Twitch's policies around content that she considers "sexist" applied inconsistently, but body painting – creating art using one face and torso as a canvas – is not going away. Body painting even has its official mark instead of streaming. That, however, did not stop Twitch from permanently suspending the streamer saying it had been doing its best to paint within its lines.
Forkgirl, a bodybuilder and cosplayer, lost his channel on February 13. In a Twitter DM, he told Kotaku that he was notified by email from Twitch informing him that his channel had been suspended permanently because of "Create or share content that includes nudity," which goes against Twitch's Terms of Service. Forkgirl had publicly asked Twitch to reinstate his account because, to his knowledge, he did nothing wrong. On Twitter, he posted a photo what he looks like when he receives the suspension:
Forkgirl painted the look like a skin made by Persephone fans from Call, appearance much like body paintings he has done in the past besides ending up in the confusing banality of Twitch's prison. He didn't have the top spot, but nothing was immediately apparent: Twitch's terms of service openly allow body paint however prohibits anything that a company deems excessive, as well as disclosing "male or female genitals, boots, or nipples." Like other body painting flowers, Forgirl is taking extra steps to make sure she doesn't break Twitch's rules.
"I wear testicles and paint multiple layers of limex in my chest to hide the floor," she told Kotaku with DM. “I also start with my camera on my face and neck, right up to my chest. This fits in terms of Twitch's performance and community guidelines and is the standard for most bodybuilders on Twitch. As an extra precaution I moved with my heater at about 80 degrees F, to protect my body against cold. ”
In addition, he said he and his modeling team are coming out determined to keep the line balanced by PG, prohibiting the mention of his body or any specific organs. "Only compliments focused on art are allowed," he said.
He suspects the possibility of poor play could lead to his sudden suspension. "The only common thing I thought was the viewing numbers were a bit high (that day), and a lot of trolls came in, saying they were reporting to me," he said. "I think the suspension was caused by a decrease in public access to body paint and reporting to my channel, which could have resulted in an automatic ban."
Kotaku reached out to Twitch for more details on Fokgirl's suspension, but received no response to this publication.
Although Forgirl does not know for sure that trolls have blamed her channel, it would not be the first time such a thing has happened. Twitch user groups have decided that it is their job to inform women – especially those who don't play games 100% of the time – that they are not a platform, even though Twitch has been the only gaming platform since 2016, women's bodies have been around forever. Body Drawing, which is one of the first instances where Twitch allowed nudity for users who used to be women, it was a consistent target for these users. While complex body paintings can take hours of gruing, non-stop work, famous bodybuilders like Sophia "Djarii" White have, before, he was forced to fight them Fifty strong versions of irate users accuse them of violating the rules, claiming they used body paint as a Trojan horse for low-quality sexual content, and for making consistent reports on their Twitch channels. Although Twitch claims that reviews of people are reported for content to find context, many reporting of sexual content seems to lead to suspicion.
"Twitch says someone reviews the content before the suspension is released, and I (and many others) are very skeptical," said Forgirl. "The suspension is inconsistent, especially with young, non-participating broadcasters. Twitch says they look at the context and their intentions when reviewing the suspension, and anyone who has participated in my broadcast can confirm that there is nothing sexual about my channel."
This is similar to a few recent cases involving the circulation of body image. Earlier last year, Twitch gave the boot to a streamer named AriaNina, who started her circulation to her chest very exposed but painted. In October of last year, the platform dropped a banhammer on the bodybuilder that goes with the handle Intraventus, there seems to be no more reason than the fact that he was painting the body. In response, Intraventus released a tearful video expressing shock and confusion at the potential loss of his work, prompting Twitch to respond to his request, reinstate his account, email him an error. Now Intraventus has taken over Fregirl's cause for fear that Twitch might lose the paint bucket and make a big splash again.
"I think they made the same mistake, unfortunately," he told Intraventus Kotaku on Twitter's DM. “Forgirl is about to face exactly what I did in October. I wished Twitch restored my account and apologized for their mistake was a great success in the body painting community. It really breaks my heart to see it happen again to someone on the platform in terms of the (terms of service) we all support. ”
The current suspension of Forkgirl is endless because it was suspended a second time before, but has been only 24 hours in both cases, which also relates to the traditional bodybuilding practices. He had previously tried to file a complaint on the grounds that he did not believe they were fair, but had never heard of Twitch. "I have continued with Twitch's appeal process, but so far I have not received a response to my first appeal on July 17, 2019," he said. "When I filed the complaint, I requested that the suspension be (permanently) permanently removed from my record, and be clear of anything I could do to prevent the recurrence."
Twitch didn't answer his questions about the latest suspension, either. Theme working with Twitch: The company does not appear next time the suspension is announced, especially if it involves a small broadcast. In an attempt to gain Twitch's attention, Forgirl used her creativity to express her complaints about the company's communication style by painting the most popular celebration of 2018 Twitch asks users to "please take a good look at us and hold us accountable" in her body. Currently, Forgirl's tweet of her paintings has more than 1,000 retweets and nearly 7,000 likes. It has been taken by fans, as well as pillars of the body painting community like Djarii.
In the meantime, Forgirl, like many other broadcasters, just needs some clarification from Twitch, especially after the company said on last year's TwitchCon that it plans to start informing developers exactly why it was suspended. Months later, it seemed the company was not being followed. Intraventus said it doesn't see any significant changes to what continues to sound like an automated program, even after all Twitch's talk on TwitchCon. "If you find enough people / people reporting it, their plan removes you first and asks you questions later," he said, noting that torture, torture, and death threats are common issues during his broadcast. “My body is not sexual in nature. Me and other bodybuilders on stage should have the freedom to express and share artistic art with our communities without fear of our accounts. Every time I go live I am afraid that Twitch will improperly block my account, leaving my community and I in the dark. ”
This is where Forgirl now finds herself. By law, body painting is allowed, but for now, he doesn't think the rules are clear enough.
"The rules are very clear and make the judicial decision open, which is inconsistent and wrong," Forgirl said. “Body paint artists at Twitch are not looking to make gigs. We just want to be free to create our own creations on our platform that they claim to endorse and support. ”
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