But where are the women on Twitch?

• The ZEvent, which will be held in Montpellier from September 9 to 11;

  or the Pop Corn show on Twitch have been accused of sexism given the low number of streamers in their guests.

• The visibility of women streamers on Twitch is still difficult, in particular due to the latent sexism on the platform and the lack of highlighting of newcomers.

• Some then decide to create their own events, to debunk preconceived ideas and find themselves in benevolent spaces.

The beginning of September is a bit special time on the French-speaking Twitch: the platform is preparing for the ZEvent, a huge stream marathon intended to raise funds for an association.

Since 2016, streamer Zerator has brought together around fifty of the most famous streamers on Twitch, and all this happy world finds themselves live for more than 48 hours, completing challenges and encouraging their viewers to donate for an association.

The 2022 edition, which begins on September 9, will be centered around ecology, after many controversies.

But looking at the list of guests, we see that out of the fifty streamers present, the number of female streamers does not exceed ten.

Women are also not very present in specialized shows like

, presented by the streamer Domingo: after the publication of a montage summarizing season 3 of the show, many Internet users were indignant at the lack of diversity of the guests.

“While we recognize that Twitch is not immune to the societal challenges seen across all industries, including gaming, we seek to use the power of our service to make a difference, and we implore all who have a powerful scene to seize the opportunity to do the same,” Twitch told us via email.

There are nine women in all and they are proud to show us their photo booth of the anguish of French Twitch males.

"But there are no women on Twitch too 😭😭😭": I swear to you that there is.

https://t.co/38cgHzgpGV

— Zul'Zorander (@Zulzoranderr) August 24, 2022

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Among the arguments raised to justify this lack of diversity, there is the fact that this disparity would be representative of the streaming environment.

In 2021, there were 35% of Twitch users: a figure that does not differentiate streamers from viewers.

“As far as the stream is concerned, the data leak from Twitch in October 2021 only showed two women in the French top,” recalls Morgane Falaize, president of the Women in Games association.

For her, this argument of representativeness of the Twitch ecosystem does not hold water: “there are plenty of streamers, smaller!

And then, in the population, there are 50% women.

The progression is timid, and risks remaining so if we do not show openness.

»

A path strewn with pitfalls

Being a woman on Twitch, especially for those who specialize in

, means experiencing continuous violence: insulting comments, ordinary sexism, grossophobia, racist attacks, malicious trolling and raids... Recent years have been marked by cyberbullying campaigns massive, from GamerGate to

[backlash] against streamer Ultia at ZEvent 2021 after she called out another streamer's misogynistic attitude.

"The path for streamers is more complicated: they will have to make more effort, show their credentials, and we don't give them the right to make mistakes," notes Morgane Falaize.

Vanessa Chichout, vice-president of the Afrogameuses association, which works for diversity in the world of video games, confirms that it is “very difficult to moderate, to suffer these insults.

“We are never safe from

, hateful comments… There are streamers who don't put their cameras on for fear,” she adds.

When you talk about sexism on Twitch, a lot of fun.

pic.twitter.com/S3lamBBzOg

— Zul'Zorander (@Zulzoranderr) June 19, 2020

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This trivialization of sexist, racist, and often homophobic violence, creates a phenomenon of self-censorship for those who would like to start streaming.

"It's a shame that our gaming experiences are rotten by trolls and malicious people, while video games are an exceptional hobby," laments Vanessa Chicout.

She herself was confronted very quickly with sexist and racist comments, which prompted her to stop multiplayer games.

Today she “still has trouble” imagining herself as a streamer.

For Chloé, streamer and creator of the self-help community Stream'Her, "it is important to have a varied representation on Twitch: having

[inspired models] is used to get started.

But for those who are already present on the platform, it is also a question of gaining visibility.

The women are there, but we don't show them

“There are female streamers with visibility, but less than the guys.

And the crass misogyny means that we don't show that we are there, ”says Lixi, developer by day and streamer by night.

For her, the difficulty involved in giving visibility to small streamers in shows like

, "is, for them, to hold on after, with a notoriety that arises and thousands of people not always benevolent.

»

For many viewers, women do not seem to be welcome on the platform.

“We ask them to fit into certain boxes, we tell them that it's easy to break through when you're a woman, that you just have to show your body.

And at the same time we reduce them to that, ”laments Morgane Falaize of Women in Games.

This two weights, two measures annoys Neivee, streamer: “As a girl, we don't know where to stand: if you want to succeed you have to show your breasts, but if you show your body you're a whore.

“According to her, there is also a problem of highlighting streamers.

“For example on the carousel on the Twitch home page, why are there almost only guys?

“, she is indignant.

Those who manage to do well without the help of male streamers with large communities are rare, and struggle to gain visibility.

"-Why do you want to do an article about sexism on Twitch?"

- pic.twitter.com/aRgkJBaCyt

— ✨Star guardian Nat'ali✨ (@_Nat_Ali) February 28, 2017

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And Twitch in all this?

“There is still a long way to go and we continue to innovate and evolve in order to remedy this as much as possible through our tools, our marketing, our campaigns and even our policies,” the platform tells us.

Among the measures put in place, Twitch highlights campaigns that "celebrate, highlight, uplift and shine a light on minority communities", women and/or gender minorities;

highlighting streamers during actions with brands or tournaments.

Regarding the home page, which offers lives [live] to discover, Twitch tells us that "the rotation of the home page currently has 50% women, which has had the effect of increasing the number of spectators by 5% on average.

»

If, for Morgane Falaize, the efforts of the platform are encouraging, she believes that the responsibility also lies with the big channels to invite and promote female streamers.

"These big profiles have a very young audience: if they manage to speak out on that, it creates examples," she says.

“When you have a certain audience, it's not a duty but a responsibility.

It's a virtuous circle,” agrees Lixi.

Create your own spaces

According to Vanessa Chicout of Afrogameuses, Twitch has a responsibility to protect female streamers and support them.

“There are efforts being made, but we still have the same types of valued profile, an audience that is there to troll, the question of anonymity…”, she believes.

Because beyond the highlighting of the streamers, it is necessary to ensure that they remain on the platform.

So faced with the invisibilization of streamers, some band together and try to promote their fellow streamers, and help them navigate.

This is the case of Stream'Her, created by Chloé in 2020: “At the start of confinement, I started watching Twitch a lot, and it was always the same people, mostly men.

When I started streaming myself, I had lots of questions and no place to talk about them.

I thought I would create something to help.

»

Thanks to a Discord, a messaging software that works by servers, the (future) streamers give each other tips, manage the moderation of lives… “When you start, you learn the hard way.

So we try to give keys to be serene, ”adds Chloé.

These emerging communities also aim to offer more diversity in the world of gaming and streaming: Afrogameuses, launched in July 2020, was born from Jennifer Lufau's observation of the lack of racialized women in the world of video games, industry to stream.

“The idea of ​​the association is to promote ethnic minorities in video games, with a focus on Afro-descendant women.

We try to make the general public and the industry aware of the lack of representation and hypersexualization, ”says Vanessa Chicout.

From now on, the association has around sixty streamers in its ranks.

On Twitch, there are other collectives that aim to diversify the streaming landscape, such as Persos Cachés (on ethnic diversity) or Next Gaymer on LGBTQ + representation. 

It's unreal, it's unbelievable.

Thank you SO MUCH for all your donations / raids / rt / @ResonancesEU / @tempetedigitale all that you know.

Thank you for @enavanttoutes, and especially for all the people your donations will help

42,070 thanks 💙💜💙💜#EtTaCause2022 pic.twitter.com/Ist0TLomoT

— And Your Cause 💙💜 (@EtTaCause) May 1, 2022

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Beyond the ZEvent, other charity events have been created over time, bringing in other female streamers.

Lixi and Neivee thus created Et Ta Cause, a stream to fight against sexist and sexual violence.

"The goal was to have lots of girls and to raise awareness on these issues, because it's still a taboo subject," explains Lixi.

With a first edition in 2021 for the Women's Foundation, which raised more than €25,000, the second took place in April.

32 streamers (and streamers) raised more than €42,700 for the En Avant Tous association.

“We don't have a com agency, we organize it ourselves, and we deliver!

You have to create this counter-evening atmosphere, ”says Lixi.

For their part, Stream'Her is organizing a charity stream "Stream for Trees", from September 26 to October 2.

75 streamers to plant trees in collaboration with Greenpeace Belgium.

Through these alternatives, the streamers themselves organize events capable of bringing together spectators, and highlighting the streamers... And paving the way for those who will come after them.

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