Sarkeesian driven out of home by online abuse and death threats

Since the launch of Feminist Frequency's Tropes vs Women in Games, creator Anita Sarkeesian has faced a wall of abuse and threats from enraged critics of her detailed research that highlights misogyny in game fiction.

This week, the abusers drove her out of her own home.

"Some very scary threats have just been made against me and my family. Contacting authorities now," she wrote on Twitter last night.

She later tweeted, "I'm safe. Authorities have been notified. Staying with friends tonight. I'm not giving up. But this harassment of women in tech must stop!"

Earlier today, Sarkeesian shared a particularly disturbing series of threats from one abuser, along with a trigger warning. "I usually don't share the really scary stuff. But it's important for folks to know how bad it gets."

Earlier this week, Feminist Frequency published a new episode of Tropes vs Women in Games looking at the Women as Background Decoration trope, which Sarkeesian described as "largely insignificant non-playable female characters whose sexuality or victimhood is exploited as a way to infuse edgy, gritty or racy flavoring into game worlds. These sexually objectified female bodies are designed to function as environmental texture while titillating presumed straight male players." The episode has been widely praised and shared.