It’s enough to put you off your breakfast…in fact it did put Emily Atack off her scrambled eggs!
Every morning when she wakes up, the actress and TV presenter sees explicit images which she didn’t ask to see. Hundreds of times a day on social media, men send her indecent pictures.
In this documentary Atack, who was thrown into the limelight when cast in The Inbetweeners aged 17, speaks out about horrific online abuse.
It’s a subject she is passionate about, having spearheaded a campaign about harassment and made a speech at Westminster about laws surrounding this kind of abuse. At the moment, there are loopholes which make it difficult to punish the men who send these graphic private messages. She laughs about it but we also see the flip side where she’s distressed, terrified and, in frustration, bites her thumbs until they bleed.
And she’s not alone. Other girls talk about cyberflashing happening to them, too. The I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! star gives a really honest account and several times questions whether she has initiated the abuse by posting bikini pictures on her social media accounts, or being flirty.
Of course not, Emily. That’s not an excuse for this kind of behaviour. Well done for standing up for your beliefs. I can only hope this helps find an answer.
Emily Atack: Asking For It? BBC iPlayer
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