‘Simp’ and ‘Virgin’ Blocked By Twitch

Due to the many people on Twitch continuing to experience harassment and abuse, the Twitch streaming platform has updated their harassment policy that targets sexual harassment. This update particularly aims to target those who sling abuse at women, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, black, Indigenous, and other people of color.

Words such as “Simp”, “Incel”, and “Virgin” are words that will no longer be allowed during live broadcasts. According to Google, the word Simp is a slang insult for men who are seen as being too attentive and submissive to women, especially out of a failed hope of winning some entitled sexual attention or activity from them. The word simp is meant to troll young men for doing anything for a girl to get some action he supposedly deserves.

The word incel refers to a member of an online community of young men who consider themselves unable to attract women sexually, typically associated with views that are hostile toward women and men who are sexually active. According to a Twitch spokesman, they are taking action against the use of those terms, especially when they are used to negatively refer to another person’s sexual practices.