The other of the two withdrawn panels was closely associated with the anti-feminist Gamergate movement, although the movement itself was not mentioned in the panel description. Media critic Anita Sarkeesian, for instance, cancelled a lecture at Utah State University earlier this month after the school received threats to carry out a mass shooting if she delivered remarks about women in video game culture – threats she attributes to GamerGate.
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But Re/code, citing unnamed sources, reported that there could be a daylong event that focuses primarily on combating online harassment.
BuzzFeed and Vox Media have both announced that they will not participate in this year’s festival unless the panel is reinstated.
Caroline Sinders of IBM Watson, Katherine Cross of the CUNY Graduate Center, and Randi Harper, founder of the Online Abuse Prevention Initiative, were slated to speak at SXSW in March during a session titled “Level Up: Overcoming Harassment in Games”.
The 2016 SXSW will be held in Austin, Texas and would feature music, films and interactive conference from March 11-20 next year.
Hugh Forrest, interactive director of SXSW, said his team is working to evaluate “several programming solutions” following the announcement on Monday that two panels exploring sexism in gaming had been cancelled.
SXSW has been vague about the online threats received by the company, though such reactions have been a staple of the debates surrounding Gamergate, with open discussions repeatedly being stifled from those who wish to see their respective political agendas remain unopposed by those with different opinions. Bad move but not the first time that anonymous harassers have spooked event organizers to take safety steps.
BuzzFeed sent a letter to SXSW organizers telling them the panels are taking on subjects that need to be addressed and it would withdraw from the conference if organizers do not reverse their decision.
The safety of our speakers, participants and staff is always our top priority. We all walk a line, and we have to determine if the violence is real and if backing away would open us to more threats in the future.
Now the organizers are reportedly considering an all-day forum on online harassment and a few panels, such as those talking about sports and etiquette, have declared they will too deal with the issue of harassment.
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At this rate, SXSW may become the harassment training festival. “Canceled plane tickets. A disappointed sigh”, Harper tweeted. “We’re all very passionate about this medium and sometimes we let that passion get the best of us – and that’s on both sides of the table”. Online harassment takes place “semipublicly”, though there could be hundreds and even thousands of witnesses, Brody noted.
