It Sucks for Me, and It Sucks for Them: The Emotional Labor of Women Twitch Streamers

This study examines the emotional labor performed by women who stream on Twitch, arguing that beyond the physical and mental demands of live gameplay, these streamers carry substantial additional emotional work that may threaten the long-term viability of their careers. Drawing on Hochschild's (1983) concept of emotional labor, the research situates its inquiry within a literature describing a "technomasculine" platform culture marked by sexualized harassment and the policing of women's bodies, conditions that contribute to women's underrepresentation among top-tier streamers. The authors note that only 8 of the top 200 streamers in April 2021 were women, despite strong viewership growth across the platform.

The study's evidence base consists of eight in-depth interviews conducted in 2020 with international, English-speaking women streamers. Participants described managing harassment, reassuring their communities after upsetting incidents, and maintaining a friendly, composed on-stream presence regardless of their own emotional state. Additional labor included suppressing feelings about fluctuating viewer numbers, handling unsolicited advice from community members, and setting boundaries with financially dependent supporters. Participants consistently relied on other women for support, though this peer network appeared insufficient in some cases.

The most significant finding concerns the limits of that peer support. Participant 4's account indicates that solidarity among women cannot resolve structural problems, because meaningful change depends on platform gatekeepers, including Twitch corporate, who have not adequately addressed the culture that generates these burdens. The authors conclude that current support mechanisms are inadequate for some streamers and call for an end to the expectation that women perform emotional labor to counter gatekeeping and harassment. In the interim, they advocate fair financial compensation for this additional work, along with future research on other marginalized groups.