Comedian Emily Atack says she broke down and needed therapy while filming her new BBC documentary. The Inbetweeners actress said it was like 'revisiting trauma', as she relived her own experiences of sexual harassment.
The 33-year-old described the impact of catcalling as 'damaging' and says it's time it was made a 'public health issue'.
In Emily Atack: Asking For It?, she explores how "something so grotesque, aggressive, malicious and violent” as sexual harassment has become normalised and looks at ways to combat it through education.
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“I think bringing things in like making catcalling a public health issue are important," Emily said. "People can tut and roll their eyes when they hear things like that, but I can now understand the importance of that kind of thing.
“Catcalling isn’t just catcalling, it’s what that means – it means that someone has that easy access to you but is able to rid themselves of it by driving or running off and you’re left with the feeling.
“That can be very damaging over a period of time.”
In the documentary Emily opens up on being harassed on social media and speaks to others who have fallen victim to it. The actress speaks with a sexual violence and abuse councillor as well as online safety campaigners to learn why the issue has been normalised for so long. She also talks to police about what is being done to protect women and girls.
Speaking about the difficult filming process, Emily added: “This was the hardest thing I’ve ever filmed in my life and one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to go through and do. I had many points where I felt like I couldn’t carry on with it, I broke down a lot, I had a lot of therapy throughout. It’s revisiting trauma.”
The show also sees Emily meet with a group of high school girls, and her 'shock' to find that older men were "approaching" girls online, not boys in schools.
“What was mind-blowing to me was that the girls were saying that they felt more vulnerable in their school uniform,” she said,
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In another scene, Emily talks to her parents about her experiences which include attracting unwanted sexual attention from a very young age.
“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.”
Emily said this would involve people trying to “change” her behaviour and she had “privileges” like wearing make-up or a skirt to school taken away.
She also said: “I do feel that as bumpy and as difficult as it was to go through that process, I do genuinely feel stronger for it and proud of the film we’ve made. If it stops one man from sending an explicit image to a girl that day, then it’s done something right.”
Emily has previously campaigned against cyberflashing, where individuals send unsolicited explicit images online, and spoke about the issue in Parliament last February. In March last year, the UK Government announced that cyberflashing would become a new criminal offence with perpetrators facing up to two years behind bars.
Emily Atack: Asking For It? airs on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer on January 31 at 9pm.
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