What is stalking?
Stalking is the deliberate and persistent following, watching, and/or harassing of someone, usually in order to force a relationship onto that person. This behaviour often manifests through direct messages, online platforms, and unsolicited gifts. Stalkers may also engage in intimidating behaviours like loitering near the victim’s home or workplace, spying, following, and occasionally trespassing. [1]
Stalking involves unwanted contact or surveillance aimed at scaring and controlling individuals. Many stalkers utilise technology to monitor, coerce, manipulate, and discredit their victims’ credibility and reputation. [2] Furthermore, technology facilitates stalking by allowing the deployment of surveillance tools and tactics [3] which may include excessive messaging, online surveillance, location tracking, requesting passwords, and unauthorised account access. [4]
Some hard facts about stalking
- 33% of women have been victims of stalking at some point in their lives. [5]
- The majority of victims are women (78%) while most perpetrators (87%) are men. [6]
- Prior relationships between victim and stalker include marriage (57%), cohabitation (25%), long-term relationship but not living together (24%), and casual dating (15%). Approximately two-thirds of victims were subjected to domestic violence in their previous relationship with the stalker. [7]
- 80% of stalking victims have experienced stalking through technological means. [4]
- 25% of stalking victims reported experiencing cyberstalking including e-mail (83%) and instant messaging (35%). [11]
Types of stalking
Stalking takes on various forms, including but not limited to cyberstalking, erotomania, obsessional stalking, physical stalking, and revenge stalking. [8]
Physical stalking
Cyberstalking
- Cyber or online stalking entails using digital means to harass a victim via messaging apps, emails, or social media [8] including utilising tracking tools and sending and sharing threatening as well as defamatory messages and content.
- Cyberstalking can be manifested as digital identity theft, harassment through chat rooms or baiting, monitoring the victim’s internet usage, profane emails, spamming, and spreading malware.
- In extreme cases, perpetrators are likely to breach victims’ accounts or access personal information. [8]
- Cyberstalking could transition to offline stalking including direct confrontations, threatening phone calls, and trespassing, as well as vandalism.
Obsessional stalking
- An obsessional stalker develops an intense fixation on an individual and one likely to nurture persistent and intrusive actions for the purpose of gaining the victim’s attention.
- Stalkers perceive a strong bond with the victim while disregarding their feelings and boundaries, bringing about considerable psychological distress.
Revenge stalking
- Targets someone to retaliate for a perceived wrongdoing, with the stalker settling the score and driven by a need to dominate the victim. [8]
Erotomania
- Erotomania, a psychological delusional disorder, involves the stalker believing that their victim, often a higher-status individual like a celebrity, is in love with them. [8]
- The stalker is likely to interpret gestures or non-verbal cues as coded messages.
- The delusions can trigger perilous behaviour and induce emotional distress on both subjects (victim and the person suffering from erotomania). [8]
Signs of stalking
- Persistent unsolicited contact like calls, emails, social media, and texts that show an unhealthy obsession with the victim.
- Persistent unsolicited gifts or messages.
- Surveillance and monitoring of online activities including emails and social media.
- Violent or invasive behaviour toward a victim, such as following that person, showing up without invitation at events, and wandering around a victim’s workplace or home. [9]
The consequences of stalking
The repercussions of stalking can be deep and persistent, significantly affecting the emotional, mental, and physical well-being of the victim.
Physical
- Exacerbation or emergence of conditions, including eczema, gastric ulcers, or psoriasis [8]
- Damage to property
- High blood pressure due to chronic stress
- Insomnia [10]
- Bodily injury
- Possible loss of employment
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sleep disturbances and nightmares
- Weight gain or loss [8]
Psychological and emotional
- Agoraphobia – fear of leaving one’s home and consistent insecurity when outdoors [8]
- Difficulty concentrating
- Disruptions in daily life
- Emotional numbness
- Guilt and self-blame [8]
- Helplessness
- Loss of self-esteem
- Panic attacks and anxiety [8]
- PTSD
- Self-blame
- Severe depression relative to the general population [10]
- Shame
- Suicidal thoughts or actions [8]
Socio-economic
- Possible loss of employment
- Substance abuse [12]
- Social dysfunction [10]
Footnotes and Further Reading
[1] “What is stalking?”, Stalking Risk Profile.
[3] “Stalking and monitoring”, 1800RESPECT.
[5] “Stalking fact sheet”, Stalking Prevention, Awareness, and Resource Center (SPARC), 2018.
[8] “Everything you need to know about Stalking”, CPD Online, 2023.
[9] “5 Signs of a Stalker”, Psych Central.
[10] “Stalking”, Office for Victims of Crime.
[11] “Stalking Victimization in the United States”, U.S. Department of Justice, 2009.
[12] “Identifying types of stalking and their harmful effects”, CASA.
Video Credits and Further Viewing
[1] “What is stalking?”, White Ribbon Australia .
[2] “Context is Key: Recognizing and Responding to Stalking”, SPARC.