Emily Atack: Asking for It?

“The documentary is more affecting as a portrait of the impact this torrent of sexual images has. Like many women, Atack feels humiliated and ashamed by it. When she finally reports some of the abuse to the police, having never thought they would take it seriously, she cries. She has been damaged by it, she says, and she doesn’t know if she can change that. It is heartbreaking and enraging.”
Emine Saner, The Guardian

“Atack’s interviews with experts offered much about dysfunctional male behaviour, and in a group workshop one guy pointed out that porn is teaching men from a young age that women are there for their gratification. A serious education for boys, and men, is clearly needed about consent, and this programme was a fine start, if by necessity pretty distressing.”
James Jackson, The Times

“It was lovely to see Atack realise she’s not responsible for her own abuse and turn the focus back on the flashers. She calmly messaged them, asking them to explain their behaviour. But, of course, the cowards either vanished or intensified the abuse. I wish the documentary makers had tried harder to find a former flasher to speak out instead of leaving it to Atack to analyse them. She saw a therapist, a criminologist and campaigners for women’s safety who all encouraged her to report her cyber flashers to the police – because the men who go on to commit physical assaults often start online.”
Helen Brown, The Telegraph

“Drawing on expert voices as well as Atack’s, the documentary made clear how seemingly innocuous behaviour can escalate. As Professor Jane Monckton-Smith explained: “Murder is not an entry-level offence. Rape is not an entry-level offence.”
Emily Watkins, The i

“The documentary is very vanilla. Anderson is so keen to distance herself from her old Jessica Rabbit image that she is endlessly filmed wafting around her garden in a cotton slip dress, picking flowers, like an escapee from a White Company advert (although in her one concession to glamour, she does wear heeled wellies). At times it edges towards the saccharine. The director asks no challenging questions, and the only other people to appear in the film are Anderson’s supportive sons, Brandon and Dylan.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“The treatment of her by the world now looks repugnant. It feels overdue that Anderson gets to tell her story in whatever way she pleases.”
James Jackson, The Times

“White has succeeded in giving us a candid Pammy who has the power to surprise us. After the early abuse she experienced, she admits that she found doing Playboy empowering; it gave her a sense of ownership over her own body again.”
Jessie Thompson, The Independent