If you’ve ever wanted to be a Discord kitten, now is the perfect time to do it because Twitch has changed its guidelines to allow for “artistic nudity” and “erotic dances.”
According to the platform, “artistic” depictions of nudity, which they define as meaning drawn, animated, or sculpted “fully exposed female-presenting breasts and/or genitals or buttocks regardless of gender,” are now permitted on Twitch.
The caveat here is that to avoid bans, creators must label content featuring nudity as containing sexual themes. Allegedly, fictionalized depictions of sex or masturbation remain unallowed — but looking at the anime section of Twitch as I write this, the second rule may well be a lot more difficult to enforce.
In addition, erotic dances that “involve disrobing or disrobing gestures, such as strip teases” are allowed. Furthermore, dances “such as twerking, grinding, and pole dancing are now allowed without a label.”
“There is a thriving artist community on Twitch, and this policy was overly punitive and did not reflect the impact of the content,” Twitch said in a blog post.
While it’s positive to see NSFW artists being given the same respect as other creators, others are already finding holes in the platform’s new theory.
TechCrunch reporter Morgan Sung, for instance, described the Twitch nudity update as “self-contradicting” in a tweet, noting how while the rules are useful for NSFW artists, creators like VTubers are still facing punitive action.
‘’Fictionalized nipples are ok in art streams, but VTubers have to be as clothed as regular streamers?” she asked. “Cleavage is still fine, but not underboob? What is Twitch’s stance on sideboob?”
The update from Twitch seems to be in response to a viral “topless meta” controversy this week. OnlyFans model and Twitch streamer Morgpie showed her shoulders and the top of her chest in a video that suggested nudity. Despite not necessarily violating Twitch’s terms of service, she was banned on Dec. 11, sparking debate online.
Looking at its amended policy, it’s clear that Twitch is still being punitive toward human nakedness. Nonetheless, the policy says it’s cool with “deliberately highlighting breasts, buttocks or pelvic region,” “body writing,” and “body painting on “female-presenting breasts and/or buttocks regardless of gender.”
These rules, in particular, will certainly help sex workers who are looking to grow multi-platform, but there still remains a limit on what they can promote because Twitch’s porn guidelines remain unchanged.
According to our sources, it’s basically Boobageddon on Twitch right now. Which while a step forward, feels unfair when cartoons get more rights than women and minority genders.
Update, Dec. 15, 4pm CST: Well, that didn’t last long.
Just two days after announcing a slew of new policies loosening the reins on artistic nudity and “sexual content,” Twitch has decided some mistakes were made.
“Effective today, we are rolling back the artistic nudity changes,” Twitch CEO Dan Clancy wrote in a statement. “Moving forward, depictions of real or fictional nudity won’t be allowed on Twitch, regardless of the medium.”
You can read our full story about the change here.
