Emily Atack has voiced her support for a group of schoolgirls campaigning to ban school uniforms from pornography. The Rivals actress, 36, previously said she felt 'sexualised' after finding fame on the adolescent comedy sitcom The Inbetweeners as pupil Charlotte Hinchcliffe.
Campaign Targets Legal Loophole
Four pupils from the Little Feminist Book Club at Cooper School in Bicester have launched a national campaign asking the UK government to ban school uniforms from appearing in adult content. The students identified a loophole in the Crime and Policing Act, which outlaws pornographic material featuring adults pretending to be children under 16. Because secondary school and sixth-form students wear uniforms up to age 18, actors over 16 can legally wear school uniforms in pornography.
The campaign has surpassed 40,000 signatures on Change.org. Emily shared a video of BBC News covering the campaign on Instagram, writing: 'With you all the way.'
Petition Cites Sexualisation of Children
'School uniform use in pornography, which may not be covered by existing legislation, is a clear example of material that sexualises children and young people, something described in The Times as "the casual sexualisation of children",' the Change.org petition reads. 'It is explicitly designed to evoke childhood and school-age identities.'
In 2023, the actress discussed the sexualisation of schoolgirls in her BBC documentary, Emily Atack: Asking for It?, where she met with a group of young girls who had been sent explicit images from men. Emily said: 'I was left feeling completely angered and outraged and sad. These girls were telling me that they feel more vulnerable in their school uniforms because there are men online who can't control the things they say to them. It made me sick to my stomach and so angry.'
Legal Expert Backs Campaign
The campaign, which has now reached Parliament, has been backed by Durham University law professor Clare McGlynn, who told the BBC: 'It's raising a national conversation about just how problematic it is that we use school uniforms in mainstream pornography. The genre of teen pornography is, unfortunately, one of the largest categories in mainstream pornography. But it's not just that – it's also closely associated with more violent and aggressive material.'
'Where someone says they're pretending to be 17 and in school uniform, that's not covered by the law,' she added. 'Let's face it, the reality is that school uniforms are trying to portray a young girl.'
From November 6, new measures on pornographic content will come into place in the UK. It will now be illegal to 'possess or publish' porn that depicts strangulation or suffocation, sex between people who are related or pretending to be related, or when an adult is roleplaying as a child under 16.
