As an individual who has grown up playing games for so many years, I felt that this project was something that would serve as both a personal exploration of finding my place in the gaming community, especially in terms of Twitch, and also in the larger perspective of the world. I have witnessed may people, namely men, who accused me of only wanting to play games to "fit in" with my male peers, and these comments became much more common as I got older. I had always wondered why I was labeled an "attention-whore," or someone who was not really into gaming, especially when I, in fact, was into gaming since I was a little elementary schooler. I had just identified myself more to games than with "girlier" toys or forms of entertainments like dolls. I felt extremely confused and angered at the fact that I could not be accepted for what I truly loved doing, and that was playing games.

Moving on to the latter half of my high school years, I became introduced to League of Legends, a game developed by Riot Games earlier that year. It was still in the early stages of its production, but the game got me obsessed with being surrounded by others with the same gaming interests as me. I would create aliases that were gender-neutral, because of my irrational fear of being judged for being a notorious, attention-seeking "girl-gamer." I had no idea why I was compromising that part of myself, but at the time, I was willing to forgo a part of myself to be accepted by a community that I so desperately wanted to be a part of. 

I eventually learned how to "type" like a guy, and "act" like a guy online, solely through my gaming. (I didn't do this anywhere else, because I felt no need to.) Fast-forward to now, where platforms such as Twitch are flourishing alongside the gaming industry itself. In this kind of atmosphere, the gaming industry has boomed, with millions of players all across the globe, who all bond and interact with one another through their common love for gaming. Consequently, Twitch, a site that provides for even further connections between people, specifically individual broadcasters who stream themselves playing a game in real-time, and their internet audiences, became a powerhouse as well. Initially, many male streamers gained a large followings for their goofiness, alongside their intense, fast-paced, and informative game-play. Gradually, women started being more active in the gaming scene as well.

For whatever reason, when women are put into the equation that was formerly a male-dominated scene, things become infinitely more complicated when they really don't have to be. Even throughout history, when women are labeled subpar in sports due to their biological features that disallow them from certain activites or certain levels of activities, the same phenomenon is present in gaming. (http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/local/scisoc/sports02/papers/jpadgett.html) 

Women, believe it or not, are still associated as the inferior being, and thus, this unwarranted assumption about females as an entire group has made way for opinions that women are genetically and mentally unfit for gaming. Yet, an interesting occurrence, the insane popularity attached to women as cam-girls on Twitch streams, while minimizing the size of their game screens and maximizing their faces to the crowd, has made a way for women to be "accepted" in the gaming community. This, however, rests on the woman's facial and bodily features, more than the games themselves.

In conclusion, this view on women in the gaming society has sparked controversy. Are women selling their bodies even more via Twitch, since many of them don't even seem to care or know anything about the games they're playing? And what about the rest of the females like myself, who have been gamers for as long as they can remember? Unfortunately, Twitch as a company, has to be adamant about cracking down on the chats that accompany streams, as they are notorious for being extremely "troll"-y, negative, and toxic in nature.

The following screenshots are merely glimpses of what actually happens:

And most of these negative comments on chat are usually targeted at female streamers.

Popular internet stars like Sky Williams have spoken on this topic, encouraging women to not sell their bodies online, because doing so perpetuates the male-dominated system. Williams states that he feels compelled to address the topic because he himself is a homosexual, Black male, who will never fall under either extremes of the the Twitch spectrum. Thus, he feels that he is in a position to critique. Since females on Twitch are in a bizarre position where they have enough agency to know how to get money out of their predominantly male viewers, they are met with a confusing role in the entire system.

Below are several video references that helped inform this project. In one, Sky Williams' viral video addressing the issue of girl streamers and their (un)intentional stripping away of the importance of games on Twitch streams, and their own clothes. The next video is of Sky Williams engaging in a Skype call with KaceyTron, one of the most famous female streamers who is known for putting on a completely different personality in and out of stream (she acts like a complete cam-girl, consciously injecting sarcasm and stupidity whenever she possibly can into her streams.) She maintains her internet persona throughout the "debate."

The third video is by a YouTuber named videofletcher, who comments on the girls he sees on Twitch streams in a fairly objective way.