Twitch star Meowko has spoken out about the harassment she experienced while streaming on the train and how this has caused her to step away from sharing her everyday life.
While the category has since exploded into lots of subcategories from art to sport and fitness to tabletop games to ASMR, content creators who partake in “IRL” streams are some of the most popular on the platform. Of course, these streams boomed in the pandemic as almost all of us were subject to social distancing rules and so our time on our phones and laptops increased exponentially.
With over 220,000 followers and an average of 570 viewers for her “Just Chatting” content, Meowko was known for her IRL streams where she would visit various locations in Japan and chill out with her community. It’s been a while since she’s done one of these sorts of streams though, and when a viewer pointed this out in a recent stream, she explained what had happened to her.
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“I love going outside and I love IRL streaming,” she said while live on November 10th. “But it’s because of a stupid, creepy stalker, I’m feeling that one day I’m going to get killed.” She described the incident where she was streaming on a train and then another passenger came to sit uncomfortably close to her. Both Meowko and her chat concluded it could have been possible that this person was inebriated, yet that still isn’t an excuse for harassment.
"He didn’t say anything and he didn’t hurt me, but he bothered me. He was looking at me super close and just kept going,” continued Meowko. “It was scary. I don’t want to be around somebody, be targeted and get killed. He followed me around until the next day when I called the police.”
Unfortunately, this is hardly the first time we’ve heard a story such as this. Harassment is a sad reality for women on Twitch and other social media platforms as individuals perceive their “availability” online to be an invitation for negative interactions. Earlier this year, fans of Natalia “Alinity” Mogollon showed up at her house, bragging that they could see her, and she reported them to the police. And, Kaitlyn "Amouranth" Siragusa has had fireworks shot at her house in a suspected arson attack. It’s uplifting to see that Meowko’s community has her back in this upsetting time and that the police are aware of her situation.
Featured Image Credit: Meowko via Twitter/Twitch