Thread by @inihelene, TO ALL WOMEN:Have you experienced online harassment or online stalking? If you [...]

TO ALL WOMEN:

Have you experienced online harassment or online stalking? If you have, can you share your experience and what help was available to you? More importantly, has it stopped?

I’d be thankful if you could RT this.

For those uncertain of what it means; “Cyberstalking is the use of the Internet or other electronic means to stalk or harass an individual, group, or organization. It may include false accusations, defamation, slander and libel-

It may also include monitoring, identity theft, threats, vandalism, solicitation for sex, or gathering information that may be used to threaten, embarrass or harass”

WOMEN: Have you been harassed online and/or stalked?

also if you are not comfortable sharing your experience publicly, feel free to DM me and I’ll share anonymously.

As I mentioned before, women are driven off social media entirely because of this

Harassment from another woman

There is often an intersection between online and offline abuse.

This is a very valid point re anonymity on social media.

Rape threats

Stalker spread photo of underage girl and police do nothing. I’m very curious as which this specific police department is.

The real trauma from stalking has little to do with the actions the stalker takes, but the way they shift the victim's perspective forever.

Women are driven off social media or having to limit their accounts because of harassment

I just want to warn you that this is extremely triggering, and probably one of the saddest exploitations of minors I’ve ever read. She was too afraid to tell her parents because of shame and consequences.

Anxiety is just one of the many offline consequences that online stalking leads to.

We NEED to do better for women. Also, online stalkers often make up scenarios in their heads. Everything you tweet or say is directed at them. Their entire lives revolve around you, including deranged delusions about you and them.

Milo Yiannopolis was one of the instigators trying to dox a woman who received hundreds of rape threats. It took her two years before she felt safe to return to twitter.

She declined a date and faced atrocious online and offline harassment. The two are often intertwined.

The part where online stalkers create fake personas/worlds about you and them, living out their fantasies about you two is genuinely deranged and terrifying. It’s *very* common. It’s all a part of their delusion.

This person was outed to their family by a stalker. The advice is often “ignore them and they’ll go away” but as seen in this thread, it’s not true. Don’t ignore the harassment, ignore the harasser. Don’t engage but always make sure you are safe.

part 1.

if someone makes you feel uncomfortable, listen to your gut feeling. it’s so easy to be tricked into doing things you don’t want to.

part 2

warning signals of stalkers are also often sob stories about how pathetic and sad their lives are, so you continue talking to them and feel bad for them.

Please amplify this. It’s important for victims of stalking and harassment in the U.K. There is an ongoing consultation. Thank you to the lovely @DrEllaC for pointing me in the right direction. https://twitter.com/live_life_safe/status/1348917639473721344

https://twitter.com/live_life_safe/status/1348917639473721344

Most women can’t even respond to this thread publicly because they are *still* being stalked. You can even become a target if you know the person being stalked.

How many are actually aware that they suffer from PTSD from online/offline stalking? Stalking and harassment have always existed, but since the internet, it has become easier for those who carry it out to do so either as an extension or purely online.

“I’ll always find you” ?!

It is not uncommon that stalkers are people you know or ex-partners. The more determined or obsessive stalkers become, the more likely they are to move from one online channel to another until your entire life is fully intruded upon. When they threaten you, they mean it.

Domestic violence victims are one of the most vulnerable groups to traditional stalking, so it’s no surprise they are vulnerable to cyberstalking as well. It’s a myth that if women “just leaves” they will be okay. Cyberstalking makes astonishingly easy to locate women. 1/2

2/2

A lot of victims feel like they have to go through this alone. You don’t have to. Tell someone. They want you to keep silent.

Threats of suicide are very prevalent amongst stalkers. It’s a tactic they deploy to keep you from reporting them and/or continuing to put up with the abuse.