Are You Being Stalked? A Women"s Guide To Survival - Part 1
I first noticed the use of the term stalking when I was a police officer in the 1990's.
Stalking is an anomaly that seems to be derived from a person's will to control another.
It has become a serious safety concern for people, especially women and seems to becoming a more serious threat that people recognize.
I have been approached by many stalking victims for help, both in the way of self-defense skill development, recognition/ awareness, vulnerability assessments, investigative services, counter/ anti- stalking activities or plain old protection from the people who would stalk my clients.
Stalking is a term commonly used to refer to unwanted, obsessive attention by individuals (and sometimes groups of people) to others.
Stalking behaviors are related to harassment and intimidation.
The word "stalking" is used, with some differing meanings, in psychology and psychiatry and also in some legal jurisdictions as a term for a criminal offense.
It may also be used to refer to criminal offences or civil wrongs that include conduct which some people consider to be stalking, such as those described in law as "harassment" or similar terms.
In the United States last year, approximately 3.
4 million victims reported being stalked.
These are some quick statistics on stalking: • 3.
4 million people over the age of 18 are stalked each year in the United States.
• 3 in 4 stalking victims are stalked by someone they know.
• 30% of stalking victims are stalked by a current or former intimate partner.
• 10% of stalking victims are stalked by a stranger.
• Persons aged 18-24 years experience the highest rate of stalking.
• 11% of stalking victims have been stalked for 5 years or more.
• 46% of stalking victims experience at least one unwanted contact per week.
• 1 in 4 victims report being stalked through the use of some form of technology (such as e-mail or instant messaging).
• 10% of victims report being monitored with global positioning systems (GPS), and 8% report being monitored through video or digital cameras, or listening devices.
Many victims of stalking have many negative ramifications of being stalked including loss of their employment.
Last year, 130,000 victims of stalking reported that they lost their jobs or were asked to leave their employment because of being stalked.
Of course, there are many other negative impacts of stalking for victims.
I have noticed a rise in women who file for divorce being stalked.
This can present many problems for the victims on an ongoing basis.
Children are involved in many of the circumstances and women often resist their reactions to protect themselves in hopes of keeping a "normal" existence for their children.
The man often perpetrates certain actions and the woman acts like nothing is happening around her kids and when the man is present for custody exchange.
These situations present unique problems and require different solutions.
Generally, I recommend certain tactics to deal with stalking and turning the tables on the stalker to stop the criminal's actions.
Safety of the victim is the first order of business.
The victim might know of actions that are being taken against her while in many cases she won't know what is being done, based on the man's attempts to hide the behavior and or using devices to track a victim's patterns, actions or even recording them in their own home.
Recognition is the first step.
Man women write off their natural survival instincts as "being over cautious or being crazy.
" I like to say that a women's intuition is perfect and they should always react when they feel something physically as opposed to think it.
If they have a physical reaction to a situation this is not normally a cognitive function that can be explained.
In the end, survival is a primal function and a women's body is always sensing its environment to survive.
Certain situations or vulnerabilities will cause different responses or thoughts that I recommend that women turn into actual responses.
This is the first of a series of writings on stalking, recognition, prevention, countermeasures, safety, self-defense, survival and re-building of one's life after the crime of stalking.
Stalking is an anomaly that seems to be derived from a person's will to control another.
It has become a serious safety concern for people, especially women and seems to becoming a more serious threat that people recognize.
I have been approached by many stalking victims for help, both in the way of self-defense skill development, recognition/ awareness, vulnerability assessments, investigative services, counter/ anti- stalking activities or plain old protection from the people who would stalk my clients.
Stalking is a term commonly used to refer to unwanted, obsessive attention by individuals (and sometimes groups of people) to others.
Stalking behaviors are related to harassment and intimidation.
The word "stalking" is used, with some differing meanings, in psychology and psychiatry and also in some legal jurisdictions as a term for a criminal offense.
It may also be used to refer to criminal offences or civil wrongs that include conduct which some people consider to be stalking, such as those described in law as "harassment" or similar terms.
In the United States last year, approximately 3.
4 million victims reported being stalked.
These are some quick statistics on stalking: • 3.
4 million people over the age of 18 are stalked each year in the United States.
• 3 in 4 stalking victims are stalked by someone they know.
• 30% of stalking victims are stalked by a current or former intimate partner.
• 10% of stalking victims are stalked by a stranger.
• Persons aged 18-24 years experience the highest rate of stalking.
• 11% of stalking victims have been stalked for 5 years or more.
• 46% of stalking victims experience at least one unwanted contact per week.
• 1 in 4 victims report being stalked through the use of some form of technology (such as e-mail or instant messaging).
• 10% of victims report being monitored with global positioning systems (GPS), and 8% report being monitored through video or digital cameras, or listening devices.
Many victims of stalking have many negative ramifications of being stalked including loss of their employment.
Last year, 130,000 victims of stalking reported that they lost their jobs or were asked to leave their employment because of being stalked.
Of course, there are many other negative impacts of stalking for victims.
I have noticed a rise in women who file for divorce being stalked.
This can present many problems for the victims on an ongoing basis.
Children are involved in many of the circumstances and women often resist their reactions to protect themselves in hopes of keeping a "normal" existence for their children.
The man often perpetrates certain actions and the woman acts like nothing is happening around her kids and when the man is present for custody exchange.
These situations present unique problems and require different solutions.
Generally, I recommend certain tactics to deal with stalking and turning the tables on the stalker to stop the criminal's actions.
Safety of the victim is the first order of business.
The victim might know of actions that are being taken against her while in many cases she won't know what is being done, based on the man's attempts to hide the behavior and or using devices to track a victim's patterns, actions or even recording them in their own home.
Recognition is the first step.
Man women write off their natural survival instincts as "being over cautious or being crazy.
" I like to say that a women's intuition is perfect and they should always react when they feel something physically as opposed to think it.
If they have a physical reaction to a situation this is not normally a cognitive function that can be explained.
In the end, survival is a primal function and a women's body is always sensing its environment to survive.
Certain situations or vulnerabilities will cause different responses or thoughts that I recommend that women turn into actual responses.
This is the first of a series of writings on stalking, recognition, prevention, countermeasures, safety, self-defense, survival and re-building of one's life after the crime of stalking.
Source...