More clarification on guidelines in regards to Hot Tub category
Below is what I have written to Twitch customer service but I've decided to post it here as well:
Two days ago I was hit with a 24 hour ban from a stream where I was carving a pumpkin in bikinis (full coverage of my genitals, nipples, and buttocks), and I was streaming in the hot tubs category. While I noticed that other female streamers were able to wear even less and more revealing (micro bikinis and thongs) than I am, even doing "sexually suggestive" behaviors such as grinding on a banana floaty and sucking on popsicles, I noticed that they have an inflatable pool in the background and I don't.
Another thing I want clarified is pole dancing on your platform. I'm a pole dancer, as in I practice pole dancing as a form of fitness and workout, as well as for me to get in touch with my femininity and spirits as a woman. In my streams for the past 7 weeks, I've been doing acrobatic pole tricks and a few choreography as a cool down to my workout. For pole fitness, I need to wear less clothing such as a bikini, sports bra/shorts, etc., to have a safer and better grip on the pole to prevent myself from being injured. For pole choreography, I wear pole heels (some may informally refer to them as stripper heels) so I can better navigate spins, drops, and extend my dancers' lines. To add on to that, I've never streamed my pole dance streams with the intention to suggest something sexually or not safe for work, and I try to emphasize that in ways I talk and behave in my pole streams, but I'm aware that some viewers do, considering I've gotten vulgar and degrading comments.
For that, I want to ask a few questions so I can follow your community guidelines better and not get suspended or banned again:
- Am I only allowed to wear bikinis when there's a hot tub, pool, and beach in the background or on the screen of my stream? This question is regarded towards your "context exception" category of the community guidelines.
- Your guidelines have mentioned that streamers are not allowed to stream "pole dance or acrobatics with sexually suggestive framing". I want to ask what does "sexually suggestive framing: mean? Is it camera angle? Setup of the environment? The style of choreography? Can you please give me some examples or details so I can keep them in mind?
- I've done some research and have seen a few female streamers suspended or banned for "inappropriate attire" from wearing costumes, casual outfits, etc (not bikinis). Such as SupCaitlyn, LivStixs, and NicolePeachy to name a few. Can you provide some details as to why they were banned so I can adjust my wardrobe accordingly?
- I've mentioned that I've received vulgar and degrading comments, and so I want to ask what is the penalty for this behavior on Twitch, and what is the priority of safety on this platform? Since I feel like nothing was done to stop hate speech, and the only enforcement that was done were mainly targeted towards female streamers' dress code instead... To be more specific, I've witnessed ToadPHD making racist comments towards Asian people on Kyootbot's stream, as well as myself receiving sexist and racist whispers and chats from viewers and their new accounts, some repeatedly demanded me to flash nudity and to sell sex services.
- Last but not least, I've found this blog article written by Twitch: https://blog.twitch.tv/en/2021/05/21/lets-talk-about-hot-tub-streams/?utm_referrer=https://www.google.com/ I want to ask if I should take this article into consideration when I stream? Since I've only found out about this article during my suspension when I was doing my research on your policies and rules, and I've never agreed to acknowledge the blog posts when I created my Twitch account and started streaming. In which another question I have, ties back to my fourth question above in regards to attire where I saw that numerous female streamers were banned for wearing costumes or casual outfits: how would this: "being found to be **** 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." (Source: blog.twitch.tv) apply to these kinds of enforcements?
I saw an idea here where someone suggested that Twitch create another domain for adult audiences, or even just create another domain only for kids since most of the users on Twitch are young adults, similar to what Youtube have done. Other than nudity and sexual suggestive contents here, there's just too much cursing, references to weed, alcohol, gun violence, etc by that logic. I second the idea to create a sub-domain for adult or kids only content.