How having a boyfriend hurts female streamers – The curious case of Pokimane, NRG Lulu and more

A number of female internet personalities in the past have claimed or observed that having a boyfriend brings about a decrease in popularity on platforms such as Twitch.

Perhaps the first female streamer who got into such a situation was Imane “Pokimane” Anys. The likes of Daniel “Keemstar” Keem and Calvin “Leafy” Lee Vail had claimed around May 2020 that Pokimane lies about being single when in truth she does have a boyfriend.

Other female streamers whose careers have been said to be affected on account of having a boyfriend include the likes of Sweet Anita and Supcaitlin. Recently, Lindsey “LuluLuvely” also got into a relationship, something she evidently revealed to her Twitch chat. However, the streamer was surprised to find that she hadn’t lost her following despite the fact that she wasn’t single anymore.

Some of y’all are clearly missing the point that my viewer average stayed the same lmao

— NRG Lulu (@LuluLuvely) July 26, 2021

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Why are female streamers said to lose their followers on account of being in a relationship?

In a nutshell, it is the “simp” phenomenon on Twitch that has led to a plethora of female streamers choosing not to reveal their relationship status. Pokimane, for example, has in the past said that she will never let her personal life interfere with her work life and hardly talks about her relationship status on stream.

I didn’t even tell @Leafy who the boyfriend is.

— KEEM 🍿 (@KEEMSTAR) August 18, 2020

Rachel “Valkyrae” Hofstetter might have met someone else after her relationship with Michael “Sonii” Sherman. However, numerous female streamers choose not to reveal information about their relationship statuses. In the case of Sweet Anita, for example, she claimed around July 2020 that she was dating a “simp". Her chat responded with disappointment, but she did not end up losing her followers or subscribers.

you will never see a more ridiculous rust clip than @Valkyrae trying to team-kill me for 25 seconds thinking I am an NPC. pic.twitter.com/3WjDu0kEoH

— sonii (@sonii) December 29, 2020

Regardless, considering the amount of obsession that is generally shown by viewers of female content creators, it is an accepted fact that their popularity might be at risk if they are not single, or at least if they don't claim they are in front of the camera. In 2018, Kaitlyn “Amouranth” Siragusa was accused of lying about not being married in order to avoid losing her followers on the different platforms she was active on, including an adult platform.

But.....but I don’t have a boyfriend.... pic.twitter.com/R8opT6xOwb

— NRG Lulu (@LuluLuvely) September 10, 2020

Laying in bed watching anime with my boyfriend is so relaxing after a day of Twitch Rivals 😍👌🏻 pic.twitter.com/yIIjJSXUEN

— NRG Lulu (@LuluLuvely) August 30, 2019

The streamer later claimed that the marriage rumors were a hoax. However, a screenshot that she said was fake had alleged that she was hiding her marriage from her fans because she was scared of losing her following. The streamer might be single and unmarried, but the fact remains that a part of the community tends to withdraw from watching a female content creator on Twitch based on their relationship status.

Tweet reply your application below:1. First name 2. Approx age (range)3. Job or job field (optional)4. Interesting quality about yourself 5. Picture (optional)6. Best attribute

— Amouranth (@Amouranth) May 12, 2018

Personalities such as Pokimane and Valkyrae regularly receive messages asking them about their relationship status, with most female streamers generally choosing not to reveal information about their personal life. Obsession with their looks, proposals sent via emails or DMs and the amount of attention that sexually-suggestive streams have received on Twitch in recent months is all evidence that at least some of these streamers’ communities tend to think that they have a chance to be involved with the personality in question.

So I'd like to take this moment to say, My stream is not all about my tic's I'm an animal rehabber, an artist, a gamer, an educator, I give talks, and crack jokes, and I'm pretty shit at jump king but even that can't keep me down. Let me be Sweet Anita, not "the tourett's E-girl"

— Sweet Anita (@sweetanita) July 25, 2020

While that might be true in most cases, there have been instances in the last year or so where female streamers did not lose followers despite revealing their relationship status. LuluLovely, Sweet Anita and CodeMiko have all been open about their relationship status but have not lost their fans. The same can't be said for Pokimane, Amouranth and Alinity, perhaps because their communities are largely made up of “simps”.