Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Facebook encourages women to stalk ex-boyfriends


London: A study has found that women are finding it increasingly difficult to move on once a relationship has ended and that Facebook provides them the perfect means to stalk their ex-boyfriends.

Experts have likened the habit of following ex-boyfriends on the web to the lure of online gambling.

And according to the first British study into cyber-stalking, around 35 percent of victims are now men, and all cases are virtually committed by women.

But offline, just 8 percent of harassment victims are male, with female stalkers a rarity.

Dr Emma Short, a psychologist at the University of Bedfordshire, has had hundreds of responses to an online survey as part of her research with the Network for Surviving Stalking.

Her findings reveal women leave unwanted messages for their ex-partners on their Facebook pages, send inappropriate emails and set up fake accounts to lure them into communicating with them.

“Facebook makes stalking more acceptable and removes the aspect of physical fear,” the Daily Mail quoted her as saying.

“Women who would not be able to overpower men physically can have a go at them online,” she added.

ANI

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