“I realised I had so much more to say”: Emily Atack on the importance of finding your voice

Stylist Live: actor, comedian and presenter Emily Atack on the importance of finding your voice

Credit: Shotbyfarzeenxo

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“I realised I had so much more to say”: Emily Atack on the importance of finding your voice

By Amy Beecham

2 years ago

2 min read

Actor, comedian and presenter Emily Atack took to the stage at Stylist Live 2023 to share her experiences of online sexual harassment. 


From her moving BBC documentary Asking For It, where she confronted the perpetrators of her online abuse, to her outspokenness around the true mental health impact of sexual harassment, actor, presenter and comedian Emily Atack is certainly a force to be reckoned with. Using her platform and her voice is something she has done to increasingly positive effect as her profile has risen, and in 2021 she met with MPs to discuss making cyberflashing a crime.

On day one of Stylist Live, Atack joined Stylist’s Lisa Smosarski on the main stage to discuss speaking out, saying no and defying expectations.

“I think it’s easier to pigeonhole women; since the beginning of time, that is how it’s been,” she told the audience. “It’s been a man’s world and women have to stay in a certain lane, in a certain box, and be ladylike and just conform to certain things.”

Stylist Live: actor, comedian and presenter Emily Atack on the importance of finding your voice

Credit: Shotbyfarheenxo

“It wasn’t until I got to my late 20s and early 30s that I started speaking out – and then I couldn’t stop. I realised that I had so much more to say and that I could say it if I wanted to.”

I’m flying the flag for a lot of women

Emily Atack

During the interview, Atack opened up about the mental toll of speaking so candidly about sexual harassment. “It was just such a deeply personal thing that has been happening to me from a child through to now, and I think I just wanted to share that story,” she said. “But the documentary coming out was a really difficult time for my family, my parents especially. There were moments when I was filming that I was saying, ‘I don’t think I can face another day of this, of talking about going through past traumas and interviewing people talking about it.’ It was really rough.

“When you’re a victim of something like that, it’s hard to talk about it with anyone – even your parents or a therapist, but I shared this with the nation and I underestimated how hard that would be. But overall, I’m so glad that I did.”

Stylist Live: actor, comedian and presenter Emily Atack on the importance of finding your voice

Credit: Shotbyfarheenxo

She also shared with the audience how incredibly proud she is of how far she’s come, despite all she’s faced. “There are days when I think ‘I wish I hadn’t opened this can of worms,’ but you have to be so brave with it and keep speaking out,” she admitted.

“This may be my personal story but I’ve realised that there are so many women out there who have had similar experiences, and as a woman with a voice and a platform, I’m speaking on behalf of them too. I’m flying the flag for them, which comes with some pressure, but I wouldn’t change it.”


Images: shot by Farheenxo

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