On Wednesday, Twitch’s confusing policies regarding what kind of sexual content streamers can include—and what’s an absolute no-go—got a rewrite and a very clear blog post explaining the changes. The company says it wants its content creators “to feel confident they understand our rules” and “viewers to feel confident they will get the experience they expect.”
The headline-grabbing change under Twitch’s newly “streamlined” sexual content policy is that artistic nudity, including nude figure drawings of any gender, will now be allowed, as long as creators apply a Sexual Themes Label as part of the company’s Content Classification Label requirements.
Also now allowed with the proper labels is “content that ‘deliberately [highlights] breasts, buttocks or pelvic region,’ even when fully clothed,” an update that Twitch notes makes it easier to determine when content is in violation of the policy and is more fair to “female-presenting streamers,” who were being “disproportionately penalized” under the former guidelines. Further making Twitch more inclusive, the streamer will now allow (with content labels) “fictionalized (drawn, animated, or sculpted) fully exposed female-presenting breasts and/or genitals or buttocks regardless of gender,” adding “there is a thriving artist community on Twitch, and this policy was overly punitive and did not reflect the impact of the content.” (“Fictionalized sexual acts or masturbation” remain prohibited.)
You can read about all of the update’s nuances in Twitch’s blog post, which has further good news for Twitch’s dance community: “erotic dances … such as strip teases” are now allowed as long as there’s a content label—but you’ll no longer need to affix a label to videos showing popular dances like “twerking, grinding, and pole dancing.”