Being a female gamer means facing violent abuse. These women have had enough

Psyche / PleasantlyTwstd. Slowly but surely, Twitch is becoming more diverse but it’s still heavily dominated by cis white men. Where exactly does that leave female streamers? It’s fair to say that Twitch – along with social media in general – can be toxic for women. Between body-shaming, stalking, unfair bans, alleged sexualisation, being demonetised and even cosmetics brands lacking diversity, the amount of harassment faced by women online is appalling. A recent survey found that 59 per cent of women hide their gender when playing games online to avoid harassment. The main reason for this is that 77 per cent of women have received gender-specific discrimination when gaming. So how does this impact female Twitch streamers?  “I feel like women tend to be targeted with appearance related insults in a way that other people aren’t,” says Psyche. “Unsolicited comments about our weight, how attractive we are, and other similar kinds of comments are made rather than commenting directly on our content or gameplay in the case of streaming.  “I hate that it feels like, as a woman, my worth as a content creator is measured by how attractive I am to a particular person rather than any of the…
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