Women are banding together on Twitter to defend new Channel 4 documentary on sexual harassment in the UK
Journalist Ellie Flynn went undercover on Channel 4 to expose the harsh reality of sexual harassment against women in the UK in Undercover: Sexual Harassment, which aired last night. In her film, Flynn speaks to young women about the sexualisation of school uniforms, explores unsolicited cyber flashing, and how dangerous dating in the digital age really is.
In one part, the journalist goes out into Liverpool and London with the facade of drunkenness to see how men react. She is subsequently followed home to her hotel room by a man, to get to the bottom of how prominent the issue actually is. The clip, which Channel 4 posted to their Twitter, was met with mixed reactions.
Many viewers found the watch “frightening”, “shocking” and “upsetting and difficult to watch”. And some immediate responses from viewers thanked Ellie Flynn for the body of work that appropriately highlighted the experience of women in the UK. But when it came to the clip of her being followed home, a certain subset of the internet completely misunderstood the point of the documentary.
It seemed that the short clip of Flynn being followed and harassed was used as leverage for racism, for a select few people on Twitter. Those who took an opposing view were predominantly white men, twisting the experience of Flynn for their own agenda. “Can I ask if there is any reason why you didn’t look into the fact why it was foreign men following you?” asked one male viewer. “Make decisions based on the world you live in, not the way you think it should be,” said another.
The documentary that was meant to expose the issue of harassment has now taken a turn online thanks to such unwarranted opinions. But, women online were quick to clap back at these viewers, and banded together to shed light on the real issue.
“Britain has a racism problem, the fact that people won’t take ownership for the crimes that are committed by UK nationals is quite telling,” says a female user in response to the threads of comments, sparking the conversation on how this issue is about gender and not race. Many echoed that these views were completely unacceptable, and the thread went on to discuss that the deflection from the issue was not a blame game, and that all men, including the white British men on Twitter, who clearly felt exempt, were a part of the issue. “This is not about race or ‘not all men’” added another Twitter, with one response stating “every weekend that I decide to go out, I have had a white British male sexually harass/assault me. It’s not a race issue, it’s entitled & sick men [sic].”
These are women came together to give their first-hand experiences of sexual harrasment and violence, after feeling empowered by Flynn’s documentary. They were clearly determined to rid the threads of racist views, and shed light on the magnitude of the issue at the hand. For its part, the documentary reflected on Flynn’s own experiences, and was framed by the case of Sarah Everard, who was kidnapped and murdered whilst walking home from a friends house in March 2021.
Undercover: Sexual Harassment is available to watch on Channel 4 now.
