Abandon all hope, ye who enter CES [Consumer Electronics Show]. Particularly if you’re a girl.

Anybody remember that absolutely wonderful contest orchestrated to promote the upcoming game “Dante’s Inferno” awhile back at Comic-Con San Diego 2009? You know, the one that pretty much confirmed the line of thinking, “women are objects” or that, moreover, treating them as such will actually win you prizes?

To be fair, the development team behind “Dante’s Inferno” issued an apology/clarification about their contest, but it strikes me as pretty half-baked. I find it hard to believe that EA’s PR department wouldn’t foresee problems resulting from the phrasing “commit acts of lust,” the involvement of women outside of their own company, and/or the imagery — breasts and women on all fours — associated with the contest.

How about the extremely not safe for work comic drawn about Assassin’s Creed producer Jade Raymond? I’m not linking to it here, by the way. If you really want to see it, the Internet will happily oblige any search engine, as the Web is a horrible place where nightmares walk, childhood memories are destroyed and nothing is ever truly erased.

I could go on, but I’m sure you see where I’m going with this. Women aren’t objects. It’s time we stop treating them like they are.

Believe me, I know it’s easy to be a troll on the Internet and I would wager good money that we’ve all seen some butcher of the English language go on a racist, sexist, homophobic ranting spree that would leave even our greatest detectives scratching their heads in befuddlement. But, in real life, there’s a limit to the tolerance these kinds of behaviors deserve.

Note that I said “deserve.” Not “receive.”

Let me give you a few more examples other than the “Sin to Win” contest mentioned above.

As a girl who likes to look pretty — curse you, societal expectations! — I get my hair done fairly often. It’s my greatest accessory. It’s always with me, rarely in the way, customizable, unique and, I gotta say, I think it looks pretty nice. So, to take care of my lovely locks, I have a trusted stylist I visit at a local salon.

The place is usually pretty busy, with all manner of people walking in, out and about: Grandmas, tweens, 7-year-olds, punk rockers, runway wannabes and soccer moms. Their heavy boots squeaking, high heels clacking and jib-jab gabber chatter creating a cacophony of sounds like the warm-up of a pit orchestra. As I sat down in my chair, I caught the tail-end of a neighboring appointment, and thus learned of another category of visitor: The Creep.

The Creep leered at his stylist. He grinned impishly. He complimented, flirted and touched. This might not sound like a big deal to some out there, but touching is an extremely intimate thing to do to someone. Think about it: Do you want someone you’re uncomfortable with, someone you don’t know, someone you don’t trust, touching you?

She asked him not to do it again, a request which he ignored, proceeding to touch her at the waist and stomach. Once he had left, the woman struggled to compose herself, lamenting the disrespect one human being showed another.

“It’s like, how dare you do that to someone?” she said as tears welled in her eyes. “How dare you?”

Thankfully, The Creep is no longer welcome at the salon, as the woman — who has not been named for sake of privacy and, as illustrated, issues of harassment — took action and stood up to the offender.

But what about women who get paid to more or less welcome the lecherous behavior? There are plenty of professions which place women in this position, but as this is a gaming blog, I’m specifically referring to booth babes.

As you may have read on my earlier blog post, CES was just held, and by almost all accounts, was considered a success. The technology was solid, impressive and innovative. But what about the people?

Although the thought of booth babes tends to crop up more at events like E3 and Comic-Con, they were just as prevalent at CES as any fanboy could hope for. And sadly, these events allow for plenty of experiences comparable to the stylist’s.

Gizmodo has a video showcasing these women where you can get the information straight from the girls themselves. It’s particularly telling when every woman they talked to had at least one negative experience.

But perhaps even more revealing are the comments listed below the article, which reiterate typical sexual harassment victim blaming. You know, the “they’re asking for it” comments.

Physical attraction is never an excuse to overstep one’s boundaries. Saying so is a cop-out, a coward’s way to avoid responsibility, and it sometimes leads to devastating consequences.

No, not all men are to blame here. In fact, the majority know how to respect and treat women as the human beings they are. I’m not out to chastise men. If anything, I’m asking for their help. Men are the majority in gaming, in nearly all respects. If they don’t want to be seen on the same level as ogling perverts, the majority need to denounce the creeps and take a stand against them.

It needn’t be your number one priority. The objectification of women is something one can end by simply ceasing to be a bystander. If someone says or does something offensive — good tip: If you wouldn’t want someone saying or doing it to your sister, mother or grandma, it’s probably offensive — one can say, or write, something as simple as, “Hey. Women are people, too. Knock it off.”

Or you could write a lengthy blog post. And hope someone takes something away from it.

Sophie Prell is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Alta.

This column appears courtesy of Sophie Prell’s blog, “G3 — A Girl’s Guide to Gaming.”