TOP TEN MISTAKES

1. Not listening to your intuition. As countless stories reveal, you need to keep your internal radar tuned to pick up signals that something might be wrong.
   
2. Letting someone down easy, instead of saying a definitive NO if your not interested in a relationship.  Trying to be nice can lead a potentially obsessive suitor to hear what he wants instead of the message that your not interested.
   
3. Ignoring the early warning signs that annoying attention might escalate into dangerous harassment and pursuit.
   
4. Responding to a stalker in any way, shape or form.  That means not acceding to your stalkers demands even once he or she has introduced threats.
   
5. Trying to reason or bargain with a stalker.  Stalking is a like a long rape.
   
6. Seeking a restraining or protective order. All to often, this one act propels stalkers to act violently.
   
7. Expecting police to solve your problems and make it go away.  Even the LAPD's Threat Management Unit says that victims have to take 100 percent responsibility for their dealing with the situation.
   
8. Taking inadequate privacy and safety precautions.
   
9. Neglecting to enlist the support of family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, therapists and other victims.  It may be tough to admit you're being stalked, but it's not your fault.  Learn how to gather the people who will constitute your first line of defense.
   
10. Ignoring your emotional needs during and after a stalking.  Do you know how to get support you need?

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Simple Avoidance Tactics