The 28-year-old Imane “Pokimane” Anys was for a long time the only woman among the top 25 streamers on Twitch in the late 2010s. Today, she lashes out at other female streamers. Pokimane believes that some women on Twitch deliberately insult her to gain viewers for themselves. For her, this borders on the behavior of Pick-Me Girls.
This was the situation for Pokimane: Pokimane started as a League of Legends streamer but recognized her opportunity to make streaming her full-time job with the hype around Fortnite starting in 2017. When success came, she dropped out of school and became a full-time streamer.
For many years, she was the only woman at the top of Twitch and thus had a prominent position:
- She tried to build a friendly and nice community, consciously addressing topics like “unhealthy relationships” between viewers and female streamers. She even set a cap on donations.
- Pokimane seemingly wanted to avoid the image that she was sexualizing herself as a woman to please male viewers. She did not want to be seen as an “E-Girl” like other women on Twitch during her time: like Amouranth, Alinity or Indiefoxx
- Critics accused her nonetheless of having her viewers donate money to her simply because she is a woman and they calculated romantic chances with her. Her consciously nice image was criticized as hypocritical. The term “Pokimane Tier 3 Supporter” became a widely used phrase, and her viewers were considered the first “Simps” on Twitch.
As the hostility grew stronger, Pokimane took a few steps back, left Twitch, and switched to YouTube. In the meantime, she is active on Twitch again, but not as much in the spotlight as before. Instead of 20,000 viewers, she now has around 10,000.
There are now also some other successful female streamers on Twitch.
Women on Twitch call her a “Bitch”
This is what she says now: In a podcast from March 17, 2025, Pokimane expresses her annoyance over how other women treat her on Twitch:
Every time I get involved in a controversy or ‘drama’ online, I see other female streamers promoting their streams by putting me down. Come and watch my stream, I’m not like that B-word Pokimane!
She says: Maybe the female streamers who talk her down gain more viewers for a few evenings, but what kind of community are they building?
Segment starts at 12:25 minutes:
In this way, as a woman, one just ends up with a bunch of guys who are misogynistic. Pokimane says: Exactly those men would turn against the new female streamer as soon as something happened.
For Pokimane, women who treat her this way are moving towards being “Pick me” girls.
This issue troubled Pokimane back in 2019, and her views have apparently only intensified since then:
What is a Pick-me Girl? “Pick me” girls are women who behave in such a way that men perceive them as uncomplicated and thus more attractive. They want to “not be like other women” and often loudly reject things that other women typically like.
They are accused of pretending and downplaying their own needs. This is viewed as unsupportive of other women.
For many years, female streamers and their appearances on Twitch have been a major topic in the community. Some female streamers consciously played with the potential for outrage: Twitch streamer shamelessly demands subscriptions: “Being broke is not an excuse”
