Emily Atack: ‘Is it my fault I'm sent explicit messages?’

TV prima Emily Atack is sent hundreds of explicit pictures and messages each day. She asks what motivates the men who bash this and what tin beryllium done to halt them?

"Every greeting erstwhile I aftermath up I spot a representation of a bare antheral I haven't asked to see."

Actress, presenter and comedian Emily Atack, 33, gets flashed astatine hundreds of times a time - not successful the street, but online.

"It's the eventual disrespect," she says. "It's the eventual happening of going, 'I deliberation you're casual entree and you're up for it.'"

Emily - who has made a BBC documentary connected the contented - has received explicit messages connected her societal media accounts for years. But their quantity and code intensified implicit lockdown, erstwhile they became adjacent much sexually aggressive.

"I felt similar it was conscionable dilatory chipping distant astatine me," she says.

Emily was 17 erstwhile she was formed arsenic Charlotte Hinchcliffe successful the fashionable Channel 4 coming-of-age comedy, The Inbetweeners.

"She was the fashionable miss astatine school," says Emily. "The contented is, that yes, it's a fictional character, but evidently radical subordinate you with the characters that you play."

From a precise young age, Emily says she began receiving unwanted attraction from immoderate men. To effort to support her, she says her loved ones would suggest altering her behaviour, similar not wearing make-up oregon a skirt to school.

"It's truthful retired of control, the lone mode that those that emotion you tin power it is to alteration you," she says. "That each goes successful somewhere, truthful I started looking inward. My full beingness I conscionable blamed myself due to the fact that of that."

Emily carried this consciousness of blasted into her big life.

"I'm tense astir going nationalist astir each this due to the fact that I enactment bikini photos up connected Instagram, I speech astir enactment successful my shows and I'm precise cheeky and flirty," she says. "There volition beryllium radical saying, 'But you asked for this antagonistic attention, what bash you expect?'

"You bash beryllium determination and go, 'Is this my fault? Is this thing I'm putting retired there?'"

Emily has ever utilized humour arsenic a defence mechanics to marque airy of the messages, but she says it's not comic anymore.

"If we really look astatine the severity of it, young girls are connected Instagram getting messages similar this," she says. "What would hap if this was your daughter, your niece? It's a much superior treatment to beryllium had erstwhile the laughing stops."

Research from 2020 recovered 76% of girls aged 12-18 had been sent unsolicited nude images of boys oregon men, commonly known arsenic "dick pics". When Emily spoke to immoderate secondary schoolhouse girls, she was shocked that each of them said they had received sexually explicit messages online.

"What shocked maine the astir was that I thought the girls were going to accidental it was the boys astatine schoolhouse that were a spot retired of power and connected their phones, but it's older men online that are approaching these girls," she says.

Emily enactment a station connected her societal media asking the men who nonstop her explicit messages to explicate wherefore they bash it.

"I checked my emails - zero, received thing back," she says. "These men walk their lives bombarding maine with maltreatment and saying the astir horrific things and past the 2nd I respond and say, 'Well I privation to perceive from you, let's talk' - nothing.

"What I did person was loads of women reaching retired saying what they'd had to woody with."

Emily says she had ne'er antecedently discussed this online maltreatment with her parents, and her mother, comedian Kate Robbins, is precise upset erstwhile she is shown a sample. She says she worries astir the intelligence interaction it has connected her girl - and her carnal safety.

Although the messages are from galore antithetic men, Emily's father, Keith, observes however it astir feels similar they are from 1 personality.

To effort to recognize much astir the characteristics of these people, Emily straight messaged 2 men who regularly nonstop her explicit contented to inquire them why. One blocked Emily instantly aft speechmaking Emily's message, portion the different replied blaming her - saying helium was trying to get her attraction and his messages were owed to her "reputation".

Emily spoke to Jamie Klingler, co-founder of Reclaim These Streets, to effort to recognize the mindset of these men. Jamie archetypal began receiving explicit images, rape and decease threats online aft she organised a vigil pursuing the execution of Sarah Everard.

"It's not astir what we wear, it's not astir what we do," she says. "It's astir them wanting to soundlessness and power you and them wanting to person powerfulness to marque you consciousness similar they've got a portion of you."

Prof Jane Monckton-Smith's probe focuses connected the prevention of homicide - acts that pb to the decease of different person. She says patterns of unit against women escalate from thing seemingly tiny to superior intersexual assault. Because of this, she recommends ever reporting online maltreatment to the constabulary truthful the individual's sanction is enactment connected record.

"Rape is not an introduction level offence, homicide's not an entry-level offence," Prof Monckton-Smith tells Emily. "There volition beryllium signs and behaviours and patterns earlier they get there, but astir of those signs and patterns and reddish flags volition beryllium defended and excused and justified and determination volition beryllium immoderate blasted enactment connected the victim."

Following their conversation, Emily reports the online maltreatment to the constabulary - and unexpectedly finds herself rather upset arsenic she describes the abuse. One serviceman says they could perchance hint the men if different radical person reported maltreatment - and they tin instrumentality enactment if the behaviour involves an constituent of stalking.

But aft the officers leave, Emily feels conflicted astir whether she really wants anyone to beryllium arrested.

"I request them to conscionable admit what they've done is wrong, truthful I tin instrumentality it each disconnected me," she says.

In 2021, Emily gave a code successful Parliament sharing her acquisition of maltreatment - and the Online Safety Bill includes a caller cyber flashing offence that volition transportation a maximum situation condemnation of 2 years. The measure was approved by MPs past week and volition present spell done the Lords.

But though Emily has campaigned for this, she present wonders if changing the instrumentality unsocial is the answer.

Online information campaigner Seyi Akiwowo says though the instrumentality tin help, acquisition plays a cardinal role, arsenic good arsenic changing societal norms.

"We really request to instrumentality a measurement backmost and beryllium like, 'Where is this floodgate coming from?' And really it's changing the behaviours of men. It's getting them to recognize what a steadfast narration is. It's getting them to recognize what consent is," she says.

Andrea Simon, manager of the radical End Violence Against Women, agrees that nine needs to determination distant from apportioning blasted connected women.

"Everything is focused connected the pistillate and her behaviour and that is simply a monolithic happening that has got to change," she adds.

Emily says confronting her online maltreatment has been 1 of the hardest things she has ever done - she underwent therapy passim the process arsenic it had progressive revisiting past trauma.

"The things I've been through, that I've normalised my full life, the much I speech astir them, the much I realise I shouldn't person had to enactment up with them - past oregon today," she says. "I'm inactive learning that, inactive moving connected myself and I ever volition be.

"I'm not going to alteration what I'm doing due to the fact that I get sexually harassed each the time. It's not our behaviour that has to change, it's theirs.

"I shouldn't blasted myself."

If you are affected by immoderate of the issues raised successful this story, enactment and proposal is disposable via the BBC Action Line