Anita Sarkeesian is no stranger to receiving threats on the internet and in the real world.
Today, Utah State University confirmed with Standard Examiner that they received an anonymous terror threat via email from one of its own students promising “the deadliest school shooting in American history” if the school went ahead with an event featuring the prominent feminist game critic, who’s best known for her “Tropes Against Women in Video Games” series of educational videos.
According to SE, the author claiming to be a USU student 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.”
The spokesman for the Center for Women and Gender Studies says that the email was addressed to Ann Austin, director of the center, along with several others.
Despite the threat, the group intends to hold the event with Sarkeesian on Wednesday, October 15.
The SE reports that the email was sent as a warning to all staff and students at USU if Sarkeesian’s talk was not canceled. “A Montreal Massacre style attack will be carried out,” the email threatened.
The “Montreal Massacre” refers to the École Polytechnique massacre of 1989, in which Marc Lepine gunned down more than a dozen young women.
“I have at my disposal a semi-automatic rifle, multiple pistols, and a collection of pipe bombs,” the email continued. The threat states that it is “giving (USU) a chance to stop it.”
The letter continued to state that Sarkeesian is “everything wrong with the feminist woman” and that “she is going to die screaming like the craven little whore that she is if you let her come to USU.”
“I will write my manifesto in her spilled blood, and you will all bear witness to what feminist lies and poison have done to the men of America.”
While it’s unlikely that the perpetrator of the email will carry out their attack, the threat stands as one of many that Anita Sarkeesian and other women in the games industry, including Brianna Wu, have experienced in recent days. Anita Sarkeesian addressed the threats, harassment and slander she received at a recent XOXO talk.
