Grace Tame reveals why she didn’t smile in infamous photo
Grace Tame has opened up about her wedding plans, future advocacy, and the reason behind her expression from her photo op with Prime Minister Scott Morrison in a new interview.
The former Australian of the Year featured on the cover of Stellar Magazine’s International Women’s Day issue, and gave an accompanying, in-depth interview.
Ms Tame rebutted claims she “hates men”, saying it struck a nerve after she worked so hard advocating for male survivors of child sexual abuse.
“I’ve never, never, never had the words ‘I hate men’ come out of my mouth,” she told the publication. “Male survivors are among my best friends … I do my darnedest to be the best advocate for the survivor community, which very much includes boys.”
The 27-year-old also said she has “never called herself a feminist” despite sharing ideals with the movement since she “just assumed everyone wants equality”.
She said she hoped International Women’s Day would see the conversation of equality - regardless of gender - continue, in a similar sentiment to her speech at the National Press Club in February.
“I am an advocate for all survivors of child sexual abuse, many of whom are male. We cannot forget our boys, we cannot forget our men who are fellow survivors of abuse,” she said during her speech.
Her interview with Stellar saw her share an insight into her relationship with Max Heerey, her fiancé and manager.
“We’re a team of two,” she said.
Ms Tame said they hope to marry in February 2023, but that their shared “parmie and pub” natures might see them just run away and marry rather than hold a huge event.
“Something low-key, maybe on a beach somewhere … Maybe we might just run away somewhere then have a party afterwards,” she said.
She also touched on the now infamous images of her with Mr Morrison, which sparked outrage among conservative MPs and male journalists, while speaking about her friendship with former parliamentary staffer Brittany Higgins, who claims she was raped at Parliament House by a former colleague.
“Our stories are very different for obvious reasons. I stand with Brittany. I support Brittany at all costs. But the common thread is [the way the complaints have been handled]. There’s the protecting the institutional image over the wellbeing of an individual [who makes a complaint], which is inexcusable. It’s unforgivable,” Ms Tame said.
“We can add it to the long list of reasons that I was not going to compromise my principles and smile at the Prime Minister who has excused all of these things for the sake of civility.”
As for her advocacy work, Ms Tame said she hoped 2022 would be the biggest year yet after launching a campaign to remove the word ‘relationship’ from the offence of Persistent Child Sexual Abuse under section 66EA of the NSW Crimes Act 1900.
“[This] is really important because it’s what drives a lot of the unhelpful perceptions and the victim-blaming around the whole offence of Persistent Child Sexual Abuse,” she explained.
She also hopes to support educational organisations and programs teaching children what grooming is and what it looks like.
Image: @stellarmag (Instagram)