After wildly popular streamer Pokimane did a no-makeup stream on October 23, a photo was posted on Twitter showing a side-by-side of her with and without makeup.
For some reason, this picture shocked people who must have assumed that she rolls out of bed in full streaming makeup and hair every morning.
The side-by-side picture has over 1000 retweets and meme variations are popping up on Twitter.
— Pexi V (@pexi_v) October 23, 2018
After some questionable debates in the responses to the picture, Pokimane took to Twitter to respond to her critics.
man am I lucky to have real friends who love me for who I am ☺️:heart:️
I’m at peace with myself, my body & my imperfections – and I wish the same someday for anyone who feels the need to hate on someone else for such shallow reasons.
— pokimane (@pokimanelol) October 23, 2018
While the initial responses to the photo were a mix of uniformed and hostile, members of the community have come out in support for Pokimane.
Rod ‘Slasher’ Breslau posted one popular tweet in response.
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1. for all you dudes who have never had a girlfriend this is what a woman looks like without makeup2. of course anime profile pic3. you're still going to squeeze your hog to her https://t.co/ffxENO4A66
— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) October 23, 2018
Pokimane even replied with a quick word of thanks.
The debate over the photo led to many streamers posting photos without makeup on and a variety of responses ranging from support to accusing people of being virgins.
Lost in all this debate about makeup is a crucial fact: Being an on-camera personality requires makeup 99.9% of the time, for both genders.
While Twitch isn’t exactly broadcast news, setups like Pokimane’s have light kits and high definition cameras.
For those setups, makeup is required to stop the face from being shiny and many popular male streamers are using makeup as well to improve their appearance on camera, that’s just a requirement in on-camera professions.