Attack on Atack: Emily Atack: Asking for it

Actress and comedian, Emily Atack's BBC 2 documentary exposes the sexually aggressive messages she has received

Varsha Jayaprasad
14th February 2023

Trigger Warning: Sexual Harassment

Unsolicited pictures of genitalia and suggestive sexual texts have plagued the internet for years since the beginning of the web.  Actress and comedian Emily Atack has chosen to share the obscene messages she receives on social media through her latest BBC documentary ‘Asking for it’.

In the documentary, she tells viewers about the multiple sexual messages she receives from strangers and how they have had a harrowing effect on her mental health. Atack cites the COVID-19 lockdown as a time when the influx of unsolicited sexual content drastically increased and gravely affected her. This led her to expose her harassers on her Instagram page, to which she understood that multitudes of people, specifically women, were subjected to the same kind of treatment online.

The Inbetweeners star uses this documentary to shine a light on how non-consensual displays of sexual attraction online can cause harm and how it needs to be taken more seriously.

The actress talks about the kinds of messages she receives from strangers. Some of the messages are texts that are innately suggestive and sexual and some of the messages she receives are pictures of strangers’ exposed genitals.

“I’ve already received 37 messages, and it’s only been 8’ o clock in the morning”.

Emily Atack states in her documentary

Atack highlights the need to put forth actual real-life consequences for those individuals that are harassers and offenders on the internet. Emily meets with experts, including a sexual violence and abuse councillor and online safety campaigners, to address this issue and understand why it has prevailed and become normalised within society.

She goes on to talk to the parliament about criminalising cyber flashing.  The comedian also meets up with young women and girls, who also share their experience with receiving non-consensual sexual content from strangers on the internet.

Emily talks about how she has dealt with self-blame as these events have occurred. That she was in a way ‘asking for it’ because she had been publicly comfortable with her sexuality and talked about sex in her shows and works. The actress later says that it isn’t anyone’s fault if they do receive such messages, and rather it is the messenger that should be held responsible.

AUTHOR: Varsha Jayaprasad
Hi! I'm Varsha. I am an M.A. Media and Journalism Student at Newcastle University. I enjoy writing for the courier and I wish to be a full-fledged journalist in the future

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