Intimate Partner Stalking and Femicide: Urgent Implications for Women’s Safety
INTRODUCTION
Stalking, as defined in the National Violence Against Women (NVAW) Survey, includes repeated (two or more) occasions of visual or physical proximity, nonconsensual communication, or verbal, written or implied threats that would cause fear in a reasonable person (Tjaden & Thoennes, 1998, 2000). Using this definition, the results of the NVAW telephone survey of 8000 U.S. women and 8000 U.S. men found 1% of the women and 0.4% of the men reported being stalked during the preceding 12 months. Eight per cent of these same women and 2% of the men reported life-long prevalence of stalking (Tjaden & Thoennes, 1998, 2000). The NVAW survey confirmed that most female victims know the stalker; strangers stalked only 23% of female victims. Overall, 62% of female victims were stalked by a current or former intimate partner, with 38% of the women reporting stalking by current or former husbands, 10% by current or former cohabiting partners, and 14% by current or former dates or boyfriends. Acquaintances