gender inequality / violence

Terroristic threats against Utah State University regarding feminist Anita Sarkeesian

philodaria6 Comments

An email sent to Utah State University officials threatens to terrorize the school with a deadly shooting over a talk to be delivered by feminist critic and Tropes vs. Women in Video Games creator Anita Sarkeesian, Polygon confirmed with the school’s Center for Women and Gender Studies. . .

“If you do not cancel her talk, a Montreal Massacre style attack will be carried out against the attendees, as well as students and staff at the nearby Women’s Center,” the message reads. “I have at my disposal a semi-automatic rifle, multiple pistols, and a collection of pipe bombs.”

The Montreal Massacre, also known as the École Polytechnique Massacre, took place in 1989 in Canada. Marc Lépine, who the email references, killed 14 women, injured 10 and killed four men in the name of “fighting feminism” before committing suicide.

The sender claims to be a student at the school, and adds “you will never find me, but you may all soon know my name.”

This latest threat marks yet another in a growing history for Sarkeesian herself and women in the video game industry at large. In August, following the release of another episode of her Tropes vs. Women in Video Games series, Sarkeesian fled her home after receiving “some very scary threats” against her and her family. During GeekGirlCon, which took place this past weekend, officials confirmed to Polygon that a threat was made over her appearance there.

More on the story here. 

6 thoughts on “Terroristic threats against Utah State University regarding feminist Anita Sarkeesian”

  2. I think the police didn’t have any choice: apparently Utah’s concealed-carry law means people with a license are legally entitled to carry firearms in public places, including University property.

    (Which seems completely insane to me; but then, from a UK perspective all US firearms laws are insane.)

  3. That’s incredibly disconcerting–I would have thought that given a terrorist threat the police would be able to take precautions.

  4. Apparently Utah State didn’t have a choice – a different Utah University attempted to challenge this law in the past – see here:

    http://www.nbcnews.com/id/18355953/ns/us_news-life/t/utah-only-state-allow-guns-college/#.VD6pBGewJq0

    and failed. So basically Utah State had to turn down Sarkeesian’s request to have concealed guns banned, or violate state law. One would think that a terrorist threat would trump the state law (and surely it should), but somehow it didn’t in this case.

    So the failure here is at the legislative level, not the University level (doesn’t make it better, but good to know who to blame!)

  6. Courthouses are also public places. Are Utahns allowed to carry fire-arms there?

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