http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/16/technology/gamergate-women-video-game-threats-anita-sarkeesian.html 2014-10-15 18:42:58 Anita Sarkeesian, Video Game Critic, Cancels Speech After Threats of Massacre Ms. Sarkeesian, who hosts an online series challenging how women are portrayed in video games, canceled a speech after the college holding the event received threats of violence. === Anita Sarkeesian, a feminist cultural critic who has become a target of harassment by gamers, canceled a public speech scheduled for Wednesday after the college holding the event received threats of violence. Ms. Sarkeesian was set to speak at Utah State University in Logan. Even after school administrators received the threats against Ms. Sarkeesian and those who attended her speech, she planned to give her talk. Ms. Sarkeesian, who hosts an online video series that has challenged how women are portrayed in videogames, has been a frequent target of threats because of her work. But Ms. Sarkeesian reconsidered and canceled the talk over security measures at the event, according to a tweet by Ms. Sarkeesian and a spokesman for the school. Tim Vitale, the spokesman, said that the school police told Ms. Sarkeesian that, under Utah law, they could not prevent attendees from bringing concealed weapons to the event. The threats against Ms. Sarkeesian shined a spotlight on a harassment campaign against female game developers and critics that has shocked many people in the industry with its virulence — and that shows no sign of abating anytime soon. The reasons for the attacks on the women vary somewhat, but all of the targets have in some way assailed the conventions of games and the mostly male culture of fans around them. Some opponents of the women have rallied around the Twitter hashtag #GamerGate, though it isn’t clear how many of them are involved in or support the more extreme threats against the women. On Wednesday, as word of the latest threat against Ms. Sarkeesian circulated online, the hashtag #StopGamerGate2014 became a trending topic on Twitter. Last week, an independent game developer in Boston, Brianna Wu, said she was driven from her home by threats of violence after she poked fun at supporters of GamerGate on Twitter. Another developer, Zoe Quinn, was also harassed beginning in late August and said she has not been able to return home. On Monday evening, members of the administration at Utah State University received an e-mail warning that a massacre would be carried out against attendees of the event. “This will be the deadliest school shooting in American history and I’m giving you a chance to stop it,” said the e-mail, which bore the name Marc Lepine, who killed 14 women in a mass shooting in Montreal in 1989 before taking his own life. In another tweet Tuesday night, Ms. Sarkeesian said she would remain vocal: