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Topics: Technology, Celebrity, BBC, Documentaries
Daisy Phillipson
Topics: Technology, Celebrity, BBC, Documentaries
Emily Atack's mum was left in tears after seeing the 'vile' pictures and abuse she gets from strangers every day.
The upsetting moment unfolded in the Inbetweeners star's new BBC documentary Emily Atack: Asking For It?, which explores her experience with online sexual harassment and cyber flashing and abuse.
She explains how she receives hundreds of messages a day, ranging from unsolicited explicit images to rape and death threats.
"Every morning when I wake up I see a man’s penis I haven’t asked to see," she says.
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Not only does Emily seek help to understand the phenomenon, but she is hoping to use her experiences to change the law and make cyber flashing an offence in the same way flashing is.
At one moment in the doc, the 32-year-old visits her parents Kate and Keith where she bravely exposes them to some of the messages she receives every day.
Describing what he's reading, Keith says: "You see, this is basically in a graphic way what men want to do to her."
Kate then interjects to say, "It's disgusting... I can't bring myself to read it." Emily explains that she's 'more numb to it' as she's become so used to it.
"The psychological effect of constantly going to you everyday Emily," adds Kate.
"I appreciate that you don't tell me about it all the time because I would be a wreck. I would be a wreck."
Her mum then walks away in tears before shouting, "I'll just be a minute."
Later on, Kate explains: "I worry for her safety. I‘ve never known anything like what Emily showed me."
Emily also expresses how other people have put the blame on her, suggesting that she shouldn't post photos of herself in revealing outfits.
But in a therapy session she is able to better understand that none of the abuse is a result of anything she has done, and that previous accusations are a case of victim blaming.
This isn't the first time the comedian has given insight into her experience with sexual harassment online.
In an exclusive interview with UNILAD, Emily was once asked how many sexually explicit messages she is sent, to which she replied: "I receive, on a daily basis... oh, I mean, it's hundreds, hundreds. I receive hundreds of messages."
She went on to reveal: "I worked out the other day, before 10am, I'd seen three penises that I hadn't asked to see.
"If I'd walked out into the street to get a coffee and three men had flashed me on the way, I'd be in pieces, I'd be traumatised.
"But there is honestly something about when it is online, and I hate to admit this, I've become so used to it."
Emily Atack: Asking For It? is available to watch on BBC iPlayer now, and will air on BBC2 tonight, 31 January, at 9pm.