Thread by @bacon_afterdark

Time to multi-tweet about a heated Twitch topic that keeps coming up: so-called "titty streamers". Y'all angry nerds need to chill. (cont.)

If you don't agree with me, please try to look outside of intense emotions you might have so that we can just have a rational discussion.

This issue is basically about women using sexuality to their advantage while streaming. People find it immoral or unfair or distasteful.

The thing is, so far (and I have been paying attention) I have yet to hear an argument against "titty streamers" that is *actually* valid.

What there IS, is a whole lot of high emotions, clouded perspective, and assumptions about statistics that aren't actually true.

So let's walk through some common arguments that I hear on this topic and see if we can apply a little common sense, logic, and actual data.

Unfair advantage: "I work my ass off and keep getting rejected for partner, if only I had some tits!" And countless variations of that.

Firstly, twitch doesn't compare one channel to another when considering partnership. Tits are great, but don't actually have that power.

Second, look at the sort that hang in streams like that. Are they COMPLETELY different people from your chat? Yes? Then nothing was stolen.

They are picking up a different slice of Twitch viewers that you aren't catering to and those folk wouldn't be watching your stream anyway.

We'll talk later about the data regarding gender on twitch, but even if tits gave someone an advantage it would NOT be an unfair one.

It would be a completely fair advantage. "But I don't have tits!" Yeah? Tough shit. Seriously. Just think through that logic. It's bullshit.

Every other person on the planet has tits, and if that's all it takes to defeat you, then you should really find a different hobby.

Manipulating: "they are using sex to get money from horny teens, it isn't right!" Dear God, that is so flawed I barely know where to start.

Have you heard of Internet porn? Are you aware that any horny teen can get a near infinite supply of all the porn they want, FOR FREE?

A woman using sex to make money on twitch isn't competing with other streams, but with the entirety of online porn. Good luck with that.

Are there streams where people intentionally do sexy things for tips or subs? Yes. So fucking what? Another word for that is "gimmick".

Twitch has this magical document called the ToS which sets the rules. And it is THEIR job to enforce it. If they aren't breaking rules STFU.

Nearly every streamer has a gimmick of some kind. Be that tits, a prop, sounds, alerts, a raid response, or anything else.

We watch gimmicks all day on twitch but when the gimmick involves female sexually, people go ape-shit. And *female sexually* is key here.

Men get away with sexuality with no complaint at all, ginormous hypocritical sexist gender gap here, because it takes a different from.

For dudes it's usually verbal. Dick jokes, stories of past sexual conquest, etc but somehow we don't seem to get all riled up and offended.

Men who talk about their dick while accepting tips and subs are "titty streamers" too. Either it's okay to use sex in streaming or it isn't.

Next let's talk about an overlooked side effect of all of this hate. Thanks to all the hyperbole, this stereotype gets applied to ALL women.

About the only women that don't get accused of being titty streamers are ones that look like dudes and get transphobic hate instead. FFS!

What's it going to take to satisfy this Puritan zealotry? Burkas? Chastity belts? How about we just ban cameras from women? Maybe then.

It's bad enough that modern gaming culture is so sexist in chat but women have to deal with degrading comments from other streamers too.

You know what I want? A world where everyone plays games. If you want more women on Twitch then stop harassing them over their chesticles.

And perhaps the most important truth here is that the data proves that being a woman on Twitch puts you at a disadvantage.

It's not *actually* easier when you have tits. For everyone woman you see getting a lot of tips there's a hundred more dudes that get more.

Step outside your emotions and actually look at the top 100 channels on Twitch and count up how many women there are. I dare you.

Too lazy to do that? Here let me help you: opg.tv/2015/07/20/gen…

As far as I'm concerned if you haven't read that study then you're not qualified to talk about this topic. For the love of God, read it.

If you can stare at Cold Hard fact and *still* think that tits are ruining twitch you're a misogynistic shit. Yes, that's a personal insult.

The women I know on Twitch work their fucking ass off five times as hard as any dude and deal with ten times the abuse.

Maybe we ought to be lifting them up instead of tearing them down.

Game culture today is overflowing with hate. Racism, transphobia, homophobia, misogyny and all sorts of other vile things.

This topic falls under misogyny. Do you really think that you can align yourself with one hate group and not be linked to the other ones?

Pick a God damn side.

I want to be on the right side of history, and of gaming culture. I reject this hateful bullshit, and will fight for inclusion.

To me "titty streamer" is as much hate speech as "faggot" is, you're just hating on a different group of people. Fuck you.

Ok I'm officially worked up so I'm going to stop here.

Let's be better.

An update to respond to some things brought up in replies. First up: "titty streamers abuse viewers by manipulating them for money".

If you don't think it's ok for a streamer to manipulate for money fine, but that has nothing to do with tits, thats but one method.

Did you get on a moral high ground when that bro stream you watch did a giveaway when they hit 100 sub points?

How about when that other dude dude did a subscriber movie night? The bit cup? Name popups? Twitchcon funding goals? WELCOME TO TWITCH!

Twitch is COMPLETELY CRAWLING with dudes doing all kinds of things to get money, but when a woman does it, grab your pitchforks. Hypocrite.

If anti-manipulation is a battle you want to fight, do it. But if you make that a gender issue and give dudes a free pass then fuck off.