Perceptions and Experiences of Intrusive Behavior and Stalking: Comparing LGBTIQ and Heterosexual Groups.

The present research employed a mixed-methods approach and quasi-experimental design to examine perceptions and experiences of intrusive behavior (comprising 47 individual intrusive activities) within individuals identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, or queer (LGBTIQ) with a matched (in terms of age, sex, and income) sample of individuals identifying as heterosexual ( N = 214). Despite only minor differences between the LGBTIQ and heterosexual groups concerning perceptions of the acceptability of intrusive behavior, the LGBTIQ group was more likely to report experiencing a range of individual intrusive activities and to report experiencing stalking victimization (self-reported rates of 35.5% vs. 15.0%). Participant sex and personal experience of being stalked were minimally associated with perceptions of the acceptability of intrusive behavior. Sexual orientation significantly predicted whether a person had experienced stalking victimization, whereas participant sex did not. The qualitative analysis revealed that the two groups shared some experiences of intrusive behavior, whereas others represented a unique subset of intrusions that related to sexual orientation.

Experiences of stalking in same-sex and opposite-sex contexts.

Most stalking literature reports on male stalkers and female victims. This work examines stalking experiences in 4 sex dyads: male stalker-female victim, female stalker-male victim, female-female dyads, and male-male dyads. Respondents were 872 self-defined victims of stalking from the United Kingdom and the United States who completed an anonymous survey. The study variables covered the process of stalking, effects on victims and third parties, and victim responses to stalking. Approximately 10% of comparisons were significant, indicating that sex of victim and stalker is not a highly discriminative factor in stalking cases. Female victims of male stalkers were most likely to suffer physical and psychological consequences. Female victims reported more fear than males did, and most significant differences conformed to sex role stereotypes. Earlier work suggested stalker motivation and prior victim-stalker relationship as important variables in analyses of stalking, but these did not prove significant in this work, perhaps because of sampling differences.

Death, attractiveness, moral conduct, and attitudes to public figures.

In this study, 2,894 participants rated attitudes toward their favorite public figure on the Celebrity Attitude Scale. It was noted whether each figure was alive or dead, and a panel of four independent judges assessed each in terms of their moral conduct and physical attractiveness. Dead figures appealed less and were subject to lower "intense personal" celebrity worship, and death was unrelated to "borderline pathological" and "deleterious imitation" celebrity worship. Physical attractiveness was positively related to overall celebrity worship and "intense personal" celebrity worship, but negatively related to "borderline pathological" and "deleterious imitation" celebrity worship. Moral conduct was associated negatively with "deleterious imitation" celebrity worship. Results are discussed briefly in terms of their implications for research on physical attractiveness and "copycat suicide".

Islamophobia pre- and post-September 11th, 2001.

Although much academic research has addressed racism, religious discrimination has been largely ignored. The current study investigates levels of self-reported racial and religious discrimination in a sample of 222 British Muslims. Respondents indicate that following September 11th, 2001, levels of implicit or indirect discrimination rose by 82.6% and experiences of overt discrimination by 76.3%. Thus, the current work demonstrates that major world events may affect not only stereotypes of minority groups but also prejudice toward minorities. Results suggest that religious affiliation may be a more meaningful predictor of prejudice than race or ethnicity. General Health Questionnaire scores indicate that 35.6% of participants likely suffered mental health problems, with significant associations between problem-indicative scores and reports of experiencing a specific abusive incident of September 11th-related abuse by respondents. The dearth of empirical work pertaining to religious discrimination and its effects is a cause for concern.

The stalking of public figures: management and intervention.

Public figures are at relatively high risk of unusual contact initiated by fixated individuals. Prior research on managing the threat presented by public figure stalkers concludes that although direct threats rarely precede attacks, there is usually evidence of pre-planning. Furthermore, some public figure attackers do attempt to communicate with their future intended victim prior to attack. Thus, early warning signs from unusual contact behavior can be a powerful tool in threat assessment and risk management. The current paper offers a systematic concept for managing public figure stalking and constitutes five stages: (i) screening, (ii) first analysis, (iii) passive research, (iv) active research and finally (v) considered management strategy. It is concluded that assessment and management of risk are dynamic procedures, requiring ongoing monitoring and flexibility. Furthermore, although different stalkers will engage in ostensibly similar behavior, their motives and underlying psychopathologies may vary considerably. As such, all interventions require individual construction.

Stalking: knowns and unknowns.

The current work reviews literature on the nature of stalking. Despite its nebulous nature and differing legal and clinical definitions of stalking, researchers and practitioners are referring to the same phenomenon. Stalking is chronic, consisting of a number of nuisance behaviors that appear consistent over countries and samples. Different categorizations of stalkers and their victims exist, but ex-partner stalkers are a distinctive category with respect to their prevalence, violence risk, and attrition rate. Different samples and definitions and false victimization reports obscure reliable lifetime prevalence estimates, but these appear to be around 12%-16% among women and 4%-7% among men. Stalking has deleterious effects on victims but some of the effects may be the result of stalking's exacerbating of existing vulnerabilities. Future research should focus on subgroups of stalkers and their victims, on cross-cultural investigations, and on the co-occurrence of stalking with other crimes.