Sexual Harassment Support
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Stalking
Stalking is defined as the willful and repeated following, watching, and/or harassing of another person.  
In most cases, the purpose of stalking is to force a relationship with an unwilling or unavailable target.  
The act of stalking is a continuous process, consisting of numerous incidents.  Rokkers writes,
"Stalking is a form of mental assault, in which the perpetrator repeatedly, unwantedly, and disruptively
breaks into the life-world of the victim, with whom they have no relationship (or no longer have)."  For the
most part, the separate acts that make up the intrusion cannot by themselves cause the mental abuse,
but taken together they do, as there is a cumulative effect.  

Contrary to other crimes that usually consist of a single act, stalking consists of a series of actions,
which in themselves can be legal, such as calling on the phone or sending emails.

Some stalking behaviors:

  • Waiting at the victim's workplace or in their neighborhood.
  • Persistent phone calls.
  • Surveillance: persistently watching the individual; contacting people who know the victim to
    gather information about them--such as family, neighbors, friends, colleagues, etc.; searching
    public or personal records, or the trash, for information about the victim; employing detective
    agencies to watch the victim; using cameras, audio equipment, or phone tapping
  • Manipulative behavior (for example: bringing legal action against the victim, or threatening to
    commit suicide in order to coerce the victim to intervene--all methods of forcing contact with the
    stalker)
  • Sending written messages: letters, emails, notes.
  • Sending gifts from the seemingly "romantic" (i.e. flowers and/or candy) to the bizarre (i.e.
    pornographic gifts)
  • Defamation of character: the stalker will often lie to others about the victim, trying to limit their
    options and weaken their support network.  This isolates the victim, making them seem more
    vulnerable, and gives the stalker a feeling of power and control.  
  • "Objectification": the stalker derogates the victim.  This reduces the target to an object which
    allows the stalker  to feel angry with the victim without experiencing empathy, or feel they are
    entitled to behave as they please toward the victim.  Viewing the victim as "lesser,"  "weak" or
    otherwise seriously flawed can support delusions that the victim needs to be rescued, or
    punished, by the stalker.
  • Threats and violence:  the stalker uses threats to frighten the victim; vandalism and property
    damage (usually to the victims car); physical attacks that leave abrasions and bruises (mostly
    meant to frighten); less common--physical attacks that leave serious physical injuries, or sexual
    assaults
  • Cyberstalking: electronic mediums, such as the Internet, are used to pursue, harass or contact
    another in an unsolicited fashion.  The stalker may use the Internet to tap into their target's
    computer for information using spyware.  They may loiter around forums they know their target
    frequents, even joining the forums in order to contact their target, or contact other forum
    members the target interacts with.   Cyberstalking is an extension of the physical form of stalking.
  • Gang stalking:  stalking by multiple perpetrators, or one perpetrator is able to convince others to
    assist in his/her stalking and harassing activities against a victim


Patterns:  According to the National Center For The Victims Of Crime, 1 out of every 12 women will be
stalked during her lifetime.  1 out of 45 men will be stalked during his lifetime.  Over one million women,
and nearly 380,000 men are stalked annually.  

Exactly like any other crime, behaviour, or clinical disorder, stalking exists on a continuum of severity.
The stalking may be so subtle that the victim may not even aware that it is happening, or the perpetrator
may have a sincere belief that “if they would just get to know me, they would like me”, or that “I just want
to help them,“ with no malicious intent. Most cases of stalking do not even rise to extreme levels of
violence or harassment.

Stalker traits:  Stalkers tend to obsess about their victim, and they refuse to believe that s/he does not
want a relationship with them.  Every plan the stalker makes for the future involves their victim, and the
great amount of time (and sometimes money) they spend invested in stalking often leads the stalker to
believe that continued stalking is justified.  They tend to have very weak social skills, and usually see
nothing wrong with their behavior.  (Normal individuals would be mortified to be caught following other
people, looking for information about them, tracking them on the Internet, leaving notes, and other
inappropriate behavior displayed by stalkers.)  

Few stalkers see how their actions are hurting others, and they do not believe society's rules apply to
them.  They do not believe they are threatening, intimidating, or even that they are stalking someone.   
Stalkers see all of their actions simply as attempts to get closer to their target, help them, or to gain their
love.  To the victim, it is like a "prolonged rape."    (For more information, see Types of Stalkers)

Effects of stalking:  Stalking Help, a stalking victims' resource organization based at the University of
Texas, reports some effects of stalking:

  • 93% of stalking victims indicate that being stalked had a significant negative impact on their
    personal relationships.
  • Of those victims currently in romantic relationships, 71 % indicate that being stalked created
    conflict in their romantic relationships, most often reporting that their current romantic partner
    was jealous of or intimidated by the stalker.  
  • 63% of stalking victims reported conflict in their friendships as a result of being stalked. The
    conflict was most often created by victims' unwillingness to attend social events where their
    stalker might be present and friend's frustration because they believed the victim was not doing
    enough to deter their stalker.
  • Nearly 38% of stalking victims reported losing time from school or work as a result of being
    stalked. Some indicated that they had changed jobs or transferred to another school to escape
    the always-present terror they experienced.
  • Most stalking victims reported that they were at a loss about what they could do to end their
    victimization. Most of the tactics they tried seemed to make matters worse.
  • Many of the victims reported living in perpetual fear that something might push their stalker over
    the edge and lead him to physically assault, sexually assault, or even murder them.

In addition, stalking can effect work and school performance in several ways.   The  behaviors often
interfere directly with  attendance or productivity and result in the workplace or school becoming an
unsafe location, or the victim's feeling they are unsafe. Further, stalking may indirectly affect a person's
ability to work due to the many adverse emotional consequences suffered such as headaches, poor
concentration, depression, anxiety, guilt, shame, helplessness, humiliation, gastrointestinal disorders,
and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), etc.    Home will also feel unsafe, and the victim's ability to
function and complete daily tasks will usually be affected.  (For other effects,  see Effects of Sexual
Harassment )







(Sources: 4, 5, 10, 27, 41, 48, 57, 67)