Feminist critic Anita Sarkeesian cancels Utah State lecture after death threats

Feminist blogger and video game critic Anita Sarkeesian was forced to cancel a university lecture this morning due to death threats against her.

According to The Washington Post, Sarkeesian was scheduled to speak at Utah State University tonight. However, she was forced to cancel when the university received a threat via email from someone threatening to commit "the deadliest shooting in American history" if the talk wasn't cancelled.

The threat, sent to the university by someone claiming to be a student, detailed the weapons that would be used, including a semi-automatic rifle, pistols and pipe bombs, threatening attendees of the lecture and the school's women’s center.

The author also wrote in the email, "Feminists have ruined my life and I will have my revenge, for my sake and the sake of all the others they've wronged."

According to CNN, Sarkeesian cancelled the speech herself because the university would have still allowed concealed weapons at the event and because there would be no metal detectors.

Sarkeesian is a blogger and critic known for Feminist Frequency, a blog in which she examines, among other things, the depiction of women in video games. Her blog popularized the Bechdel test, the way of determining if a work of fiction treats its female characters properly.

Utah State University says campus police, in addition to local and federal police, are currently investigating the threat.

This is the latest in a series of attacks against women involved in the video game industry. Just this weekend, video game developed Brianna Wu was forced to call the police and leave her home due to online threats, according to Kotaku. Sarkeesian herself also fled her home in August due to death threats.

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