We need to talk about Twitch hot tub streams

I would like to start by saying first and foremost I am a woman and content creator for Twitch. Outside of Twitch I also produce adult content for various sites and that is a decision I made for myself. I wanted to talk about the problem with hot tub streams on Twitch as a whole. Even though the strong female in me really wants to support all other female streamers; I cannot stand by silently and allow the hot tub streams to continue without saying my piece.

When discussing this subject with my male best friend he brought up the point that it’s a huge possibility that Twitch took its time responding because they didn’t want to appear sexist. In my opinion, the only thing sexist about the situation is Twitch standing by idly while the hard work female gamers have been putting in to become equals in the gaming community is being stomped on. As a female gamer I often struggle with being respected or even acknowledged as an equal by a lot of the male gaming community. I have made many friends and I love gaming for the amount of community it provides for our younger generations as a whole but I have also experienced some very vile and unnecessary responses from my fellow gamers based around the fact that I am a woman. I support women and sex work. I believe that if you are confident and sexy and you make the choice to capitalize on your assets (even if those assets are your own physical features) you should be allowed to do so.

With that being said I think there is a time and a place for everything. There are literally hundreds of websites where one can post hot tub streams, to a targeted community even, where you would not be affecting the hard work that women have been putting in to be taken seriously as gamers. These streams have (albeit inadvertently) negatively affected the female gaming community and are setting it back. Before the hot tub streams, I found it hard to stream to Twitch because I was constantly comparing myself to other Twitch streamers and couldn’t figure out what I was lacking that was preventing me from being as successful as other streamers. I came to the conclusion that a lot of success on Twitch boiled down to hard work, consistency, ability to maintain conversations with chat, and a little bit of luck. With these streams there is no doubt in my mind that many a female gamer, specifically the younger ones, will be led to the conclusion that there lack of success is because they are not showing enough skin or being provocative enough. I think that statement alone should be enough for Twitch to ban the content that is being put out under the loophole of being in a hot tub, even if that hot tub is in your living room.

I know that Twitch has evolved to more than just a platform for gamers. But, in my opinion, it was built on a platform of gaming and I think that first and foremost it should be protective of the place it got its start, protective of its roots. If we are sending the message to the younger generations of women, who we have been trying to pave a path of equality for, that they can be equal but only when they are half naked, then what kind of equality is that? I want all women, not just ones that fit society’s standards of beautiful, to feel like they could stream on Twitch and be successful. When you visit Twitch’s site for the first time and the front page is literally filled with beautiful women in hot tubs, it takes away from the female gamers who have fought tooth and nail for their place in the gaming world. The women like LuluLuvely, ChicaLive, Anne Munition and so many others have worked hard to be known as great streamers and great gamers and I don’t think their careers will be affected by these hot tub streams. Who I am concerned for are all of the younger women of Twitch who want to make a name for themselves. If I stand by idly while hot tub streams take over and we consistently send the message to the younger women of the world that success is based on the amount of skin they show; then I fear what Twitch will become. I think this platform will quickly transition to a place for gaming to a place for webcam modelling. Which is vastly different than the platform for gaming that we know today.