Ahead of her Asking For It? documentary, Emily Atack has made a shocking statement about the abuse she’s faced since she was a child.
The BBC Two documentary – which airs tonight (January 31) – will see Emily delve deep into her story and unpick her trauma as a result of attracting unwanted sexual attention from a young age.
The actress is best known for playing schoolgirl Charlotte Hinchcliffe in Channel 4 comedy series The Inbetweeners.
Emily hopes the documentary will open up a conversation about the abuse that women and girls face daily.
Asking For It: Emily Atack on unwanted sexual attention
In the documentary, Emily opens up about how online abuse against her escalated during lockdown.
Emily meets with experts, including a sexual violence and abuse councillor and online safety campaigners, to learn why this has been normalised for so long.
The BBC says Asking For It? “interrogates why the blame for unwanted attention is so often put on the victim”.
She told the BBC that she’s faced unwanted sexual attention and abuse since she was just 10 years old.
She said: “My whole life, ever since I was a child, around 10 years old, I’ve had this kind of abuse and unwanted attention.
“When you grow up with that sort of behaviour in your life, your family and the people that care about you do everything they can to stop it.”
Read more: Emily Atack fans stunned as they realise who her mum is in Ricky Gervais’ After Life
Emily blamed herself for her abuse
A big theme of the documentary is the blame that is so often pinned on victims of abuse, and Emily shared that she can relate to blaming herself for the abuse she’s faced.
She shared: “I went through my life having my privileges taken from me. Things like wearing makeup or wearing a skirt to school for example.
“I felt like people were always trying to get me to change my behaviour.
“That all goes in somewhere, so I started looking inward my whole life. I just blamed myself because of that.”
Emily hopes that sharing her story will help make positive change.
She said: “I want men to understand that this isn’t an exclusion of them.
“It’s trying to include them to be part of a really positive change rather than excluding them and saying they are all bad – that isn’t what this is at all.
“This is something I want men to be involved with and to support and be our allies, show their support.
“I want them to be part of a positive change… so join us!”
Emily Atack: Asking For It airs on Tuesday, January 31 at 9pm on BBC Two. It will be available on BBC iPlayer after airing.
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