Someone is gay-stalkg an annoyg straight lleague

Stalkg is one of the most difficult crim to report and prosecute bee of the highly subjective nature of stalkg legislatn. Beg that the crime hg on persons' terpretatn of events, n be assumed that the terpretatns are sceptible to bias. Disparate perceptns may form based upon characteristics of the perpetrator and target, stead of the facts of the se. To date, there are no empiril studi regardg the fluence of homosexual and same-sex targets and perpetrators on third party perceptns of the suatn. This study scrib the fluence of sexualy, target genr, and relatnship between the stalker and target on perceptns of stalkg. Participants were obtaed om Introductory Psychology class at a Midwtern universy. Perceptns of stalkg such as danger and risk were measured g 12 stalkg vigt. Sexualy (heterosexual, gay, lbian), relatnship stat (uple, acquatance, stranger), and the genr of the target were manipulated to terme the effect on the participants' perceptns of stalkg. Data om 514 participants revealed signifint mean differenc for all 3 pennt variabl. Each of the three variabl signifintly impacted participants' asssment of the stalkg event. The suatn was viewed as beg ls dangero if the target was a male. If the perpetrator was a former timate then he or she was viewed as ls of a threat. Both of the trends are ngent wh fdgs om other studi published this area. Fally, if the target was homosexual or the same-sex as the perpetrator, there was actually signifintly more ncern for the parti. The fal data ntradict what rearchers hypothized. The fdgs illtrate the bias third parti' perceptn of stalkg, and may have implitns for the asssment of stalkg s.