Dating violence has seen the emergence of a new weapon known as “textual harassment” with mobile phones and unlimited text message plans easily available among the youth.

Kacey Kirkland, a victim services specialist with the Fairfax County Police Department, disclosed to the Washington Post that he has seen textual harassment in many forms such as lies, late-night questions, and threats.

From in.news.yahoo.com:

“It’s gotten astonishingly worse in the last two years,” the Washington Post quoted Jill Murray, who has written several books on dating violence and speaks on the topic nationally, as saying.

“Especially for those who have grown up in digital times, it’s part and parcel of every abusive dating relationship now,” she said.

According to the paper, the harassed often feel compelled to answer the messages, whether they are one-word insults or 3 a.m. demands.

For some, 100 or more texts arrive in a day in class, at the dinner table, or in movie theatres.

“Harassment is just easier now, and it’s even more persistent and constant, with no letting up,” the post quoted Claire Kaplan, director of sexual and domestic violence services at the University of Virginia, as saying.

Cindy Southworth, founder of the Safety Net Project on technology at the National Network to End Domestic Violence, said “What technology offers is irrefutable evidence of the abuse,”.