The internet has made stalking easier to carry out – and harder to prove and prosecute. It took me four years to see my tormentor in court. At least now I can get on with healing

Being stalked can sometimes feel like having a wound that is trying to heal around a foreign object. Days, weeks, even months can go by without incident, but all it takes is one more instance of unwanted contact for the object to be twisted and all the healing to come undone. It can be hard – even for me, a poet who works with language and words every day – to fully articulate the impact of this experience. Being stalked warps not only your sense of self and time, but also your grasp on reality; simultaneously navigating the flawed criminal justice system while living in fear can make you feel as though you are losing your mind.

I was in a domestically abusive relationship in my early 20s, but am always hesitant to go into detail about my personal experiences with stalking and domestic abuse. I still feel the shame, compounded by societal stigma and misconceptions, but that is precisely why I want to talk about it – to help others avoid going through similar pain. People think abusers suddenly turn on their partners, but it’s often a gradual erosion of boundaries; they think it’s easy to leave, but, by the time you work up the courage, the pit is so deep that escape often feels impossible. They also think reporting abuse to the police is straightforward and justice is assured, but neither of these things could be further from the truth.

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Stalking was making my life at McMurdo Station a misery. In the ice-covered sea, I discovered how much the world still had to give

A sub-zero plunge in the nude was never part of my plan. When a ragtag group of friends gathered me up with their exhilarated shouts, planning to jump into a hole drilled through sea ice in 2011, I had only agreed to come along and watch. I would not partake.

I hadn’t gone to Antarctica to take risks. If anything, I’d flown to the bottom of the world to do the opposite, to play it safe after a pair of sexual assaults in my early 20s. I was the third generation in my family to work at McMurdo Station on Ross Island, and planned to keep my head down, work hard in my role as a janitor, save money and blend in.

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Filmmaker held to account for dismissing claim of 1983 sexual assault against Charlotte Lewis as ‘heinous lie’

The French-Polish filmmaker Roman Polanski will be tried in France on Tuesday over allegations that he defamed a British actor who accused him of sexual abuse in the 1980s.

The 90-year-old is wanted in the US over the rape of a 13-year-old in 1977 and faces several other accusations of alleged sexual assault dating back decades and past the statute of limitations – all claims he has rejected.

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This insidious form of harassment is not taken seriously enough. Too many victims are being left exposed

You only had to listen to the victims in Can I Tell You a Secret? , the Netflix documentary based on a Guardian podcast by Sirin Kale, to gain vivid insight into just how disturbing stalking can be. Matthew Hardy used tricks of impersonation and identity theft to manipulate, humiliate and threaten multiple women on social media. But in one important way he was atypical. While some of his targets were acquaintances, others were strangers who lived hundreds of miles away. Much more common is the experience of being stalked by someone you know. Data from the Suzy Lamplugh Trust shows that in the year to March 2023, 66.5% of victims were stalked by former partners . Other perpetrators were friends or colleagues, while just 6% were strangers. Almost 90% of victims were female.

The extent of Hardy’s offending, which continued for 11 years, has led to an eight-year sentence. But this is exceptionally rare. Of 117,672 stalking reports to police in England and Wales in the year to 2022, just 6.6% resulted in a charge, and 1.4% in a conviction. Of those, less than a third resulted in a custodial sentence, with the average term around a year. The grim reality is that most stalkers get away with their crimes.

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Star tells audience at prestigious César awards that they need to challenge powerful and abusive men whatever the career risk

Judith Godrèche has urged the French film industry to break its omertà on sexual abuse in an unprecedented address to the country’s most prestigious awards ceremony on Friday evening.

Godrèche, who says she was groomed and raped as a teenager by an acclaimed director, received a standing ovation as she took the stage at the Césars – the French equivalent of the Oscars.

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University of Manchester study says abuse by men and boys is ‘everyday occurrence’ – with only 5% of cases reported to police

More than two-thirds of women experience harassment while running, a study has found, as victims say they no longer report abuse to the police as it has become an “everyday occurrence”.

The study, by the University of Manchester, found women surveyed in north-west England experienced threats, verbal abuse and had objects thrown at them while jogging.

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Actor, who has accused two directors of raping her as a teenager, aims to break ‘omertà’ surrounding abuse in film industry

Judith Godrèche, an actor who has accused two high-profile directors of raping her as a teenager, will address France’s most prestigious film awards ceremony on Friday in an unusual move aimed at breaking what she calls the “omertà” surrounding the abuse of women and girls in the industry.

Godrèche, whose autobiographical hit TV show about the grooming of a 14-year-old girl has sparked a national debate, will take to the stage at the César awards, the French equivalent of the Oscars, which is broadcast live on television.

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In a statement released with annual accounts, business lobby group says it has had to deal with ‘exceptional costs’

The Confederation of British Industry has said it is suffering a “considerable level of financial stress” and there remains “material uncertainty” that it can continue operating in the long term after sexual misconduct allegations.

The scandal-hit business lobby group said it was “emerging from an unprecedented situation” that had led to “exceptional costs”, warning there was also “material uncertainty arising from the CBI’s financial performance since the year end”.

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Exclusive: women tell study they were punished for breaking rules rather than supported when they reported incidents

Women in the British military who report sexual assaults are being ostracised and punished for breaching minor rules, research shows.

The forces’ “misogynistic and toxic” culture of “laddish” behaviour shapes the way it deals with and understands sexual assaults, according to the study, which is published in the Royal United Services Institution Journal.

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