By Rachel York

What was scheduled to be an International gathering located in 43 countries around the world, taking place this past Saturday, February 6th 2016, was been cancelled due to the inability to ensure the safety and privacy of the attendees. The group, Return of Kings, is known for their online blog, which is described as a place for heterosexual, masculine men who aim to “usher the return of the masculine world.” The site states that women and homosexuals are strongly discouraged from commenting.

Accordingly, women and homosexuals were not to attend the gathering. Women were to be ignored during the meeting for reasons listed on the blog as “they may be flirting with you so as to claim assault” and “competition over women can cause conflict between men.” Men attending the event were also instructed to take photos of any female protestors to later be posted online for criticizing. Because of upheaval in the media and public over articles on the blog, there was expected to be a level of civil unrest and therefore heavier law enforcement.

The articles, mostly written by Roosh Valizadeh, American writer and pick-up artist, have received a great amount of attention from the mainstream media throughout recent years. The most controversial being an article titled, “How To Stop Rape” in which he satirically suggests legalizing rape on private property. While he has been called a misogynist and a rape supporter by many, Roosh has gained a large amount of supporters as well, including close to 13,000 followers on the Return of Kings Facebook page.

Just three days before the planned gathering, Roosh posted on the Return of Kings blog cancelling the event. He stated the reason for the cancellation was because he could no longer ensure the safety and privacy of the men attending. With the meeting scheduled to take place in various countries throughout the world, including known locations in Canada, The United States, and Australia, several groups of people began to organize together to protest at the various supposed meet up locations. When one group out of Toronto heard that Roosh and his followers were planning to meet in the area, the Toronto Newsgirls Boxing Club decided they would also attend the event. Knowing that the attendees had been instructed to take photos of female protestors, their intent was to show women that being powerful is an option.

After cancelling the meet up, Roosh, the self-proclaimed “King of Masculinity”, appears to have moved into his mother’s basement after fearing for his safety upon receiving death threats.