Your opinion about female Twitch streamers

[PhyrxianLibrarin]

On 1/9/2021 at 10:03 AM, LoveInHell said:

Oh yeah I tease my bf by saying how hot Johnny Depp is but it doesn’t affect him or he doesn’t show at least haha I do it in a funny way though

 

For whatever it's worth, this kind of thing messes up men's self esteem and impressions of themselves as well, even if you're saying it "as a joke." If you're having an open conversation about how you feel when he watches women on Twitch, you may want to be ready for him to share how he feels when you talk about celebrities you find hot. That's a good thing, for both of you.

[LoveInHell]

9 hours ago, PhyrxianLibrarin said:

 

For whatever it's worth, this kind of thing messes up men's self esteem and impressions of themselves as well, even if you're saying it "as a joke." If you're having an open conversation about how you feel when he watches women on Twitch, you may want to be ready for him to share how he feels when you talk about celebrities you find hot. That's a good thing, for both of you.

We already talked about it. We communicate a lot. Which I said on this thread before.

[Ac3dUd3-]

Seems like most of the problem here is you.

 

You hate the term gamer girl yet in the same sentence say you hate all girls that game. You then go on to say you dont like your boyfriend watching any female streamer at all regardless of what they are doing and/or streaming as you automatically assume its because she is attractive, which shows you have no trust in your partner at all.

 

You clearly have self esteem issues, jealousy and insecurities which you have stated but you are hiding behind it to explain your terrible outlook on the community.

 

Of course there are girls who sexualize their bodies for views and money. There are men that do that too and not just on twitch. On literally any platform in existence to gain followers, sponsorship, viewers etc. Humans idolize celebrities, musicians and anyone who they deem to be higher on the social ladder than they are. They all do the same thing to earn money and/or fame so its not just "gamer girls".

 

The post is pretty sexist really and I feel you made it just to find attention and someone to agree with you to make yourself feel better. A normal healthy person does not feel these thoughts and it is good that you can admit you have issues, but dont hide behind them with posts like this. Go to counselling and work on them.

 

And just to point out, I am a male.

[Stardroid]

I think some things you say strike true, others not so much. I agree with you on boys/men idolizing women in video games to uncomfortable margins. And I see what you are saying when a group dynamic changes because of women joining and men changing their behaviours. Although, this is not always on the woman of course. I've had it multiple times where a woman would join and just play games and the men would get thirsty. On the other side, just had women act all cutesy, obviously trying to to achieve things. All this when you try to play games, it gets annoying, I get it. 

 

But unfairly generalising a gender and assigning social traits on these people based on their sex is wrong. Even the people who obviously use their looks for their own gain have other qualities to them. You are in the wrong treating people like they are only their looks, further enabling the stereotype that you actually hate. It's also not true that you have to be attractive to make it on Twitch (although it certainly helps). Nor is it true that being attractive is a free pass in making it. Plenty of attractive small time streamers. It requires consistency in streaming and being able to interact with your fanbase on top of managing other social accounts and video platforms. It's often a lot of work for a very long time before actually making it. 

 

On the topic of using the attractiveness to make it, I can't say I put any blame on anyone for that. When someone has a high IQ, a very intelligent person, uses that to go to University and easily passes, we're not going to hate on these people for using their advantages, right? I don't see the difference with being attractive, as a matter of fact, being attractive is often much more of a chore than being intelligent. Probably work out, watch the food you are eating, make-up, hygiene ... 
So we can't fault people for that. 

 

Whatever the case, don't listen to armchair psychologists in this thread telling you that "normal healthy people" don't have these thoughts. It's not an abnormal thought to have, or opinion. But your mistake is that you let your experience completely define you, rather than analyse them and see the reality for what is it and that the "truth" lies somewhere inbetween. 

 

Yes, it's cringe when men blindly defend women and put them on a pedestal, only because they happen to be female. No, not all women are like this and we can't simplify women as just their looks and acknowledge all of them have different traits to them, good or bad. 

[LoveInHell]

1 hour ago, Ac3dUd3- said:

I feel you made it just to find attention and someone to agree with you to make yourself feel better. A normal healthy person does not feel these thoughts and it is good that you can admit you have issues, but dont hide behind them with posts like this.

If you would’ve read the entire thread you would’ve noticed thats not the reason why I made this thread and in all honesty you sound like an absolute douchebag for saying so. I made this thread to see different opinions so I can see different perspectives, “is it normal for me to think this?” “Am I the only one thinking this?” etc. I’m not hiding behind my issues at all and if you forgot to read the rest as well: this is a work in progress. Read the whole thread before saying stupid shit like this. And to my surprise, because I thought I would get hated bad for making this thread - people understand my point of view if they disagree or agree, or they voice their opinion which then gives me another perspective of things. Man, to think I did this for attention, you’re wrong.

[flugurnarrr]

30 year old woman here. I understand what you meant and definitely can see where you're coming from.

 

I'm not a 'gamer girl', don't have any interest in streaming and don't plan to use gaming as a source of income/prestige/whatever in any way. I also often dislike playing with other people, so the few times that I do (for a specific online trophy, for example), I don't speak on mic or tell my gender because it makes me uncomfortable, as I know a lot of male gamers are really annoying towards female gamers. I only added my gender to PSNProfiles because it looked like a chill community, and I felt safe doing so. 

 

I have 20+ years of gaming, and from my experience, more often than not, men act like dogs when girls join gaming groups due to how males are socialized to act around women (no matter how they look like). It's ridiculous and embarrassing, and there's a lot to be said of how this group behavior is problematic within the gaming community. On the other hand, it's also true that some girls take advantage of that to assert themselves in a group (flirting, acting like a Gamer Zooey Deschanel), but when I see that, no matter how annoying it is, I feel sad for them because all I can see are girls who want to belong in a community and think they can only be seen if they act like that. It's depressing that you need to rely on your looks/artificial quirks instead of your skills to be even remotely respected, but that's what happens a lot of the time. 

 

When I was around your age, I had similar feelings about 'gamer girls' and felt defensive around them. It's normal to feel like this because we're constantly being compared to other women in our lives, even against our own will. There's always someone prettier, quirkier, cuter, and that makes it feel like other women are threats. It's annoying as all hell when we're with our male friends and they ignore us and then fawn over some random girl who shows up out of nowhere. I understand that feeling completely, but like @Mesopithecus mentioned, it's a symptom of Only Girl Syndrome. That's part of a large issue, starting from stupid conversations I've heard since I was a teenager, that girls are dumb, vapid and don't like videogames, and that women like me were special because we play "real games" and not "stupid shit like Candy Crush", or that we like gaming and not silly girly things like dolls and makeup. So you develop skills due to a genuine interest in gaming, and you feel that maybe people will respect you because of that, but then turns out that they just ignore you as soon as someone else shows up. It sucks and it hurts, but there's a whole social dynamic there and it takes time for us to grow out of it. Took me a long time to understand that each person has interests and hobbies and they're all valid, no matter how superficial they may look. It's not like videogames are super serious stuff either, so it doesn't really matter if a girl is using her looks to get views on Twitch. 

 

You're young and self-aware, and it seems like you're trying to work out on your issues of jealousy and lack of self-esteem, so I'd say that's a great start. I only changed my perspective when I got older, met other women who also played games and became friends with them, without competitiveness or petty drama. So maybe that could help you? Playing with other girls, joining a community so you can see that we're all the same, really. No one wants to steal your boyfriend or seduce your friends, we just want to play games, the same way that you do. 

Edited January 13, 2021 by flugurnarrr

[Dreakon13]

43 minutes ago, flugurnarrr said:

I have 20+ years of gaming, and from my experience, more often than not, men act like dogs when girls join gaming groups due to how males are socialized to act around women (no matter how they look like). It's ridiculous and embarrassing, and there's a lot to be said of how this group behavior is problematic within the gaming community.

 

It's not fair or right, but women who actually like gaming used to be so rare (and still are tbf) that I can sort of understand why men act that way.  Instinctually, men will try to compete for the attention/affection of women.  It'll probably happen if you're the only girl in a gaming chat, and it'll probably happen if you're the only woman in a banking exec boardroom.  It'll happen in nature.  But mix that with the social awkwardness and isolation commonly associated with the gaming community (along with decades of social stigma around it) and it's a powder keg of toxicity.

 

Which is why I find it frustrating the way some (not all) female streamers or gaming personalities exploit that.  It feels like a step back, socially.

Edited January 13, 2021 by Dreakon13

[AJ_Radio]

My sister turns 40 this year and she was the one in my family who introduced me to video games. She had a NES console with Super Mario Bros 3 and other games, used to play it regularly. 
 

Later in life we would hook up Mario Party on the N64 and played it endlessly. Good times.

 

So what I’m saying is girls have always played video games, but it was rare for a long time. In the 1990s video games were a mostly niche hobby that only a few people partaken in. Nerds and computer wizards were often described as socially awkward who just stood around and played games. 
 

Today, gaming is the most popular entertainment medium, and the audience is far more diverse. This change over the years has attracted more female gamers, including those who livestream. 
 

I appreciate those women who livestream because they enjoy the hobby of gaming, but I don’t appreciate those who are just doing it to grab quick attention. I’ve seen many young girls in their teens and 20s on Twitch who use a webcam to capture their tits and boobs. That in turn grabs a mostly male audience who are obviously only there to see them on webcam.  A lot of girls out there exploit that, because they find themselves grabbing the views and attention. Which of course leads to some of them making a donate link on their Twitch.tv profiles giving them lots of extra money. Obviously the guys aren’t there to see them play a game because let’s face it, many of those girls can’t play worth of shit. They’re there for the money and attention. 
 

Then of course the chat usually degrades into a pissing contest, because a lot of guys who partake in this garbage can’t handle a good conversation with a woman in person, so they chat a bunch of nonsense for the dopamine hits. 
 

The women who enjoy the hobby of gaming and don’t use their looks for quick attention I can respect. But a lot of them I’ve encountered use looks and sexual appeal to grab the attention, which is wrong.

[Z1MZUM]

I regularly play with a female that streams, usually on COD and tbh at least half of my gaming friends are female and I've never really thought about it. I am an older gamer and grew up in a era where gaming or playing pinball was seen as a bad habit

 

Actually I think I'm closer to my female gaming buddies then male.

[NotExactlyHuman]

I've never cared about streamers in any way, so what they do doesn't bother me. I do despise the term Gamer Girl though.

[Dr_Mayus]

9 hours ago, NotExactlyHuman said:

I've never cared about streamers in any way, so what they do doesn't bother me. I do despise the term Gamer Girl though.

But Rat Girl is ok ?

[NotExactlyHuman]

2 hours ago, Dr_Mayus said:

But Rat Girl is ok

I kinda figured someone would bring that up lol. I've had rats as pets for years now in a family that's creeped out by them, so yes. My entire family calls me Rat Girl, and I'm fine with it. Rats are amazing and misunderstood creatures, just like me. ?

 

[Ellie6969]

I understand where you are coming from with this and have been guilty of some of the things you describe (Instagram poses come to mind...ouch.) Which is why I kinda wanted to respond to it. I haven't read through the entire thread because ?‍♀️ but nonetheless..

 

Try to remember that for a lot of women in the late 20s/30s age bracket that are doing the things you describe, and often offering sexualised content, that a lot of it is because women weren't accepted as gamers in the 90s. For a lot of women, like myself, it was a dirty little secret we had to hide or risk constant ridicule from our peers or parents, pigeon-holing, being called a 'tomboy' or having our sexuality questioned, purely because we liked gaming. For some people, certainly for me, yeah, I do like to at least try to look pretty - it's a way of reclaiming femininity that we were denied as gamers, predominantly by men. You weren't ALLOWED to be girly and a serious gamer..it wasn't a thing. I understand where your irritation at 'ethots' is coming from, but really, it's not women you should be angry at. Certainly not in this industry (sorry guys...)

 

There were also no representative female characters in games that weren't arching their backs or just with ridonkulous tits, which perpetuated the stereotype for a long time. It just made it all more difficult to divide being "feminine" and being "sexualised".

 

I can't really make a comment on women jumping into a party of men on multiplayer because it's not something I've ever experienced or done. That would annoy the hell out of me too. But maybe try to think of that as just like, bad gamership and misogyny on the part of your friends, rather than "just another pretty girl being a douche".