Twitch adds 'Hot Tub' category; still no options for 'Fragile Men'

On May 21st, after making made headlines for removing ad revenue from Twitch celeb “Amouranth” after being reported for her frequent hot tub streams, Twitch decided to announce the creation of a new category: “Pools, Hot Tubs and Beaches”.

This is a category outside Twitch’s “Just Chatting” section that is there specifically for Twitch streamers who just happen to find themselves in a situation where a bathing suit is more or less required.

Twitch went on record as stating:

"Second, while we have guidelines about sexually suggestive content, being found to be sexy by others is not against our rules, and Twitch will not take enforcement action against women, or anyone on our service, for their perceived attractiveness."

This is huge for the platform because ever since the “hot tub” meta started, people have been losing their minds over whether or not this is allowed.

For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, first off, welcome to the year 2021. But secondly, it’s a chat session with a popular streamer where the streamer just happens to be chilling in a hot tub. This usually results in the streamer wearing a bathing suit and, more often than not, the streamers who do this tend to look pretty damn confident while doing so.

Now, to me, this is huge. I’m not that big on Twitch and I’m really not big on Just Chatting. Watching people play video games when I could be playing video games was already a hard sell for me. Watching people do nothing when I could be doing nothing was even harder.

But I felt that this was important because there were a lot of people who were acting like there was something controversial about having a conversation with a woman in water.

I know one of the common things I’ve heard is that other streamers think that this is stealing their views. If you feel this is true, I need you to sit down for a minute. Grab a glass of water.

Listen, if you have a high-end video game going, you’re playing it well and you’re talking to your audience and you’re losing your views because someone is sitting in a large cup and just talking? That problem is on you, my dude.

In the history of Twitch, there has never been a person who just went to Twitch’s main page, unsure of whether they were going to watch a fairly attractive person talking in a lukewarm soup or watching you play FIFA while delivering your hot take on microtransactions.

Imagine Taco Bell thinking Sunoco Gas Station is stealing their customers. Sure, to get to both and to best utilize both you have to get in your car and start driving, but no one has gotten in their car to go to a Taco Bell and suddenly thought on a whim, “Maybe I’ll just get what I want from Sunoco.”

No, people get in their car for a purpose and if your views are going down, maybe it’s time to stop hating on women and use this time to evaluate why women being confident makes you uncomfortable.

Twitch adds ‘Hot Tub’ category; still no options for ‘Fragile Men’

By Eric Halliday | May 23, 2021