Stacy Elizabeth Beshear Accused of Stalking L.A. Laker Luke Walton

Talk about a stalker, and you most likely envision a surly ex-lover hiding in the shadows, spying on his former lady love. Stacy Elizabeth Beshear proves that stalking is not simply a male undertaking. It also proves that women can be just as sick as the guys, when it comes to dealing with the objects of their obsessions - in this case L.A. Laker's player Luke Walton

The Associated Press reveals that Stacy Elizabeth Beshear of El Segundo was placed under arrest after making gun shooting motions with her hands while pulled up next to Luke Walton's car. Stacy Beshear is only 34 years young and yet this Luke Walton stalker faces a year as a guest of the county jail, if she is convicted of stalking.

Luke Walton is quoted as saying that during their interactions he got the feeling that she was "not all there" and then goes on to point out that this is also an apt description for someone who suddenly decides to murder people.

On Stalking and Gender

It is worrisome that the kind of interaction that will land Stacy Elizabeth Beshear in jail for about a year is acknowledged without much mention being made of counseling. In part, this may be due to a misunderstanding of professional literature, such as A Study on Women Who Stalk that purports women to be more likely to pick on individuals with whom they have had a professional interaction in the past.

Then again, although in the study it depicts female stalkers of celebrities as "female harassers," which carries a slightly less worrisome picture over the quintessential impression the term "stalker" invokes, the study does go on to detail that female on male stalking is treated with much more of a cavalier attitude by law enforcement and even agencies set up to help victims of stalkers.

Double Standards Fails to Protect Male Stalking Victims

Another sign that stalkers such as Stacy Elizabeth Beshear of El Segundo and victim Luke Walton are not taken as seriously as they might be if the roles were reversed shows up even in the help organizations that exist to assist victims of stalking.