What is stalking? How do we define it? It seems as though everyone has their own definition; yet, all of these definitions seem relatively the same. The best and simplest of them all define stalking as such; unwanted pursuit. It can occur between strangers, intimates, coworkers, or anyone else. It includes many types of behavior but it all comes down to this: the victim does not want the actions, and the stalker threatens or causes fear to the victim. .
Anyone can be a stalker. It doesn't take much. Perhaps an individual sends a letter to someone and they send it back to the individual, well, if you continue with idea of getting in contact with this person who doesn't want to be bothered, you are now stalking. So you may ask, "What are the characteristics of stalking?" Unwanted letters, cards, gifts, threats to the person, his family, or friends, unwanted emails, or telephone calls, messages, inappropriate approaches and confrontations, appearing unexpected to home, work, or place of frequent visit, damaging property, following or watching from a distance, and physical or sexual assault are all elements of stalking. .
Up until a decade ago, attached almost exclusively to hunters and poachers. Do to the sensationalism of the word by the media; the new term was "stalking". In this word, the stalker was a prowler. This is someone who enjoyed "the hunt" of another human being. In most cases the stalker is a man, yet women do stalk men also. In numbers, of 100% 80 percent of the victims are women. In another survey, of ten, 8.1% of all women have been stalked in their lifetime compared to only 2.2% of men. So I suppose that you could say that 1 of 12 women and 1 of 45 men in America have been stalked. Also, to the surprise of most of us, stalkers do sometimes stalk the same sex. .
Stalking someone of the same sex occurs firm time to time, and it is usually only reported in the press when it involves celebrities, or other public figures.