Ok can we stop talking about online harassment as just some big joke, or as drama or rage-blogging or doing it for the clicks or any other dismissive bullshit now?
Utah State University plans to move forward with an event featuring a prominent Canadian-American author, blogger and feminist, despite threats of terror, a spokesman said Tuesday evening.
The decision came after several staff members received an anonymous email terror threat on Tuesday morning from someone claiming to be a student proposing “the deadliest school shooting in American history” if it didn’t cancel the Wednesday lecture.
The email author wrote 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.”
They’re going ahead with the event, but with extra security.
The email was sent to Ann Austin, director of the Center for Women and Gender Studies, along with several others, according to a spokesman for the center.
Sarkeesian is the author of the video blog “Feminist Frequency” and the video series Tropes vs.Women in Video Games, which analyzes how women are depicted in pop culture. Sarkeesian will be speaking at 11:30 a.m. in the Taggart Student Center Auditorium.
The email was a warning to all staff and students at USU if Sarkeesian’s talk wasn’t canceled “a Montreal Massacre style attack will be carried out” against those in attendance, students, staff and the women’s center.
“I have at my disposal a semi-automatic rifle, multiple pistols, and a collection of pipe bombs,” the email continues. The threat is “giving (USU) a chance to stop it.”
The threats increase throughout the letter, saying at one point that even if security is increased it won’t save anyone and feminists on campus won’t be able to defend themselves.
“One way or another, I’m going to make sure they die,” it said.
Sarkeesian poses “everything wrong with the feminist woman” and that is why she is being targeted, the email states. “She is going to die screaming like the craven little whore that she is if you let her come to USU.”
Can we stop fucking around and say this shit is unacceptable now? Can we? Can we stop pretending it’s just “disagreement” or “dissent” or “free speech”? Can we?
That’s not even the most terrifying part:
Terrorist threats are a normal, accepted consequence of being a public feminist? Shiiiiit….
WTH is WRONG with these people??
This shit is unacceptable.
I expect Dawkins to be tweeting something to that effect, RSN. Harris, too. It’s not just islamists that terrorize.
According to We Hunted the Mammoth the talk has been cancelled
http://wehuntedthemammoth.com/2014/10/14/anita-sarkeesian-cancels-talk-at-utah-state-after-receiving-threat-of-another-montreal-massacre/
I am so sick of this shit. Every day it’s something worse and it makes me want to just give up. Seriously, dudes? This is what you’re fighting for?
If you’re looking for some way to push back, there’s an email address on the bottom of the cancellation notice. Be polite, as it’s possible the person on the other side wanted Sarkeesian to come but was stymied by administrators.
This makes me sick. And I am dumbstruck that the authorities did not see this as more than “the norm” for Sarkeesian’s harassers. WTF??
And I am dumbstruck that the authorities did not see this as more than “the norm” for Sarkeesian’s harassers. WTF??
I agree. That’s not a random disorganized threat; it is carefully crafted and written. It shows that the sender researched the target. It claims that the sender has the weapons and methods. It shows that the sender has researched the target. We don’t know what may or may not have been done to obscure the message, but presumably an attempt was made to hide its origin. Those are all hallmarks of a much more serious threat than just “I hope I meet you in a dark alley” kind of stuff. That the authorities blew this off is really really bad; they absolutely should investigate this thoroughly. Most particularly because whoever wrote it was quite clearly trying pretty hard to mash all the alarm buttons. That’s serious business.
Of course, threats like this could never be justified—but I keep realizing that what we’re talking about with this stuff is video games! It just makes these outrageous, frightening, repulsive threats so… so surreal? Absurd? People are this angry and hateful over video games. Or, no, there’s other stuff going on, but video games—how they’re reviewed, how they’re interpreted, how they’re produced—are triggering some of this stuff. I…
Marcus Ranum @8:
Seconded. It was a clear, credible threat, and deserved to have been treated as such.
Um, how do we know that the threat isn’t taken seriously by law enforcement? The phrase “not out of the norm” was perhaps not well chosen, but it’s not at all clear to me it means they are just going to shrug and let it go.
No. People are this angry and hateful over women speaking out against sexism in video games.
You’re right about this one. That is a huge fucking problem. I think Anita Sarkeesian makes some terrible arguments, but that guy belongs in prison.
At least some of the dudebros are trying to distance themselves from the more overt threats like this. *golf clap for jakup3*
What they still don’t see, though, is how their words and actions encourage this kind of thing.