideGirls troupes, working opposite sides of the country. On Halloween, one gang opened for Queens of Stone Age at the Great Western Forum arena in Los Angeles, while the other headlined the Gramercy Theater in Brooklyn.

Burlesque used to operate in a world unto itself (exposed here mostly at the Trocadero). Today, SuicideGirls "can play almost any theater, anywhere," Mooney said.

In part that's because they practice the rules of safe sex on stage, with equal parts of "silly and sweet," less likely to provoke community outrage.

"Rules about what we could get away with vary from location to location," clued the co-founder. "Some states allow full frontal nudity, others not. So we veer towards moderation, always wearing pasties [covering the nipples] and panties."

Curious about the neo-burlesque lifestyle but not ready to jump on SuicideGirls' circus train? Philly's got a bit of a scene, too.

Check out Candy Hearts Cabaret, performing next Tuesday after 9 p.m. at Bob & Barbara's, on South Street. Or "Beer & Burlesque," a first Thursday of every month happening at Bottle Bar East, on Frankford Avenue. And the long-running Peekaboo Revue pops up again on Nov. 22 at Golden Nugget in Atlantic City.

Online: ph.ly/Tech