The Virgin Mobile Stalker Ads
Ok, maybe it’s the background music. Maybe it’s the creepy girl sitting in a tree outside her boyfriend’s apartment. Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve been working in victim services for far too long, in some fashion or another. Maybe it’s the fact that I worked solely with DV victims for about 5 years. Maybe it’s my left-of-center orientation. Regardless of WHY it creeps me out, the Virgin Mobile ads with the creepy stalker chick totally freak me out and it makes me really upset that Virgin Mobile is using a legitimate and dangerous problem, stalking, and making light of it. In doing so, it comes across as “stalking isn’t that bad” which means that people who complain about stalking are often blowing things out of proportion.
Here’s what the facts are: 3.4 million people in the United States over the age of 18 are stalked every year (http://www.ncvc.org/src/main.aspx?dbID=DB_statistics195). Of women who are stalked, for whom there are more stats than men (sadly), 81% of women who are stalked by a current or former partner are also physically assaulted by that person. 31% are sexually assaulted by them (http://www.ncadv.org/files/DomesticViolenceFactSheet(National).pdf). 3 in 4 victims of stalking are stalked by someone they know, and 30% of the time it’s by an intimate partner (http://www.ncvc.org/src/main.aspx?dbID=DB_statistics195). Here’s my favorite: 1 in 4 victims of stalking report that they are stalked using some form of technology, such as email and instant messaging (http://www.ncvc.org/src/main.aspx?dbID=DB_statistics195).
Here’s some that relate to women who are also victims of domestic violence homicide:
“* 76% of intimate partner femicide victims have been stalked by their intimate partner.
* 67% had been physically abused by their intimate partner.
* 89% of femicide victims who had been physically assaulted had also been stalked in the 12 months before their murder.
* 79% of abused femicide victims reported being stalked during the same period that they were abused.
* 54% of femicide victims reported stalking to police before they were killed by their stalkers.”
(http://www.ncvc.org/src/main.aspx?dbID=DB_statistics195)
Sadly the statistics don’t exist for male victims of stalking and domestic violence because it’s not seen as great of a problem. Domestic violence is a field focused mainly on heterosexual and cisgendered women who are victims because this is the most often reported form of domestic violence. That does not mean that there aren’t instances where men are killed by stalkers who are also women who are intimate partners. It doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist in the LGBT community. The overwhelming majority of reported (both to law enforcement and to domestic violence victim services) DV is where the man is the perpetrator and women are the victim. This, however, is not my point.
My point is that stalking isn’t that funny. My point is that stalking is actually a very serious, dangerous risk to victims of stalking. It’s intrusive, abusive, and scary. It doesn’t matter what gender you are. And the fact that Virgin Mobile seems to be ok with making light of it (and inadvertently instructing people who to do it) downplays the risk and severity of the issue.
That being said, I’m stepping off my soapbox briefly. Ah, who am I kidding, I live up here.
(cross posted to The View From Left Field.)
Here’s what the facts are: 3.4 million people in the United States over the age of 18 are stalked every year (http://www.ncvc.org/src/main.aspx?dbID=DB_statistics195). Of women who are stalked, for whom there are more stats than men (sadly), 81% of women who are stalked by a current or former partner are also physically assaulted by that person. 31% are sexually assaulted by them (http://www.ncadv.org/files/DomesticViolenceFactSheet(National).pdf). 3 in 4 victims of stalking are stalked by someone they know, and 30% of the time it’s by an intimate partner (http://www.ncvc.org/src/main.aspx?dbID=DB_statistics195). Here’s my favorite: 1 in 4 victims of stalking report that they are stalked using some form of technology, such as email and instant messaging (http://www.ncvc.org/src/main.aspx?dbID=DB_statistics195).
Here’s some that relate to women who are also victims of domestic violence homicide:
“* 76% of intimate partner femicide victims have been stalked by their intimate partner.
* 67% had been physically abused by their intimate partner.
* 89% of femicide victims who had been physically assaulted had also been stalked in the 12 months before their murder.
* 79% of abused femicide victims reported being stalked during the same period that they were abused.
* 54% of femicide victims reported stalking to police before they were killed by their stalkers.”
(http://www.ncvc.org/src/main.aspx?dbID=DB_statistics195)
Sadly the statistics don’t exist for male victims of stalking and domestic violence because it’s not seen as great of a problem. Domestic violence is a field focused mainly on heterosexual and cisgendered women who are victims because this is the most often reported form of domestic violence. That does not mean that there aren’t instances where men are killed by stalkers who are also women who are intimate partners. It doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist in the LGBT community. The overwhelming majority of reported (both to law enforcement and to domestic violence victim services) DV is where the man is the perpetrator and women are the victim. This, however, is not my point.
My point is that stalking isn’t that funny. My point is that stalking is actually a very serious, dangerous risk to victims of stalking. It’s intrusive, abusive, and scary. It doesn’t matter what gender you are. And the fact that Virgin Mobile seems to be ok with making light of it (and inadvertently instructing people who to do it) downplays the risk and severity of the issue.
That being said, I’m stepping off my soapbox briefly. Ah, who am I kidding, I live up here.
(cross posted to The View From Left Field.)