Feminist Gaming Critic Threatened With ‘Montreal Massacre Style Attack’

Feminist gaming critic and blogger Anita Sarkeesian chose to cancel a Wednesday speech at Utah State University when an email purportedly sent by a student promised to violently attack her and her audience if she went forth with the event, claiming that “feminists have ruined my life.” Perhaps worse is the fact that, according to Talking Points Memo editor Josh Marshall’s reading of the blogger’s tweets, Sarkeesian was seemingly told by the university that officials would perform searches if she decided to give her speech, but would not “disarm” attendees with weapons so long as they held “a valid concealed firearm permit in accordance with Utah law.”

It’s hard to know what to be angrier about: the misguided misreading of feminism that leads to misogyny and violence, or the idiotic gun laws that don’t prevent aggressors from committing heinous crimes. After all the nightmarish shootings that have occurred in recent years (with the recent Santa Barbara shooting coming most prominently to mind given the similarly misogyny-fueled rage), it seems not only has little been done to help protect people from gun crimes, but quite to the contrary, laws in our great country seem to be moving in the opposite direction, leaving us vulnerable to atrocities that could have been prevented or at least discouraged by stronger firearm restrictions.

Talking Points Memo:

Anita Sarkeesian was scheduled to give a presentation on the portrayal of women in video games on Wednesday evening. She made the decision to cancel Tuesday night.

University staff members had received a threat earlier Tuesday from an unknown person who vowed to carry out a mass shooting if the event was held. University spokesman Tim Vitale says the FBI told school officials the threat is consistent with ones Sarkeesian receives when she gives speeches elsewhere.

According to the Standard Examiner, University staffers received an anonymous email, purportedly from student at the University, threatening a “Montreal Massacre style attack” and complaining that “feminists have ruined my life and I will have my revenge, for my sake and the sake of all the others they’ve wronged.”

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—Posted by Natasha Hakimi Zapata