Who is the Stalker and Who is the Victim? The Influence of Gender Ideologies in the Perception of Stalker/Victim Pairs: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

A naive representation of stalking tends to relate stalking to intimate heterosexual relationships. This representation, strengthened by statistical reports, risks interfering with people’s willingness to agree that stalking may involve stalking pairs other than the most common ‘male-against-female’ type. The current study aimed to investigate the role of benevolent and hostile sexist beliefs in how people believe a stalking pair is composed. To this aim, participants from the Italian populace were asked to evaluate how likely three stalking pairs (other than the male-against-female pair) are to occur in everyday life. A total of 226 Italian adults (females = 50%; mean age = 43.6; SD = 16.64) answered questions on how common three stalking pairs (female offender/male victim, female offender/female victim, and male offender/male victim) are and completed the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory. The results confirm that the perception of same-sex stalking pairs is driven in part by an individual’s endorsement of sexist attitudes. Specifically, benevolent sexism towards both genders leads people to agree that same-sex stalking pairs are likely to occur while hostile sexism towards women is associated with the denial of masculine stalking pairs. Moreover, the results highlight no gender-based defensive attribution in considering more or less probable nonconventional pairs. The findings show that benevolent and hostile sexist ideologies are factors that may orient understanding of stalking in the general public in opposite directions. The negative role of hostility towards women should be taken into account in prevention campaigns.