Grace Tame’s ‘frightening’ experiences as child sex abuse survivor advocate

The former Australian of the Year reflected on the at times “frightening” reality of her work as an advocate for child sexual abuse survivors.

Grace Tame has opened up about the reality of her work as an advocate for child sexual abuse survivors.

In an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald, the 29-year-old revealed the more “frightening” behaviours she was subject to in the wake of being named Australian of the Year in 2021.

“I’ve been chased home. I’ve been in a car chase. I’ve had thugs come to the house, go through the bins, come to the front door, pull the door off its hinges,” Ms Tame, a survivor of child sex abuse herself, said.

“(The child sex offender network) come for you. They engage in networked abuse. They proliferate your inboxes on every channel … Offenders like that are very sophisticated, they know how to walk just along the black letter of the law so they can’t get caught.”

Grace Tame has opened up about the ugly reality of her work as an advocate for child sexual abuse survivors. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Ms Tame with Brittany Higgins at the National Press Club on February 9, 2022. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

While her time as Australian of the Year was, at times, “exhausting and frightening and overwhelming”, it was equally “exhilarating and rewarding”.

“It was special. I try to hold on to the positives where I can,” Ms Tame said.

“The greatest privilege for me in that time was just getting to be a witness of what happened for the broader community of survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

“I stand on the shoulders of giants, and the conversation around childhood sexual abuse and incest is something that is longstanding, it’s been rumbling before I became Australian of the Year, and, in many ways, that groundwork allowed for that alignment, for that message to be well-received.

“It’s one thing to have a message, it’s another thing for it to be received.”

Ms Tame during her Australian of the Year acceptance speech in 2021. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Martin Ollman

Ms Tame, who established the not-for-profit Grace Tame Foundation in 2021, will embark on a national speaking tour, at the end of this month.

Called Lightening the Load, the events are an opportunity “to reflect on the very jarring, very bizarre experience of being thrust out of obscurity and into this blaring, glaring spotlight”.

“I like being in a room with people who are like me,” she said of the tour.

“The audiences that come to see me are often people who, for whatever reason … might have spent a lot of their life feeling like they’re on the outer, feeling isolated.

“I love that we can all come together and share a moment of lightness, of laughter and human connection in the room together.”