Stalking

This is a trailer for the hit film “Fatal Attraction.” In this movie, a married man has an affair with a woman who then starts to stalk him and his family obsessively, and eventually threatens their safety. There are many media portrayals of the jilted girlfriend who begins to obsessively stalk the man that dumped her, but how often do women really engage in these sorts of behaviors?

Purcell, Pathe, and Mullen (2009) looked at the gender differences in Austrailian juveniles who had a history of stalking. They defined stalking as something that occurs when one person repeatedly inflicts unwanted intrusions on another to such an extent that the recipient fears for his or her safety. They also outline 5 categories of stalkers based on motivation, which are:

- The rejected

- The intimacy seeker

- The incompetent suitor

- The resentful

- The predatory

The Purcell, Pathe, and Mullen (2009) study obtained their sample through an archival search of court records. The male and female juvenile stalkers were compared according to their demographics and stalking characteristics. They found that male stalkers were more likely to pursue ex-intimate partners in stalking, whereas females most commonly targeted estranged friends. The study also found that female stalkers were significantly more likely to engage in same-sex stalking than males. This is interesting because it suggests that, overall, most of the victims of stalking are female.

The study also looked at motivation for stalking. Males were found to be primarily motivated by rejection, while females were mostly motivated by an extention of bullying. Males were also more likely to be motivated by sexual predation, and females were most likely to be motivated by retaliation. Females were more likely to use harassing phone calls and rumor spreading as tactics, while males were more likely to loiter. The rate of threats and physical assault didn’t differ between males and females, although males were more likely to inflict property damage.

So, how accurate is the “fatal attraction” female stalker prototype? Not very accurate, according to this research. While 36% of the sample of stalkers were female, most of them didn’t stalk ex-lovers- the male stalkers did. It was the male stalkers who stalked because they had been rejected. Female stalkers often chose old friends as their targets. The stereotype of the psycho ex-girlfriend who wont leave you alone isn’t the norm for females, or even female stalkers.

Reference:

Purcell,R., Pathe, M., & Mullen P. (2009). Gender differences in stalking behaviour among juveniles. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, 21, 555-568.