Maroon 5's Portrayal of Stalking in "Animals" Video is Inaccurate

The rock band Maroon 5 has been in the news lately for its depiction of stalking in the video for the song "Animals". Disturbing. Misogynistic. Sickening. Non-artistic and pandering for shock value. These are some of the negative comments that have been lobbed at the band for the video. Oh, and gross. All that fake blood. And raw meat. Did I mention gross?

If you haven't seen the video, you can find it easily enough on Youtube.

I'm a fan of the song, if not the video. It IS gross. My main quibble with the video for this blog post, however, is that the video gives a fictionalized portrayal of stalking. There's nothing sexy whatsoever about stalking. While celebrity stalkers make headlines on occasion, most stalking is by deranged individuals against former intimate partners. Most victims are female; nationally, about 1 in 12 women are stalked during their lifetime. About a third of women killed by a former intimate partner were stalked by that partner before their murder. 

Stalking victims have reason to be afraid for their lives, and/or that their stalker will harm them physically, emotionally and financially. Recommended safety tips for victims include reporting the crime, getting a restraining order, changing one's phone number to an unlisted number, changing locks to one's home, changing routes to work, moving out of town, keeping evidence and records of restraining order violations, and on and on and on. (Nothing sexy about completely upending one's life and living in constant fear, Maroon 5.) Sometimes even these measures don't help. One tragic example that comes to mind is the case of Peggy Klinke, who was stalked and ultimately murdered by her stalker. Peggy went underground, moving across country and - she thought - leaving no trace of her new wearabouts. Still, her stalker hired a private detective, found her, and ultimately murdered her while she was on the phone with 911. Peggy did everything right, and still the justice system couldn't protect her. Nothing sexy about that.

Stalking. Not sexy. The "Animals" video is gross, and wrong, wrong, wrong.