llustration by Constanza Figueroa for GenderIT.org
One or more people have put their eyes on you. Perhaps they know you from in-person encounters, locate your digital personal identity, or have interacted on networks operated by your collective or organisation. And now that person (or group) has decided, without asking anyone, that a substantial portion of their time will be devoted to pursuing you and exposing you, causing severe effects on your mental health.
Concerned, you wonder: Am I really so important to this person? How do the rights or existences we defend offend them so deeply? What have I done to deserve this? It’s as if the stalker plans their whole life around yours, having decided that what you’re doing warrants a major punishment.
Why is it so hard to get out of a situation of online harassment? Is there a chance that it will stay with you forever? The weight of those eyes you feel on you can paralyse you or, on the other hand, make you explode like a volcano. I would like to share some reflections and tools derived from cultivating the rage I used as compost. Structures I gradually uncovered, and thanks to which, in dialogue with friends and fellow activists, I have been able to document, because they ease my mind and, I hope, they will be of use to you as well.
Continue reading at GenderIT.org.