Thread by @thetimes

James Bloodworth (@J_Bloodworth) had a brief fling while travelling in the US in 2019. So far, so normal. It was after he returned to the UK that the abuse and the death threats began. thetimes.co.uk/article/me-my-…

“The messages themselves were an incoherent mess: sometimes they contained threats to ‘get me’, at other times incitements to kill myself,” says James.

“Friends and ex-girlfriends forwarded me private, embarrassing photos of me that my stalker somehow had access to.”

“A fake email account sprang up in my name. Two mass emails were subsequently sent to employers, colleagues and God knows who else. The emails alleged I was a drug addict.”

“Other accounts sprang up on social media accusing me of being a sex offender, an animal abuser, a drug dealer.

“I walked around for days after that in a state of nervous tension. I couldn’t sleep or eat. I felt as if I was on fire.”

“At the beginning of our relationship, I posted a photo of me and Letícia on social media.

“Over the following days Letícia was subjected to hundreds of vile, deranged and incoherent messages. Her employer received things too.”

“I tried to talk with others about the stalking. Nearly one in six women are stalked at some point in their lives according to US figures. For men, the figure is around one in seventeen.”

“Yet I drew little comfort from being in the minority. As a man, I often felt locked out of public conversations around stalking and harassment.”

“I suspect more men have been stalked than let on. However, it’s largely treated as a bit of a joke when it happens; the insinuation that often arose from conversations was that I should be glad of the attention.”

“I was plagued by this ubiquitous hum of anxiety and dread. It sometimes felt as if I was living in a waking nightmare.”

Read more: thetimes.co.uk/article/me-my-…