The problems ofharassment and disrespectful behavior on the Internet are clearly not new, but the fact is that some people seem more prone to being targeted, and this is particularly the case for streamers. And recently, the latter are increasingly denouncing some of these behaviors on Redditbut also the site’s reaction to this phenomenon.
lululuvely speaks
LuluLuvely, a popular Twitch streamer, recently spoke out against some humiliating Reddit forums who post demeaning and inappropriate comments, images and videos about her and other female streamers. And while all streamers, big and small, can often face different forms of harassment, there’s no denying that female streamers experience this kind of treatment on a recurring basis.
As reminded Dexertothis streamer, known in particular for playing Apex Legendshas experienced hateful behavior and harassment in the past, even forcing her to completely halt her streaming activities.
And lately, LuluLuvely denounced one of the ways in which Internet users, mainly men, target female streamers by posting inappropriate and sexualized messages about them on Reddit. Many other streamers then confirmed that they were aware of the same thing happening to them.
So today she posted a series of quotes that were repeated to her several times if she wanted to avoid this type of harassment.to know “Wear normal clothes and men won’t sexualize you too much”or “if you cover yourself in streaming, they will treat you better”. Along with this post, LuluLuvely shared several screenshots showing Reddit posts about her, along with demeaning messages.
“Just wear normal clothes and men won’t overly sexualize you”
“If you cover up on stream they will treat you better”
“Just don’t act a certain way and the men will respect you online”
The men- pic.twitter.com/1QER7pv1Nn
April 21, 2022
The streamer then explained:
Before, it didn’t bother me, but recently, it really weighs on me. I feel so uncomfortable when I’m streaming, knowing that there are men doing this while watching.
And I’m so tired of having to wear baggy clothes while men still clip the times I walk out of my room.
a widespread problem
Her post then elicited responses from many other streamers. QTCinderella pointed out that Reddit rarely, if ever, removes these subreddits, despite requests.
Nope ud83dude43 we’ve tried multiple times to get them taken down but apparently they don’t break any rules
April 21, 2022
And Reddit will do NOTHING to get rid of these forums that cultivate this.
No, we have tried many times to get them closed but apparently they are not breaking any rules.
Another streamer on Twitch, Adept, also spoke about the scourge of photo and video montages made to look like streamersand the effect of this harassment on his own life.
They literally photoshop nudes of girl streamers and share them amongst each other and Reddit still says nothings wrong ud83eudd21
The worst part is it makes you not want to even express your sexuality on your own time because of it too, at least that’s how it was for meApril 21, 2022
They literally photoshop naked female streamers and share them with each other and Reddit always says there’s nothing wrong.
The worst part is that it makes you want to not even express your sexuality in your free time because of it, at least that’s how it was for me
Imane “Pokimane” Anys, one of the most popular streamers on Twitch, called the issue as “endemic” on Reddit, stating that it was simply ignored by the site’s moderators.
this issue is so rampant on reddit, and it’s really frustrating that they refuse to listen to the very people that are being sexualized in gross threads/subreddits.
April 21, 2022
this problem is so prevalent on reddit, and it’s really frustrating that they refuse to listen to people who are sexualized in disgusting threads/subreddits.
However, the site does have rules in its content policy regarding targeted harassment and mentions direct posting of sexual content about individuals.. But there would be a vagueness concerning the fact that these rules are directly violated by the content made on the streamers in question.
In fact, the “rule n°1” of the content policy states: “Don’t forget the human. Reddit is a place to build community and a sense of belonging, not to attack marginalized or vulnerable groups of people”.
It is also difficult for Twitch to intervene in this problem, since the content is produced outside the streaming platform.
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