Vanessa “FiNessi” Unger – Womenize! – Inspiring Stories

Womenize! – Inspiring Stories is our weekly series featuring inspirational individuals from games and tech. For this edition we talked to Vanessa “FiNessi” Unger, Content Creator, Moderator & Activist. She speaks about how she turned her love for streaming into a platform for queer activism, using it to raise awareness, create safe spaces, and support others despite facing discrimination. Read more about Vanessa here:

Hi Vanessa! What drew you to streaming initially and what unique challenges and rewards have you experienced in the gaming space?

There were several things that drew me to streaming. I’ve always loved working creatively, especially in front of the camera with video productions. It was always somehow present in my life, as I did a lot in that direction with my older brother. We were always trying out new things. But we rarely published any of it.
Then in 2020, I started streaming with my brother, but at first it was “just” gaming. The political content came up during the streams because I was experiencing a lot of discrimination at school at the time. I talked about it on stream and used the opportunity to raise awareness about discrimination. I had already done that offline through lectures and similar things, but it was my first time doing it online. Since there was so much interest in the topic and I was able to help a lot of people, I’ve stuck with it to this day.
There have been many challenges and rewards. I’ll try to summarize a few.
In the gaming/Twitch community, you’re unfortunately often confronted with transphobia and misogyny. This ranges from direct insults, even death threats, to coordinated hate campaigns with transphobic origins. Some creators even make entire video series monetizing this kind of hate.
But this just reinforces how important this work is. If activism and education didn’t face resistance, we wouldn’t need them anymore. That is the goal, but we’re definitely not there yet.
The challenge is, of course, not to let it get to you too much and not to be intimidated, because that’s exactly the tactic of those filled with hate. They try to make it seem like there are many of them and that you’re all alone, by organizing themselves. But: that’s not true. There are so many amazing people in the world fighting for equality. You are never alone.
I think an important part of dealing with hate is creating balance in multiple ways. It’s always been important to me to not only do my activism online, but also out in the streets. Among people. That always gives me a lot of strength. Just as important are safe spaces where you don’t have to think about these things and can be with people who are good for you, whether online or offline.
The biggest reward is the feedback I receive. Many queer people of all ages write to me saying that certain videos or streams helped them come out, or accept themselves, or feel seen for the first time. And I don’t think there’s anything more meaningful than that.
But even non-queer people reach out to thank me for new perspectives and to tell me they’re learning how to treat their queer peers more respectfully or protect them better.
And of course, there are professional rewards as well. I never expected to win a journalism award for my work, nor did I expect to become the first trans Twitch Ambassador in the German-speaking world. These are things that still leave me speechless, and I’m incredibly grateful for them.