The Female Streamer’s Dilemma

The very first time I tried my hand at streaming I was hit on. I had just returned from GameStop with my just-purchased gaming headset – I had never really seen the need for one before as I rarely game online – and was a bit giddy to get started and start building up my cred on Twitch. The session began as expected of a first time streamer: I would gain a viewer or two but then one would disappear and I would feel compelled to apologize vehemently for broadcasting what was essentially me grinding to achieve the game’s Platinum trophy rather than any sort of real or exciting gameplay. The stream was fairly quiet for a bit and I tried to fill the dead air with chatter about what I thought of the game until a user came in and began chatting with me. The conversations began casually enough, but it wasn’t long before it became clear that he was interested in more than just conversation related to the game. He was not-so-subtly flirting, or at least flirting as best one can do via an Internet chat. He complimented my voice, he laid on the excessive flattery, and did it all in that persistent yet oblivious way that seems to always happen with one-sided flirting. At one point my fiancee, who was watching the stream, laughed at how hard the guy was trying.

I felt conflicted. This guy was making me feel uncomfortable, but at the same time, I was (and still am) a new streamer who would benefit from a larger viewer base. So I tried to shake off the awkward questions and comments, kept my tone set firmly to “nice and warm,” and rolled with it. Now, this instance was fairly tame, but the more I’ve researched experiences women have had while streaming, the more I’ve found how common this sort of experience (and even worse) is.

The chat section of any Twitch stream is often filled with trolls and hostile comments regardless of who the streamer is, though this is particularly true for members of any marginalized group. But my experience, despite it being relatively mild, and the experiences of other female Twitch streamers are unique in that they often are gendered and/or sexualized, with harassment and negative comments centering around these time and time again. It’s why competitive and skilled female streamers like MagicAmy get their identities as women questioned and get accused for being avatars for male players (because women can’t be that good at video games; video games are for men). It’s why women who choose not to use a webcam get ridiculed for being unattractive (because if you’re not willing to show it off, you must be hiding something). It’s why Googling for female streamers reveals websites ranking popular female streamers’ attractiveness. And it’s why women who do use webcams get accused of “whoring” their appearance for attention, views, and money (because female gamers are just trying to get attention and can’t possibly be in it because they like to play or for any other reason). Thus women who want to stream are caught in this paradox where no matter what they choose, they’re bound to get harassed for it in a way that a male streamer would not.

I’ve dealt with this conundrum myself. Before I even began streaming, a colleague of mine told me that it’d be easy for me to get viewers and followers because I was a woman, and that a web cam would gather more attention. When I stressed that I was unsure if anyone would even be interested in my stream because I was nowhere near competitive level, he dismissed it and stated that it didn’t matter if I wasn’t any good, that I would get viewers simply because I was a woman, and that female streamers, even those with little skill, always get the most viewers and donations simply because of their gender. Now, is he right? Do we they more views and monetary support because they’re female? This may very well be the case; but should this be looked upon with slight contempt, as it often is, and, judging by his tone, seemed to be the case with my colleague?

In a way I’d argue no. Female gamers are routinely chased out of the community and hobby while the remainder is exotified and targeted. They’re pressured to show themselves over web cam or make themselves look nice for viewers but then shamed for doing this exact thing. They’re encouraged by fans to accept donations but then accused of being in it only for the money. They, like me, are probably torn between calling out unwanted behavior or actions they receive or letting it slide in the hope that they can share their stream with more viewers. Are there female streamers who stream mostly for a source of income? Probably (not that that’s necessarily a bad thing either), but I’m sure there are male streamers who do the same and yet are rarely if ever harassed for doing so; nor are they harassed for using a web cam. But for female streamers, the very act of streaming can be a political decision, one that makes it difficult to see streaming for the rewarding and fun experience it really is.