Twitch Sent Women To The Kitchen For International Women's Day, I'm So Tired

Twitch has apologised a day after announcing its International Women’s Day Overcooked 2 stream plans. Yes, really.

This week, the streaming giant found itself the butt of the internet’s ridicule, with some accusing it of perpetuating sexist stereotypes. I can see the optics, but I'm not convinced, personally.

Twitch has done great work in levelling the playing field and giving women a platform to stream, even if people are still really, really weird about women playing games at times.

As I'm sure you're aware, gaming is no stranger to stepping on rakes when it comes to women’s rights. I’m ancient enough to remember how the Gamergate controversy made me feel about my place in my favourite hobby, and how it only served to validate all the boys saying ‘girls don’t play games’ back in the high school playground.

For years, women in gaming have weathered a relentless barrage of "go back to the kitchen" insults over voice comms. You know the trope by this point - it’s a foundational, exceptionally lazy bedrock of gaming sexism. So, when Twitch Rival’s Women’s Guild voted on a competitive cooking game to represent women’s excellence for International Women’s Day, I’m torn.

On one hand, the optics aren’t great. On the other hand, why not? Why should they not be allowed to play Overcooked 2, if they picked it?

As with most things on the internet, the reality is far more nuanced than the "Twitch is sexist" headlines suggest.

Twitch has since apologised for the misstep

As the backlash reached a rolling boil, Twitch Rivals issued a formal statement attempting to turn down the heat.

In a notesapp apology on Twitter, the company said:

“The goal of this event is to uplift this community and as part of that, highlight women in the community in a game that emphasizes teamwork, adaptability, and shared leadership.

In the lead up to the post, we collaborated with the Women’s Guild on the game selection (many games were considered before voting on 4 choices + an open voting option). When Overcooked 2 won the Guild vote, Twitch Rivals + the Women’s Guild made a deliberate choice not to let stereotypes dictate what games women should or shouldn’t play. That said, we should have shared more context about the rationale behind the choice, and we should have done a better job spotlighting the creators and collaboration that helped shape this show.

Future messaging will better reflect the Guild’s voice and the purpose behind the Women’s Guild United show.”

MimiLenattv, a woman in Twitch’s Women’s Guild said: “(Overcooked 2) was chosen by the Women in the Women's Guild! It was all voted on by the Women, including myself. This lends itself more to the fact that as women we should be able to play a cooking game competitively without the backlash.”

Why do we still police what women should and should not play?

Honestly - I’m getting tired of the dogpiling now. Ask yourself - why do women owe you to play ‘real’ games?

How do you define what is and isn’t a 'real game'? Be honest - it's what men play. There's an immediate reaction you have to that - I urge you to sit with it and hear me out, rather than just brushing it away as “utter woke nonsense”.

If we say women shouldn't be playing Overcooked because of the kitchen setting, what are we trying to achieve? Does that not just uphold the idea that the only ‘real’ games are the 'ball and gun games' played by men, if I were to generalise? Do you not see how damaging that is?

The internet is going to do what the internet does, and lightly roast Twitch for this PR misstep. That’s all it is though - a whoopsie. People who are jumping in to defend women from this are inadvertently upholding the stereotypes.

We’ve spent years defining "real games" through a lens of traditional masculinity - tactical shooters, high-octane sports sims, gritty open-world crime sagas.

If you aren't playing Halo or the upcoming GTA 6, a lot of men (though definitely not you reader, I must stress to protect your feelings and prevent an ounce of self-reflection) suggest you aren't a "real" gamer.

Ask yourself - why should the Women’s Guild have picked anything else?

I gravitate toward cosy, casual or cooperative titles because, frankly, “hardcore" gamers have made me feel like s*** over the past decade, and most importantly, I don’t enjoy them! I just don't have fun. It's as simple as gthat.

If you’re a woman reading this and you think ‘oh I love these games’ - good for you? That’s not an issue. The issue is when you feel like you’re ‘better’ than any other woman in the space, because you’re ‘one of the lads, not like other girl gamers’. Why do you need that validation? Do you think it’ll spare you from our fate?

There was no winning with these choices

According to community comments and guild members, the final choices presented to the Women’s Guild voters were a Clair Obscur Challenge, a Hollow Knight Challenge, Ultimate Chicken Horse and Overcooked 2.

Clair Obscur and Hollow Knight are phenomenal, but primarily single-player experiences that don’t really lend themselves to a Twitch Rivals style event, apart from speedruns and challenge runs like No Damage. Ultimate Chicken Horse is fun, but a very niche physics platformer that many casual viewers - and even some streamers - haven't thought about in years.

In that lineup, Overcooked 2 is the only game that emphasises the "teamwork, adaptability, and shared leadership" Twitch claims it was aiming for. It has me wondering - with so many awesome ‘friendslop’ games that are popular on Twitch, why was this the shortlist? It feels like a setup - nobody wins here.

My last job was all about creating campaigns for brands to get into gaming, which is why I actually facepalmed when I saw the event was sponsored by Honda. If we’re leaning into tired stereotypes for the sake of "reclaiming" them, why not go all the way? Why not have the women play this Steam freebie and laugh about ‘women being bad drivers’? Twitch, hire this woman.

Here's my hot take, fellow SJWs

After all that, I actually don’t think this Twitch Rival’s International Women’s Day stream is that deep.

We're so used to being attacked that we see a malicious shadow in every corner, forgetting that Twitch was trying to do a good thing. They empowered a Women’s Guild to choose their platform, they highlighted a game that requires genuine, high-level communication, and they provided a stage for female creators.

I don’t care if women want to play casual games. I don’t care if men want to play casual games. We need to unlearn the idea that liking a certain genre makes you a pawn of the patriarchy.

If the Women’s Guild wants to play Overcooked, let them cook.