Twitch | It's just cleavage, get over it!

There's a topic I've wanted to address for a while now, it's something that is getting ridiculous and needs to be addressed. Many of you are going to say I'm a butthurt girl who needs to shut up but honestly I'm sick of this shit, so what is Elle rambling on about now? I'm talking about girls who stream getting shit for having cleavage on show, I've had so many arguments about this subject with both men and women that I've decided to write about it here so I don't have to keep repeating myself.When I first started using Twitch I did notice a few girls/woman who used their assets to their advantage to get views and follows, fair enough it's their body so they're free to do as they pleased. Twitch old rules were: 

Dress...appropriately Nerds are sexy, and you're all magnificent, beautiful creatures, but let's try and keep this about the games, shall we? 

Wearing no clothing or sexually suggestive clothing - including lingerie, swimsuits, pasties, and undergarments - is prohibited, as well as any full nude torsos*, which applies to both male and female broadcasters. You may have a great six-pack, but that's better shared on the beach during a 2-on-2 volleyball game blasting "Playing with the Boys." 

* If it's unbearably hot where you are, and you happen to have your shirt off (guys) or a bikini top (girls), then just crop the webcam to your face. Problem solved. We sell t-shirts, and those are always acceptable. #Kappa

They've now changed it too:

Inappropriate Broadcaster Behavior and Attire
Nudity and conduct involving overtly sexual behavior and/or attire are prohibited.

As you can see in the new rules they're trying not to dictate too much but they're being very vague in what overly sexual attire would be and haven't given any examples of what could be overly sexual attire. Whereas the older rules were very preachy. Female streamers can easily find themselves being banned on twitch for showing a little bit of skin, the biggest issue with that I've noticed is guys sitting and streaming on twitch with no top on and they don't get any shit but a girl can be wearing a tank top with a little bit of cleavage and end up with a ban or being harassed for it. Either they cover up and they get little trolls saying get your tits out or they wear an outfit that shows them a bit and get told to cover up, it's like they can't win. Furthermore, people don't seem to know the difference between cleavage and having your tits out, there is a huge difference and I think perhaps people need to look it up.

This is a comment a girl streamer made about girls who have cleavage on show in streams, as you can see she thinks women should be banned from streaming but is one herself, hypocrite much?

I'm part of a few Twitch groups on Facebook and there are a few guys and gals on there who seem to blame woman who have cleavage on show for their downfall and them not doing well whilst streaming, what they don't realise is the viewers are the ones wanting to see "boobie streamers" and that's where the views are coming from for these females, they can't control their hormones and view woman as a sexual object rather than women who just want to stream gameplay. If all these people who continue to moan about women having cleavage put the hard work in and concentrated on themselves rather than dictating what women can wear I'm sure they would grow more on Twitch. I would love to stream but it would be off cam, there is a big issue with why I won't do it at the moment and once again it stems from people trolling, I don't feel confident enough and will most likely get shit from people who made my life difficult before. Back in 2012, Twitch was just as toxic, Twitch use to have IP bans where people who tried to make more than one account to troll on couldn't unless they changed their IP. These days it seems a lot of people don't tend to go directly to Twitch to report instead they're hot on blocking and banning people on Twitch in streams as soon as they troll and don't take any shit with the help of their mods. It's fair to say that a lot of places are toxic anyways, take Twitter, for example, there are so many differing opinions people will argue over anything. On Twitch I've seen arguments stem from viewers and even streamers, especially ones who will openly slag off "boobie streamers" and how they're ruining Twitch, I personally don't believe this to be true, a lot of people use the platform who are much more toxic than women who have cleavage on show, the most toxic people within Twitch will always be the trolls in my eyes. It seems that Twitch is still just as toxic as it was back in 2012 but there are exceptions when it comes to people, a lot more streamers and Twitch users are taking things more seriously because they want to become a twitch affiliate or are already one which is great to see. Unfortunately, this doesn't stop some of the trolls trying their best to get to others and get people banned or sexist men and women who think they can police others by what they wear on stream.

A guy shared this on a group too, because women can't possibly be themselves and have cleavage on show at the same time right? It's such bullshit, to be honest, why does a man get to decide what we can and can't wear in life?

I think the more people who waste their time talking about women having cleavage on show, the more time they're wasting on learning how to grow themselves, do people not realise how hot a room can get whilst you're playing a game? Or that we should be able to decide for ourselves what we can wear, you wouldn't go up to a woman on the street and say "can you please cover your cleavage" so why would you force a woman to do that on Twitch, oh wait that's right, you think that our lumps of skin are ruining it for you and it's the reason why you can't seem to grow or get viewers? You can't really blame your failings on someone else's success especially when they most likely don't have any idea who you. What I say is concentrate on yourself, what others do shouldn't matter to you. You do you and you will be all the happier for it. People need to also remember that thousands of people are streaming a day and chances are people will watch the more popular ones so work harder. One last thing I want to add, yes I know a few female streamers who will go out of their way to pull up their skirts, pull down their tops and play with their tits on cam. Yes, it can make things harder for female streamers but who if it works for them and you don't agree with it, you don't have to watch them.