January: Stalking Awareness Month

January is Stalking Awareness Month. Stalking is a pattern of behavior directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear. Common stalking behaviors include (but are not limited to):  unwanted contact including phone calls, texts, and contact via social media, unwanted gifts, or approaching an individual or their family/friends, monitoring, surveillance, property damage, and threats.

Stalking and dating violence often overlap with one another, but stalking often remains misunderstood and rarely discussed. One way to start this conversation is how we see stalking portrayed in the media. For instance,  Netflix’s popular show "You" includes plenty of twists, turns, and instances of stalking. This discussion guide is a great conversation starter focused on relationships, trust, stalking, and media portrayals of stalking.

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For more information about stalking available here.