Introduction

The intimacy seekers and the incompetent suitors are, in combination, among the most numerous and persistent of stalkers. Both groups are attempting to establish a relationship with the object of their unwanted attentions. They pursue acquaintances and strangers on whom they have focussed their interest. It is usually among these two types of stalker that the ‘star stalkers’ who pursue the famous are to be found. Although there are similarities between the intimacy seekers and the incompetent suitors with regard both to their behaviours and to the factors that predispose to their embarking on stalking, we argue below there are sufficient differences to distinguish between the two types.

Those who view stalking primarily in the context of violence against women, often emphasize that those who stalk a hoped-for partner are showing insensitivity and the desire to dominate rather than necessarily being psychiatrically disturbed, let alone pursuing some misguided quest for love. Emerson et al. (1998) clearly articulated the view that such stalking is a product of social pathology, not individual psychopathology. They argued that the behaviour arises from a one-sided attempted to create a relationship which ignores the legitimate interests and rights of the object of these unwanted attentions. Emerson et al. (1998) were forthright in their opposition to pathologising the stalker.