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March 29
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Anita Sarkeesian, executive director of the series Feminist Frequency project, has become the regular target of death and rape threats, The Guardian writes.  

In her regularly published videos, Sarkeesian condemns discrimination of women in computer games, as well as set expressions in language. 

For her activity, Anita Sarkeesian, daughter of Iranian Armenians, was emigrated to Canada, and named one of the 100 most influential people of 2015 by Time magazine.

“The texts are impossible to read if you’re not trained, and I wondered why we would lock away this information for just a privileged group of people,” she says. 

According to her, harassments, including sexual ones, in online spaces, are much more likely against women than against men. According to the 2006 study by the University of Maryland, female usernames increase the possibility of harassment by 25 times.  

“There’s a boys’-locker-room feel to the internet, where men feel they can show off for one another. A lot of the harassment is tied to this toxic masculine culture of ‘Look how cool I can be.’ There are men who make videos about me regularly. Some are just screaming; some hold guns while they talk about hating me. I don’t engage with them, as I don’t want to amplify their voices,” she says.  

But the problems aren’t always virtual: a year ago Sarkeesian had to cancel her speech at Utah State University because of threats of mass shooting from the anti-feminists.

Sarkeesian had to learn being careful. “Yeah, it’s really weird that I try to sit at the back of restaurants, or have my back to windows so no one recognizes me. Or if someone stops me on the street to ask for directions, I feel as if I’m going to have a panic attack. I’ve had to learn not to trust people, not to be friendly with strangers, because you never know if it’s going to be a threat,” she said.  

Despite all the hardships, Sarkeesian is not going to give up: “How can I give up now? I’m not going anywhere.”

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