Twitch is a platform that provides content creators the opportunity to livestream video games, cooking, political commentary, travel, or anything else that the creator chooses, so long as it falls within the platform’s terms and conditions.

Twitch enters into an agreement with each of its partnered content creators, allowing them to monetize their channels and splitting the revenue received from subscribers who pay up to $24.99 per month to support their favorite streamers. This arrangement has been lucrative for Twitch, and content creators with large followings can make well into the high six figures annually, with the very top echelon pushing into seven figures in earnings. Many leverage their fame and reach into other lucrative opportunities for sponsorships or content creation on other platforms.

Cracking the Façade to Find an Ugly Reality

One of those enormously successful streamers is a 28-year-old named Kaitlyn Siragusa, better known by her Twitch handle, Amouranth. She’s one of several young women who have attracted vitriol and blowback from some corners of the internet and media for leveraging their appearance, sexuality, and charm as part of their online personality to make a living. Whether you agree with her persona and presentation or not, you can’t argue with her success. Siragusa pulls in a reported seven figures per month, Twitch being her primary platform.

But the reality is much darker.

Beyond the standard harassment that any woman in the public eye, particularly in the historically male-dominated world of gaming and streaming – sadly experiences, Ms. Siragusa revealed on a live stream on October 16^th that she’s not actually single, as she’s represented in the past. In fact, she’s married to her trafficker.

She’s alleged she’s a victim of labor trafficking, her husband forcing her to stream and create content – some of it risqué – against her will. Live on stream she showed text messages from her husband in which he threatens her with financial abuse and her pets with physical harm if she doesn’t comply and keep up the facade. She claimed he’s taken control of her finances and bank accounts and has physically broken the door to the room in which she streams so she can’t lock him out.

“I’m basically living in a fancy prison,” she said.

The recording of the stream has since been deleted.

Toxicity, Misogyny, and Liability

Fellow prominent Twitch streamers broadcast their support for Ms. Siragusa across their own social channels, but a vocal contingent of her community and other streamers, some with enormous reach, had a different perspective.

The issue, they said, wasn’t that she had been forced to entertain them against her will. The issue was that she pretended to be single when she wasn’t and because they’d been duped, they deserved refunds for all the money they’d spent supporting her.

Twitch is no stranger to controversy, but this time feels different. The company has banked millions of dollars from its partnership with Amouranth, but it seems clear that those profits were the direct result of exploitation and forced labor. Does Twitch, or any organization for that matter, have an obligation to the people from whose efforts the company profits?

I’m not an attorney, but it seems unlikely that there’s any legal exposure for Twitch or Amazon in this case. Siragusa is an independent contractor and thus has none of the myriad worker protections that those with employee status enjoy. Further, there’s been no indication that she told anyone at the company about her situation before she came forward publicly on her stream. The moral argument is more crucial in this case.

Twitch boasts up to 8 million unique streams every month. More than 31 million people visit the site or use the app every day. They employ more than 1800 people globally. It a dominant player in the streaming space.

What do you do as an industry leader when such an ugly situation comes to light on your platform and the response from certain corners of your customer base and creator community isn’t sympathy or support, but anger, misogyny, and victim-blaming? This is a question that cuts to the core of the kind of company Twitch wants to be, who they want to serve, and who they want to partner with as a business.

What Comes Next?

The easiest thing that Twitch, and by extension Amazon, could do would be to ignore the situation entirely, to put the onus on Ms. Siragusa to manage the crisis on her own. That’s not how a responsible organization behaves, but it wouldn’t be entirely unexpected.

Though there may not be a legal obligation for Twitch to investigate whether this is an isolated incident, could a conscientious organization really fail to do so? Can a company live with itself, and what price will it pay in the court of public opinion, if it does nothing or stays silent when entangled in something as ugly as this that its directly profited from?

If you’re a woman who works at Twitch, or who streams on the platform, how would you feel about an organization that’s historically done relatively little to stem harassment and toxicity and is now silent after this revelation by one of their partners? I might find myself questioning how many other prominent young women on the platform are being forced to work against their will.

I would argue that the time is now for some introspection, and an evaluation of how the platform incentivizes content creators and protects potentially vulnerable individuals. Children as young as 13 can stream on the platform, after all. Is there more that Twitch could be doing? Almost certainly.

These are uncomfortable questions that should concern an organization if they’re being asked by employees or business partners, and even if the microscope of public scrutiny hasn’t found Twitch or Amazon yet, it’s only a matter of time should other content creators on the platform come forward, inspired by Ms. Siragusa’s bravery.

You can’t be dedicated to responsible business practices only when it’s convenient. It requires getting your hands dirty when things get complex and messy, taking ownership, and showing leadership. You don’t need to have all the answers, but people know the difference between right and wrong. Make sure they know that your company does too.

Neither Twitch nor its parent company, Amazon, have to this point issued a statement on the matter.

Ms. Siragusa published a recent video announcing that her husband is “getting help” and that she has regained access to all her finances and accounts and is “seeking legal and emotional counsel.”

The post Amouranth, Twitch, Amazon, and the Unraveling of Compassion and Common Sense appeared first on Medika Life.

The Twitch

Have you developed a sudden and annoying twitch or ‘tic’ in one of your eyes, It is typically an eye muscle or eyelid spasm or movement that you can’t control. Doctors may refer to the condition as blepharospasm and it tends to happen more in your upper eyelid. The lid moves every few seconds and it is usually just for a minute or two.

A twitch is most often associated with stress and is a tell-tale sign that your body and your nervous system are being overwhelmed. Your twitch could be the result of fatigue, stress, caffeine, alcohol, smoking, light sensitivity, or medication, especially drugs used to treat psychosis and epilepsy

It can also, in rare instances be a precursor or symptom of something more serious. Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, Tourette’s syndrome, brain damage, Bell’s palsy, and dystonia can cause a twitch. Most twitches will resolve on their own, but if it persists or causes you discomfort, book yourself in for a visit to your doctor.

In extremely rare cases, a twitch may be accompanied by another that affects the corner of your mouth, usually on the same side of your face, Usually, the cause is an artery putting pressure on a nerve and the condition will require medical attention.

Blurred Vision

Sadly, as we age, so do our eyes and their ability to focus. Blurred vision is mostly associated with this aging process and is easily corrected with glasses. In some cases though, blurring can be an indicator of something far more serious. Damage to, or problems with your cornea, retina, or optic nerve can lead to a rapid onset of blurred vision.

Diabetes is commonly associated with the condition. An August 2014 study found that 73% of diabetic patients sampled reported blurred vision, and it isn’t just diabetes. Rapid onset can also be an indicator of a stroke. Called a transient ischemic attack (TIA) this type of stroke lasts less than 24 hours and can affect one or both eyes.

Migraines, Keratitis (inflammation of the cornea), and certain autoimmune conditions can also result in blurred vision or the blame may lie with conditions that can affect our eyes, such as glaucoma, cataracts, or macular degeneration. If you’re suffering from blurred vision, make an appointment with an optometrist sooner rather than later,

Framing your Iris

Notice a white ring forming around the outside of your iris. This one is a little tricky because it is also a natural part of the aging process. If it becomes really noticeable over a short period of time, then it can be an indicator of excessively high cholesterol and triglyceride levels, two factors closely linked to increased risk of heart attack or stroke.

Most of us don’t spend much time looking that closely at our eyes and if you do notice these rings it may simply be the natural aging process, but is still worth checking out, especially if it’s accompanied by the next item in our list.

Xanthelasmas

While not strictly speaking affecting the eye itself, these yellow raised patches tend to form around the eye. Xanthelasmas are soft, cholesterol-filled raised “bumps” that develop under the skin, on or around your eyelids, and close to your nose. These yellow raised deposits are a side effect of having high levels of lipids in your blood.

If these cholesterol deposits present prior to the age of 40 years, they require a prompt screening by your physician to rule out any acute underlying inherited disorders of lipoprotein metabolism.

Eye Floaters

Small almost translucent little pieces of ‘lint’ that seem to float across your field of vision. They may look like black or gray specks, strings, or cobwebs that drift about when you move your eyes and appear to dart away when you try to look at them directly. Refocus and they start their trip again, seeming to drift across your eyes until they disappear from view.

Again, these are caused by age-related changes as the jelly-like substance (vitreous) inside your eyes becomes more liquid. Microscopic fibers inside the vitreous tend to clump and can cast tiny shadows on your retina. The shadows you see are called floaters.

This symptom can be an indicator of something far more serious. If you experience an increase a sudden increase in the number of floaters you see, this could be a sign of a retinal tear or detachment. If the floaters are accompanied by a loss of peripheral (on the sides) vision or flashes of light in the affected eye, consider making an emergency appointment.

Pingueculas

These raised yellowy-brown patches occur on the whites of your eye and are the result of too much sun. Typically they occur where the colored part of the eye meets the white part of the eye. They usually appear on the side closer to the nose, are present in both eyes, and are relatively permanent.

As these are usually permanent and can cause irritation to the eye they’re best avoided. We suspect they’re caused by ultraviolet light so protect the eye from ultraviolet radiation by wearing certified wrap-around sunglasses and brimmed hats while outdoors. Some prescription glasses also have lenses capable of protecting the eyes from ultraviolet rays.

Jaundice

Probably the best-known symptom of a disease that can be diagnosed easily from the eyes. When the whites of your eyes (the sclera) turn yellow, you’ve got jaundice. The yellowing is a result of bilirubin, a yellow substance that forms when red blood cells break down.

That process is totally natural and in healthy individuals your liver filters bilirubin from your blood and uses it to make a fluid called bile, which you eventually excrete. If, however, your liver develops a problem, then the bilirubin can accumulate in your body, turning the whites of your eyes yellow.

That yellowing is referred to as looking jaundiced and it can indicate a serious medical condition, including hepatitis, gallstones (the most common cause of jaundice), malaria, sickle cell anemia, liver and gallbladder cancers, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and cirrhosis of the liver, commonly caused by excessive alcohol consumption. Book a doctor’s appointment.

Broken Blood Vessels

Although probably the most scary-looking symptom exhibited by our eyes, bloodshot and red eyes are most often the result of simply overworking the eye or rupturing a blood vessel from a coughing fit, or straining excessively. Don’t panic, you don’t have an eye disease and you’re not going to bleed out.

While the result can look terrifying, it will usually clear of its own accord and isn’t necessarily a reason for panic. If this occurs frequently you may consider discussing potential lifestyle changes with your doctor or optometrist.

Call your doctor if the blood doesn’t go away in 2 to 3 weeks or if the bleeding is accompanied by pain or vision problems. Also seek medical assistance if you have more than one burst vessel, or if the blood is anywhere inside the colored part of your eye (iris).

The post 8 Ways Your Eyes Warn You of Disease or Distress appeared first on Medika Life.