A real post is coming later today, but I wanted to point out this excellent essay by my friend Vivienne Chan about the recent Gamecrush scandal.

These women are known as “PlayDates,” and the site is set up as a sort of online dating site where the activity for that date is gaming. Clients pay to play a round of a game with a PlayDate of their choice. Then, after you have played games with these women, you are able to “rate” your PlayDate based on hotness, game skill, and flirtiness. I have so much to say on this topic that I have a hard time finding a place to start and have actually started over a myriad of times.

Thing is, this isn’t 1990. This isn’t even 2005. Girls playing video games are no longer a rarity. We are not precious gems and we are not fucking commodities just because we happen to be exploring an interest of ours. We should not be notable just because we happen to hold our XBox 360 controllers above a vagina or in front of boobage.

Go here to read more. I highly recommend it.