From the Family Shelter of Southern Oklahoma
This month, The Family Shelter of Southern Oklahoma invites you to join our efforts to spread awareness about stalking through the theme “KNOW IT, NAME IT, STOP IT.” January 2025 marks the twenty-first annual National Stalking Awareness Month (NSAM), an annual call to action to recognize and respond to this criminal, traumatic, and dangerous victimization of intrusive, persistent, and often obsessive pursuit behaviors.
Nearly 1 in 3 women and 1 in 6 men in the U.S. experience stalking in their lifetimes, but too often it goes unrecognized and unaddressed. It takes all of us – advocacy and support services, legal systems, and victims/survivors and their friends and family – to better recognize and respond to stalking.
Stalking is defined as a pattern of behavior directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear or emotional distress. As fear is highly personal, so is stalking; stalkers often engage in behaviors that seem benign to outsiders but are terrifying in context. Most stalkers target people that they know, and the majority of stalkers are intimate partners or acquaintances who know about the victim’s vulnerabilities and fears. Individual incidents in the pattern may or may not be criminal acts; common stalking tactics include unwanted calls/texts/ emails/messages, showing up uninvited, spreading rumors, and following and watching the victim.
Survivors often suffer anxiety, social dysfunction, and severe depression as a result of their victimization, and many lose time from work and/ or relocate. Stalking can impact every aspect of a survivor’s life, yet many victims, families, service providers, criminal and civil justice professionals, and the general public underestimate its danger and urgency. The vast majority of victims tell friends or family about their situation first, and how we respond influences whether they seek further help.
“We all have a role to play in identifying stalking, intervening when necessary, and supporting victims and survivors,” said Executive Director, Kathy Manning. The Family Shelter of Southern Oklahoma is calling on you to join our efforts to Know It, Name It, Stop It – learn how to get involved with the Family Shelter of Southern Oklahoma by visiting https:// familyshelterofsouthernok. net/.
The Family Shelter’s mission is to provide safety, relief and support for persons who have suffered physical and emotional abuse as a result of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking. Contact our 24-hour crisis line at 580226-6424 if you or someone you know has been a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking.