LadyPact
Posts: 32566
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So, New Mod and I have been talking the last couple of days and we came to an understanding about giving this topic it's own thread. The idea is to share experiences, advice, and anything else that can try to help people. Hopefully, we're going to do it in a way that the Mod doesn't have to do a bunch of edits/removals. Somebody's going to ask, so I might as well answer the question. Why is this thread going to General BDSM Discussion, rather than Off Topic. (It might get moved for all I know.) One reason for that is because I happen to be of the opinion that we've got a higher rate in our kink communities than our vanilla counterparts. On another thread, I listed the stat that one in twelve women will have a stalker in her lifetime. If I asked twelve (vanilla) women in my neighborhood, I'd probably find the one who has had a stalker. If I asked twelve women at the local dungeon and I only found one, I'd probably be shocked. Also, really big for me is I want to put out there that I am not a member of the "cops or it doesn't count" brigade. Stalking doesn't become 'more real' just because it is reported nor should be considered 'less real' if it's not. It's really a very personal thing and there are a number of valid reasons why a person might choose not to report. I'm not trying to discourage anyone from reporting but I am going to tell you the truth about it. The whole 'go to the cops' thing does not work like you see on tv. You don't go to the authorities, tell them your complaint, you leave, and from there they do all of the work for you. Count on doing a lot of the work yourself. Hey, you're the one who knows what's happening to you, so that's really not that bad of a deal. The one thing the authorities are going to ask for right up front is what they call a cease and desist statement. All this is, basically, where you've told your stalker to leave you alone. They actually rate which methods are considered 'best'. Email actually tops the list because if the other person ever uses that email account again, it's considered read. Next comes certified postal mail. (If they sign for it, also considered read.) Verbally with a witness present comes in third. Some key points about this. You don't ask them to leave you alone, you TELL them to leave you alone. Do not say things like maybe you can be friends later. Do not make any apologies. Do not give the other person any indication that they can contact you again. (Oddly enough, I apologized to the person I was reporting *to* because my written thing had a few occasions where I dropped the f-bomb. Had I known I was going to need this thing someday, I might have used better language.) From that point on, everything goes in something called your incident log. That's a cute legal term for 'document everything that happens to you'. Every email you receive from the other person, every instant message, phone call, text, regular postal (snail) mail, anything that comes to your house, messages left for you at businesses, gifts you receive, or anything else. If family and friends get contacted, have them send you the emails they received or write you a statement about the particulars. Even journal entries the other person has written where they talk about looking for you, following you, etc, take the screen shot. I don't want to sound rude about this part but it's how it was told to me. It is not my/your job to decide what's important, big, little, etc things were. Give the documentation to them and let them do their job. If your stalker is what's known as an intimate partner stalker, (that's 59% for women and 30% for men who are victims) within a certain time frame, you might get more help because some of this crosses over into domestic violence laws. You might also get classified this way if any of the stalking, messaging, gifts, contacts, etc are of a sexual and/or romantic nature. A quick word to het males with a female stalker. Guys, you are the most under reported category. I get it. I really do. A lot of men don't come forward and a lot of men won't even talk about it *unless* the other person is going to understand the experience. Sometimes, this just allows female perpetrators to get away with more shit. If you don't want to report, ok, but at least keep your evidence. My apologies for the original being so long but I'd really like to ask for contributions from other posters now. I know I left out a lot, so you guys can help fill in the gaps. Thank you for taking the time to read, respond, and discuss.
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The crowned Diva of Destruction. ~ ExT Beach Ball Sized Lady Nuts. ~ TWD Happily dating a new submissive. It's official. I've named him engie. Please do not send me email here. Unless I know you, I will delete the email unread
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