Scattered among the artists, cooks and professional eaters are a growing band of young women wearing revealing clothing while they game. Some go further and entertain fans by dancing or by doing a series of suggestive exercises, like squats, to tempt people to subscribe to their channel or to hand over Twitch’s micro-currency – bits.

Dubbed “booby streamers” these young women have been a feature of Twitch for years but their numbers have grown significantly over the last few months, prompting a wave of complaints.

On social media many parents have posted messages about what their younger children are seeing when they visit the site, expressing alarm at how much of a screen supposedly showing in-game action is focused on a woman’s body.

In recent weeks, high-profile streamers have complained about Twitch’s tolerance of these women and for doing a “poor job” of policing the growing amount of sexual content on the site.

The complaints have prompted a crackdown on women streamers who sell sexual services via their Twitch bio. Some have been suspended or banned for a few days and been made to purge links to places such as Patreon where explicit pictures and shows could be bought.

Some say this is not enough. The “overtly sexual” behaviour on display breaks rules governing what Twitch has said is acceptable.

“Given the way that the rules are worded, these streamers should not be on the site,” Steven Bonnell aka Destiny told the BBC.

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Mr Bonnell is one of a small number of streamers with large, dedicated audiences that have quizzed Twitch about why it is not enforcing the letters of its laws – specifically its community guidelines.

These guidelines govern what is permissible on Twitch and they explicitly prohibit “nudity and conduct involving overtly sexual behaviour and/or attire” and the selling of “sexual services”.

“It’s pretty clear that there are some streamers that step over the line,” said Mr Bonnell, “they wear provocative clothing and act provocatively.”

Originally, said Mr Bonnell, the IRL section was for streamers who were recording events, such as attending a convention, that did not involve them playing a video game.

“IRL is taking on a culture of its own,” he said. “It’s become much more sexualised.”

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Source: BBC

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