I Heart My Gamer Boyfriend!

So back in the day, I was on the fence about Jessica Simpson. I thought maybe she got an unfair rap, and I empathized with the airhead stuff. I have my own Chicken of the Sea moments every day. And it’s easy to assume that a pretty princess with a slamming body is a bitch. I didn’t want to be persuaded by the masses. So although she could be very annoying, so can we all, and I stood behind her. Or at least didn’t attack her. I even bought her Dessert lip gloss not once, but three times, for 27 dollars each. Crazy, I know. But I was living at home after the ex left and was all despondent. Plus the “Juicy” flavor was really tasty!



Anyway. The day that I officially went to the “Oh, Jessica” side of the fence was one day watching “Newlyweds.” It was the one where Nick and his friends were watching a football game and HOLY CRAP did she need someone to smack her on the nose with a newspaper and get her to back the fuck OFF.




She would not shut up! She kept whining! She was one of the most high-maintenance women on the planet and don’t get me wrong, I’m not a Nick Lache fan; I get an underlying misogynistic vibe from him (another reason I was a bit of a Jessica apologist). BUT. He puts up with alllll her bullshit and girliness and she can’t let him have one day to watch football with guys? But I realized this isn’t that uncommon.




Which leads me to my main point. Why exactly do so many women have bugs up their asses regarding video games? I never knew this was a thing. Jessica Simpson foreshadowed it for me, but Javier tells me that a lot of women really look down on guys for playing video games.




Why? No seriously, I want to know!




Now. For balance and objectivity. I will say that I once dated this guy. I drove 40 miles to hang out with him (I know, I know). I got there, expecting to, you know…hang out. He spent the entire time futzing around with his new boxing video game. Obsessing over the Ring Girl details, and just in general giving all his attention to this game and none to the girl who had just driven to see him and who had no reading material at his apartment. Now, THAT shit was rude. But it was a date night, and it wasn’t a serious relationship where we saw each other all the time.




That said. If you’re in a relationship with someone and you see him all the time, what is the problem with him playing video games? I want respect. I require respect, spent too many years being spineless because I was afraid of scaring guys off (see above: 40 miles, and I did not dump his ass that night). So I think that couples need to discuss things that bother them, and respect each other’s feelings, if not always bend to that way of thinking.




But as long as that’s happening. If you’re with a guy, and he’s a good guy, and is a good boyfriend to you, and puts up with your crap, and loves you? And he wants to play a video game? Encourage him to do it!




I spend a LOT of time with Javier. On the weekends, and some week nights, we spend hours in the same room, each doing our own thing. I blog/do Myspace and such. He plays Xbox. It works out beautifully! I indulge in my own obsessiveness, and he in his, and no one gets butt hurt, as the kids are saying these days. Then when we do watch a movie together, or do anything together really, it's that much nicer because we both know the other is there because s/he wants to be.




Since Javier started playing games around me, he’s been an even better boyfriend than ever. Because every time he plays, he knows he really can be himself around me, and because he enjoys his days! God help me if I ever become someone who makes her guy go antiquing and shopping, then gripes when he wants to do his own thing for a bit. Although I hate shopping. I’m just saying.




It just seems weird to me. In my experience, gamers are some of the smartest and most dynamic people on the planet. Why look down on the gaming, then? I bet it has something to do with the government, man.



























©2009