Journal of Other Forum Analysis (Volume II, Issue 1)

[Gameboy Nostalgia]

The genocide lands in Boredfrom's neck of the woods:

Auditions open today for the world’s most popular adult VTuber (or “lewdtuber”) voice acting agency, VAllure. If you grab one of the five coveted spots for Gen 2, you might just get to star in an adult video game.

But don’t fill out that audition form quite yet. Despite VAllure’s offer of an 80/20 revenue split, equipment funding, fast popularity, and your very own Live2D model, the agency seems to be stumbling into one controversy after another.

However, trans VTubers started to have misgivings about VAllure during the Gen 1 audition process. VAllure’s audition requirements said the company only wanted “female” talent, with no additional clarification. “Female” can mean a lot of things. It can mean “anyone who identifies as a woman.” It can also mean “someone born with a specific set of genitals.”

This quickly left trans VTubers confused. Why “female” instead of “woman”? We figured this was just a minor point of linguistic confusion, so a number of us reached out for clarification last year to clear the air. But we never heard back. Not in emails. Not in tweets. Nor with a public statement. Nothing. Trans talent quickly feared the worst: Trans women weren’t welcome, and VAllure was going to dodge the question by leaving the answer murky.

On Saturday’s stream, “So you wanna be a wh*re ay?” the VAllure team finally addressed whether trans women can apply to the agency. The answer is “yes.” However, there are caveats. Maybe. Once again, communication is not VAllure’s strong suit. During the stream, talent Shibi Cottonbum stressed VAllure will accept transgender talent as long as they “go by female pronouns,” “live life as a woman,” and “sound like a woman.” The Gen 1 team laughed as the issue was discussed; at one point, Shibi said transgender talent asking about the issue should “shut the fuck up.”

As I mentioned during my own discussion stream over the weekend, the one-year delay on the topic and the insensitive tone during the advice stream revealed an extreme level of unprofessionalism toward VAllure’s transgender colleagues. For trans talent who considered applying to VAllure during Gen 1 (at least, prior to the debut of the aforementioned lolicon models — yeesh), the lack of communication toward trans VTubers was a clear sign that the company was not prepared for the professionalism and maturity required from an adult company.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s great VAllure does, in fact, allow trans women to work with the team. But even then, its standards are still very strict for trans performers. What does it mean to “sound like a woman”? Is VAllure willing to accept trans women like myself? Even though I have a feminine voice, I’m often clocked as trans during streams and in ASMR comments; would I lack the right credentials to sound “like a woman”? In other words, do they want trans talent, or do they want trans women who sound specifically like cis women? Trans women who pass for cis women and could, if necessary, hide their gender identity? VAllure never clarified these specifics during the stream, essentially putting trans talent right back to square one: How does VAllure really feel about trans women?

And then, of course, comes the issue of pronouns and transition. Not every woman uses “female pronouns.” Cis, trans, and nonbinary women commonly use pronouns other than “she/her.” He/him lesbians are out there. So are women who use they/them. And what does it mean to “live life as a woman”? Do you have to socially transition IRL and present as a woman? Do you have to stream with a female-presenting model X-amount of times? These questions may seem silly and dumb to VAllure’s performers, but they are serious considerations for trans talent running a VA business. Auditions take time. More specifically, they take time away from streaming or ASMR work. Why work hard on something that will lead to an instant rejection?

Spoiler: if you'd like to see if you can clock Ana despite her feminine voice (click to show)(click to hide)

Trans this, Trans that, how about you Transform yourself into something less fragile.