Read on Twitter
1/ People don't get how frightening this is to go through. It has happened to me twice in the last 2 years (on a level like this, where it's over months, every day, with escalating fake accounts & turning from infatuation to violence). I still have anxiety & paranoia from it. https://twitter.com/inihelene/status/1253061565445742592
2/ These random men online build up a relationship with you in their head that does not exist, & turn angry & bitter as though you personally rejected them when they realize you don't even know who they are. They justify the violence by truly believing they are entitled to you.
3/ It starts the same every time. You reply completely innocently to a comment they left on your tweet, like you do with everyone. But they grab onto that as though it's a sign of personal connection. Then the multiple accounts start coming, solely dedicated to you, the emails
4/ with love letters, the novels as though we've conversed when the only time that's happened is in the person's head. I don't mean a couple accounts, I mean dozens. You don't know whether to block them all, or not block but just never reply & screenshot everything. Then one day,
5/ you post a photo out with your friends, or your boyfriend. And the hurt messages start coming, because "I'm so nice to you & love you so much, I deserve your love back", and then it turns to anger, & threats of violence. Because if they can't have you, then no one else can.
6/ Girls online get murdered by these stalkers every year. Bianca Devins, 17, murdered by her internet stalker in July. He cut her head off with a machete - he was angry she never replied to his DMs on Twitch. He maintained he "loved" her even when he posted her dead body online.
