A Welsh television presenter has shared her support for Emily Atak ahead of her new documentary focusing on sexual harassment and cyberflashing. Jess Davies has long campaigned for cyber-flashing to be made a crime after sharing her own experience of being sent hundreds of unsolicited and unwanted obscene messages.
In 2021 she shared her experience as a victim of cyber-flashing and online harrassment for over ten years. She spoke to WalesOnline in September 2021 detailing the grim reality of some of the messages she receives from men, as well as the reaction she receives when sharing and reporting these messages.
Ahead of Emily's documentary on called Asking For It? set to air on BBC Two and Iplayer exploring the issue of online abuse, Jess pointed out that some people's attitude to women taking a stand to such messages has not changed. For the latest showbiz and TV updates, subscribe to our new newsletter here
Read more: 'I woke up to a message from a man I don't know showing his penis'
In a Twitter thread she said: "In December 2021 I shared my story with the BBC of being a victim of cyber-flashing for over 10 years. The article was read a million times in the first 24 hours. Most of the comments blamed me. People joked. Men laughed. A journalist tweeted suggesting I was asking for it.
"That men somehow can’t restrain themselves from exposing their penis in someone’s emails because they’ve seen a woman post a picture in their underwear. That women should accept and expect this predatory behaviour because they post content that meets social media guidelines.
"Fast forward 14 months and the same old attitudes and responses are being seen in the comments of @EmAtack discussing her upcoming documentary about sexual harassment and cyberflashing. It’s a ‘joke’. What do women expect etc etc…
"This is offensive to most men who understand this behaviour isn’t okay. Most men don’t do this. But the ones who do should not be given a free pass because a woman dares post a bikini picture. These men are predators.
"They want to make us feel vulnerable or simply put their sexual needs above a woman’s privacy and safety. These men aren’t the boogey men who only exist in a digital universe. They send these pics then sit at the dinner table with their wives and daughters. Flashing is a gateway crime into more serious sexual offences. Cyberflashing should be treated the same way."
In the deeply personal documentary, Emily opens up on her life, and her social media DMs, to the public as she attempts to understand why she - and so many others - are sexually harassed online on a daily basis and what can be done to stop this.
For the first time, Emily delves deep into her own story, unpicking things that have happened to her as a result of attracting unwanted sexual attention from a young age. She admits that throughout her life she has felt blamed for this negative attention and has been repeatedly told, ‘but you’re asking for it'.
In April, Emily said that she was receiving around 200 harrassing messages a day and had been subjected to “relentless and disgusting” rape threats online that have led her to call the police and “question her entire existence at times”. The Inbetweeners star, 32, who has 1.8 million followers on Instagram, said she is bombarded by around 200 harassing messages on social media a day, including those that threaten her safety.
Atack said she has had to move home four times in the wake of targeted abuse. She said: “They knew where I lived, said what they were going to do to me, even my family. I got the police involved.”
She added there is one man who creates new accounts every time she blocks him, telling the paper: “He’s relentless and disgusting — beyond anything you can imagine. Yet he says he’s a married man with children.” She added: “He sends rape threats, says what he wants to do to me while his wife is in the room, and sends messages saying his children are downstairs in their playroom while he’s pleasuring himself over me.
“These men are exposing themselves to me, doing this, in a more private way, in my direct messages, where I can’t avoid it. It feels shameful. It has made me question my entire existence at times, and how men see me.”
Asking For It? which will air on BBC Two and iPlayer on Tuesday, January 31 at 9pm.
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