Confidential data from the streaming platform Twitch has been made public after a leak. Among them, a regulation that prohibits women from showing their nipples.
On October 6, 2021, 135 GB of confidential data from the streaming platform were leaked. This data leak was denounced by one of its user.ices, @ lopm46, to the media Numerama by private message. It contains lots of confidential informationtarget = “_ blank”> about the internal workings of Twitch, including content control. And, surprise, just like Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, we learn that the platform has decided to censor the big bad female nipples. Twitch users are prohibited from showing female nipples in their content (whether theirs or other people’s) because it is categorized as pornographic.
Their exposure is placed in the same rank as that of the genitals and buttocks. While the last two categories affect all genders, censored nipples only concern those of cis and trans women. By the way, the sentence in Twitch’s rules is crystal clear: “For people posing as women, we ask that you cover your nipples. It is not allowed to show the lower part of your chest. ” Only those of mothers breastfeeding their babies are authorized. Still, when a streamer goes shirtless, that’s okay. And many of them do it as soon as they win a game of video games or just for fun.
Twitch’s hypocritical politics
Initially used by video game players, this exchange and entertainment platform is very popular with people wishing to broadcast live content while simultaneously discussing with their community. An alternative to traditional TV channels, Twitch actually operates a sexist policy that primarily censors the bodies of cis and trans women. It thus prevents users from reclaiming their body via the platform. But it also banishes any possibility of raising awareness of subjects such as breast cancer.
If this regulation is misogynistic, some cases still need to be investigated by the platform. Body art (painting on / with one’s body), monetized exchanges of pornographic content, nudity appearing in virtual reality games, and instances of accidental nudity may be exempt from censorship. But the hypocrisy is the same and reveals an eroticization of the breasts of women, which cannot be stopped as long as the bodies of cisgender men are taken as a neutral basis.