Emily Atack documentary

Anyone else watched this? Apologies for the long post but I do think she is raising some very valid concerns about the culture of people using social media as a means of ***ual harassment in the form of unwanted photos and comments. Thought that she argues her points well and is honest about some of the complexities around this in her own case. She is an attractive girl who posts a lot of bikini photos on her Instagram account and she openly admits that she has used her ***uality to get what she has wanted for a lot of her life and therefore questions whether it is her own behaviour that has led directly to her being targeted in this way. Clearly there is a degree of truth in this as this form of presenting herself was always going to attract ***ual attention of some sort. But she isn't doing p orn shots and she isn't asking for d ick shots to be constantly sent to her phone. The line has clearly been crossed-and it's a very worrying one because the fear is always about what this may escalate into.

It's similar to the debates about young girls wearing next to nothing on a night out. To me, it is entirely disingenuous to claim that they are not dressing like this to attract male attention but are simply exercising their "right to wear what they want". Even if they were genuine in this claim, in an ideal world they might be able to wear what they like without getting attention but the real world isn't like that and they need to take accountability of that and also some responsibility for themselves as a consequence. Very clearly though, whilst dressing in such a manner is likely to attract attention it in no way means that they are consenting to being at the end of ***ual harassment or "asking for it" as some argue.

This isn't happening to just pretty young women who post pictures of themselves in underwear or bikini selfies, it's happening to young schoolgirls who could be your daughter of grand-daughter. It's a toxic culture of ***ualization that needs to be addressed. The group of lads Atack spoke to said that this sort of harassment probably happened largely "because they can" get away with it. But getting a legal loophole closed to help stop this kind of thinking isn't enough. For all the "woke" culture around us, the dangerous side of ubiquitous social media use continues and I believe that very serious efforts should be made at both home and schools to ensure better communication between the ***es to generate greater respect. I know that some might see this as an example of blaming the victim, but alongside addressing the issues with boys about sending inappropriate texts and images, girls too need to understand the ramifications of posting certain content.

The whole culture around selfies saddens me. I understand the reasons around addictions to social media and the hit of dopamine people get for every "like" they click on or whatever but whilst the mountains of asinine and pointless photos that so many people post online is beyond me, what truly concerns me is how easy it is for social media sites to encourage "keyboard warriors" and cyber bullying in its various forms, including putting pressure on young girls to post inappropriate photos of themselves.

The internet and social media obviously have enormous benefits, but they equally have the potential to allow enormous harm. The seemingly contradictory issues around free speech and policing were understood right from the get go, but surely the legal loopholes around this particular problem need to be tightened quickly. The consequences of not doing so could be severe as there is a very real danger that, for some, sending d i ck pictures could too easily escalate into ***ual violence. Latest reports are already noting an increase in these across the country as it is.