The streaming experience has definite advantages for a certain type of viewer i.e. people that spend lots of time online and don't have a large group of friends and acquaintances. For a personal example, my university class (STEM) has roughly 90 women and not one of them plays video games in any significant context (or if they do they aren't telling anyone, and Candy Crush doesn't count). Basically they can't relate to gaming beyond "something boys do in their free time", but on Twitch I can open a girl's gaming stream and interact with them infinitely more even if it was a competition with 50 other chatters. The relationship is a parasocial one -- I get to "know" the streamer while she only reads a chat message every now and then -- but the distance makes things really easy. Animated avatars are even further removed from reality and clearly appeal to maladapting people but it beats whatever they have otherwise.
Hot tub streaming is the dark side. Pathetic simps enable careers that shouldn't exist at all. On the other end we have the teenagers who get accustomed to the idea that booby bounces and butt twirls are just a tip away. Asking for someone's "socials" will get you a free sample and a menu, and I dunno what would incentivize against that apart from a clear shift in western zeitgeist.
wow wow wow. Hold your horses now.
The animated ones are at least far more clearly defined as this is a fantasy and a person acting. They also don't have the shit like only fans or "private" Snap chats or ways to talk in private with viewers pretending to be having personal conversations with them when in reality having some dude they're paying around minimum wage or a bit more actually answering the stuff.
No-one in their right mind thinks Gura Gwar is a part shark part human girl from atlantis.
No-one in their right mind thinks I think it's Kali is actually an escaped demon from hell in real life.
No-one in their right mind things Project Melody is an android trapped on a futuristic space station.
No-one in their right mind thinks snuffles is a I think half racoon girl IRL.
There's a clear line in the sand drawn by Vtuber stuff that these are characters being played.
Hot tub streaming is only a symptom of the wider problem. It is the logical extension of stuff like Can-Can, Strip Shows and "date"/sex phone lines and is tenuously tied to broader sex work. The main problem is the idea of women's bodies as readily available objects of lust for men and that men should have easy access to venues where they can ogle women. Which is why I find this whole discussion so weird, because the blame falls squarely on the women who profit from the social idea that women's bodies are objects of lust for men and not on the social mores that gives rise to hot tub streaming.
If we want to cut to the core of the problem we need to address social expectations of nudity, sexuality and voyeuristic entertainment. These women have found a way to make money by showing a PG-rated amount of skin and are thus in a better position then glamour models, porn performers and many other people who make their living on satisfying people's desires and lust. If men didn't feel such an intense need to see women in various states of undress this wouldn't be an issue and these women wouldn't have the jobs they do.
As far as social problems go, hot tub streaming is absolutely trivial. I'd far prefer finding a teenage son watching a hot tub stream then browsing porn, not least because the hot tub stream is much more parasocial and thus at some level recognizes the woman as an active participator and instigator and not just as a subject to be desired. What I don't get, honestly, is why guys who are totally alright with sex work and wants to legalize prostitution gets so up in arms when a woman finds a way to use her looks that doesn't involve actual sex.
I don't think people really want that conversation on either side about social stuff because it goes to some weird places and may not go quite where people hope. The short version is it happens on both side but guys are more ready to provide supply of it so there's less way to monetise the supply unless you're Chris Hemsworth or one of the Magic Mike cast.
Also you have to remember PG rated levels of skin used to be full topless at one stage before there was a PG-13 category lol.
Additionally......... you think women don't choose porn? You can argue some turn to it as a last option as such but plenty of women actively choose it. They have as much active participation in that choice as hot tub streamers. I'd argue in most cases they're more honest in what they're selling too by basically going "You pay money you get porn" not "You pay money you get to feel like you have a purpose and by paying are somehow helping to support some-one who might also have an interest in you".
Again I should restate. Some of these hot tub streamers run what are almost romance scams only out in the open more.
