Comedian Emma Sidi, has come forward about misogyny she faced whilst at Cambridge, in an interview recently published by the Telegraph.

Sidi, who graduated in 2013 with a degree in French and Spanish, claimed that Cambridge Footlights was not “great for women” when she began at Cambridge.

Footlights is Cambridge’s oldest student comedy group, dating back to 1883. Some of Britain’s most famous comics, such as Stephen Fry and Emma Thompson, were members of the troupe.

In Sidi’s first year, Footlights’ annual International Tour Show boasted an all-male line-up. When asking why she hadn’t got a spot on the tour, Sidi claimed she was told by male students that she hadn’t “found my comic voice”.

Sidi’s performing career started in Footlights, before going on to perform a solo show at the Edinburgh Fringe and having multiple television appearances.

During her time at Cambridge, Sidi notes how female presence in Footlights improved, being one of three women out of four participants on the tour in her final year.

The group has previously caused controversy for a lack of inclusivity, after their President quit in 2018 over the society failing to provide opportunities for non-white students. The entire committee was made up of white students at the time.

She claims that her experiences were a reflection of the wider issues that plague the comedy scene, recalling harassment she faced in her first live shows, with one audience member coming “right up to me and screaming in my face, this is f------ s---”.

Sidi also reflected on the political culture in Cambridge, describing voting Tory: “when voting Conservative as a student she was met with “horror” from her friends. She claims this experience led her to “questioning everything I’d grown up with”.