Stalking is a major issue in the United States, with 1 in 5 women and 1 in 10 men victims of stalking at some point in their lives. And the internet has provided stalkers with more opportunities to make unwelcome approaches to victims, with modern-day online harassment (cyberstalking) adding an unwelcome dimension.
This study will consider the extent and danger of cyberstalking. We’ll look at how widespread cyberstalking is, how it compares to traditional stalking, who suffers the most, how victims are affected, and other permutations of cyberstalking, including how law enforcement follow-up to stalking complaints can often make the issue worse.
Before we look at those issues in detail, let’s first take a broad measure of how prevalent stalking is in the U.S.
Stalking In The U.S.
According to a survey carried out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in the U.S., more than 1 in 5 women (22.5% or 28.8 million) and around 1 in 10 men (9.7% or about 11.9 million) say they’ve been stalked.
During the 12 months prior to this survey, 1 in 20 women (5.5% or 7.0 million) and 1 in 33 men (3.0% or 3.7 million) reported that they were stalked. Across the country (apart from one state that did not provide figures), the proportion of women who’ve been stalked ranges between 15.6% and 35.2%; based on available data, for men, the figure is 10.6%.
While we all broadly know what stalking is, it’s worth considering a breakdown of stalking practices, firstly, regarding female victims.
Types of Stalking Among Female Victims
According to the CDC survey, in just over three-quarters (78.3%) of cases, female stalking victims were followed, watched, or spied on (78.3%).
The vast majority (74.2%) were also approached in locations such as their home, workplace, or school without their consent or prior arrangement (74.2%). Almost 7 in 10 (69.2%) female stalking victims also received unwanted phone calls, voice messages, emails, and texts.
In nearly all female stalking cases (98.7%), victims felt afraid, threatened, or concerned for either their own safety or the safety of others. Additionally, more than half (52.4%) of female stalking victims were threatened with physical harm, and 85.2% suffered significant mental or emotional after-effects.
The effects of stalking are far-reaching: the previous examples represent just some of its damaging effects. Here are some additional notable aspects of female stalking.
- Nearly half (46.8%) of female stalking victims received unwanted attention via social media.
- Over 1 in 3 (36.3%) suggested that a stalker used social media to monitor their communication and track their location.
- More than 1 in 3 (37.3%) female stalking victims received unwanted cards, letters, flowers, and gifts.
- In 43.1% of cases, a stalker snuck into a victim’s property (home or car) to scare or unsettle them.
- Many victims were harassed with the aid of contemporary technology. Some were tracked with GPS technology (15.6%), while others were non-consensually monitored via computer software, apps, or other stalkerware (20.1%).
- Over 1 in 10 (12.6%) female stalking victims were observed via a hidden camera.
Let’s see how male stalking victim figures compare. Generally, the statistics are quite similar.
Types of Stalking Among Male Victims
Just over 3 out of 4 (75.9%) male stalking victims were followed, watched, or spied on (75.9%), with nearly 2 in 3 (63.9%) non-consensually approached in their home, at their workplace, or in school.
Nearly 7 in 10 (69.1%) male stalking victims received unwanted phone calls, voice messages, emails, and texts.
More than half (53.9%, slightly more than women) of male stalking victims received unwanted messages via social media. Over 2 in 5 (43.8%) stated that the perpetrator used social media to monitor their communication or track their location.
More than 1 in 4 (26.0%, significantly less than women) male stalking victims received unwanted cards, letters, flowers, or gifts. In 45.7% of cases, a stalker snuck into their property to scare them.
Here’s a brief summary of some other stalking factors. The percentages represent the proportion of male stalking victims who were subject to the factor in question.
- Tracked via GPS technology (29.3%).
- Monitored non-consensually with computer software, apps, or other stalkerware (25.0%).
- Spied on with a hidden camera (19.5%).
- Became fearful and worried about their own safety or the safety of others (91.4%).
- Threatened with physical harm (63.8%).
- Suffered serious mental or emotional consequences (71.6%).
The Financial and Career Cost Of Stalking
Victims of stalking don’t just face the physical and emotional fallout of harassment: often, their careers and finances also suffer. Work days lost to intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and stalking over victims’ lifetimes cost an estimated $137.8 billion.
17% of stalking victims say various forms of harassment have led to the loss of a job or a job opportunity, while 1 in 8 lose time from work due to stalking, more than half losing five days of work or more.
Stalking is so bad for 1 in 7 victims that they ultimately end up moving away, which often affects their work and may even result in them leaving a role. Stalking victims also suffer comparatively high rates of depression, anxiety, insomnia, and social dysfunction, which affect work performance.
Among stalking victims, job losses were highest while a victim was in the process of trying to resolve their stalking problem; for those who experienced a job loss due to stalking, more than half talked to their coworkers, and a third talked to their supervisors about the situation.
Among a sample of cyberstalking victims, 48% described negative work consequences. 48% had difficulty concentrating at work, with 19% describing a workplace accident or near miss due to preoccupation with their relationship.
Stalker Misuse of Work Resources
64% of stalkers pursue their victims at least once per week, while 78% use more than one stalking tactic. Intimate partner stalkers are those most likely to approach, threaten, and harm their victims, and to assault third parties. And when it comes to using work resources or stalking while at work, stalkers cost their employers plenty of time and money.
78% of intimate partner stalkers who use violence also used workplace resources at least once to express remorse or anger, monitor, pressure, or threaten the victim.
74% had easy access to their intimate partner’s workplace, with 21% violating a no-contact order by contacting the victim at work. 42% of stalkers were also late to work, with 25% visiting the victim’s house while on the clock.
Workplace Stalker Policies
In terms of protecting victims of stalking, just 31% of surveyed workplaces had a formal policy on stalking in place. A further 56% without a stalking policy had no plans to introduce one, although the remaining 14% planned to introduce a policy within 12 months.
Stalking survivors who shared positive experiences regarding workplace support describe feeling listened to, appreciating how seriously their immediate supervisor took their worries about stalking, having regular formal workplace meetings that helped them deal with the stalking, and taking workplace steps to manage their safety.
Negative workplace experiences include a stalking victim being blamed for the situation, their experience not being taken seriously, the underplaying of their fears, and the victim being left to manage their stalker without any help, making them feel isolated.
When we consider stalking, we also need to account for and focus on a relatively modern aspect of the problem: cyberstalking. Cyberstalking has made stalking significantly worse in some respects, since it provides far more opportunities for a stalker to harass, observe, manipulate, and threaten their victim.
Cyberstalking: Statistics and Features
Of the 7.5 million people in the U.S. who are victims of cyberstalking every year, the average age of a victim is 44 years old. Women are more likely to experience the problem and account for about 73% of victims.
Victims of cyberstalking suffer an increase in anxiety and depression, yet only 11% of cyberstalking incidents are reported to law enforcement. It’s little wonder when we consider associated statistics: 55% of cyberstalking victims don’t believe that law enforcement takes the problem seriously, 25% find law enforcement intervention ‘unsatisfactory’, and 41% of cyberstalking victims say the intervention was not enough to deter the stalker from continuing their harassment.
45% of cyberstalking victims report feeling very or extremely distressed, while 54% of cyberstalkers are either acquaintances of the victim or ex-partners (80% also know the perpetrator in some way).
Around 32% of cyberstalking victims have received threatening messages, with a typical cyberstalking incident lasting more than six months and often up to two years.
The most common way victims are cyberstalked is via social media, which is involved in 78% of cases. Cyberstalking is often serious enough that 60% of victims stop using social media altogether. 55% of cyberstalking victims have been subject to repeated unwanted messages or emails.
83% of cyberstalkers use multiple online platforms to harass their victims. The majority of cyberstalking cases involve digital stalking via a combination of texts, emails, and social media.
Approximately 85% of cyberstalking cases involve some form of online monitoring or tracking, with 14% of cyberstalking victims having their accounts hacked into by their stalker.
Overall, the economic cost of cyberstalking in the U.S., if we factor in legal fees and lost productivity, is estimated at over $1.3 billion every year.
Getting a Grip on Cyberstalking
Cyberstalking is a serious issue. Via the misuse of various apps and platforms, modern-day stalkers now have a wide variety of ways to harass a victim. With 1 in 5 women and 1 in 10 men in the U.S. victims of stalking, and around half of all stalking victims subject to some form of cyberstalking, it’s clear that contemporary technology has, for some, become a harassment asset.
And it’s not simply a matter of stalkers sending unwanted texts and emails via social media: computer tracking software and GPS can assist stalkers looking to follow and monitor their victims.
Cyberstalking is insidious and invasive, and can mean a victim’s whereabouts are at all times known to a stalker, which can lead to serious consequences, particularly if a relationship features a history of violence or aggressive harassment.
Cyberstalking is often serious enough that 60% of victims stop using social media altogether
Yet there are things that can be done to limit the prevalence of a growing cyberstalking problem. Firstly, cyberstalking is a significant problem that should be treated as such: reports of revictimization at the hands of law enforcement that fail to accept the gravity of the issue create a disappointing precedent, and a failure by the authorities to offer enough of a deterrent can further endanger victims.
Stalkerware – software used to keep track of victims – is often missold as a child-monitoring asset. More regulatory control might be necessary to limit the use of such potentially dangerous tools.
Additionally, with over a billion dollars lost every year due to cyberstalking, and 56% of companies having no apparent plan to put a cyberstalking policy in place, it’s perhaps time for workplaces to do more to both protect their employees and their financial well-being.
And the organizations in charge of popular social media apps could surely do more to flag up potential stalker behavior in order to safeguard victims of stalking.
Ultimately, the emotional and mental health of countless American people and the financial health of thousands of workplaces will remain highly vulnerable to stalkers without tighter regulations and higher levels of enforcement.
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