Why We Need the STALKERS Act of 2010

Back in March, Alex DiBranco wrote about ESPN sportscaster Erin Andrews' victory when her stalker Michael Barrett got 30 months in jail for secretly filming her changing clothes, trying to sell the photos, and posting the videos online. At the time, Andrews stated that she wished he had to serve longer and began speaking out about the terrifying prevalence of stalking.

The press, however, were none too kind to Andrews, and the victim-blamers came crawling out of the woodwork to attribute the harassment — of which there were over a dozen cases attributed to the same perp — to Andrews' good looks and position as a female sports reporter. You know, because in the boys-will-be-boys world of violent athletic culture, a pretty woman should have thicker skin and just accept being secretly filmed in the nude as part of her job.

More than three million women in the U.S. are stalked every year — or at least, that's the minimum number of women who report being followed and harassed — and Andrews is not the first female sports reporter to be stalked. Outside of the sports world, there are countless other women who are harassed by strangers on a daily basis commuting to work or running simple errands, and harassing and stalking is often part of a larger pattern of behavior. Stalkers may also turn violent when confronted, something every stalking victim fears.

In an emotional press conference Tuesday, Andrews took her victimization one step further towards empowerment, advocating for H.R. 5662, or the STALKERS Act of 2010 (which stands for Simplifying the Ambiguous Law, Keeping Everyone Reliably Safe Act of 2010).

While some writers were a bit dismissive of Andrews' efforts, I applaud her for lending her already very public persona to the cause that so deeply and personally affected her. Current federal anti-stalking legislation is, as Andrews pointed out, very limited in scope, and the new proposed bill would strengthen existing laws against stalkers and hopefully lead to even stricter enforcement, sentencing, and greater public awareness down the road. The law will also include newer forms of harassing technology and make space for cyberstalking behavior, a much-needed update in a time of ubiquitous information sharing.

As Andrews explained, in addition to the fact that she now takes more precautions when it comes to planning her travel and keeping it under wraps, she has to deal with the reality that her stalker only went to jail for a little over two years. She may someday feel safe again, but eventually, Barrett will be back on the streets, and the naked videos of her that he put on the internet will be there for the rest of her life.

Please sign this petition to let lawmakers know that we need the STALKERS Act of 2010.

Photo Credit: JMRosenfeld