Trigger Warning: this article deals with sexual assault and may be triggering to some readers.
Grace Tame has become one of Australia’s most prominent voices, campaigning against and raising awareness of child sexual assault by sharing her first-hand experience of the horror and trauma she was left with after being groomed, raped and abused by one of her high school teachers.
In 2021, she was named Australian of the Year, and in 2022, released a memoir titled The Ninth Life of a Diamond Miner. She founded the Grace Tame Foundation, a not-for-profit philanthropic organisation that helps fund initiatives that work to prevent and respond to child sexual abuse. She’s been dubbed an “inspiration”, “force for change” and “instigator of a revolution”. She’s also a regular marie claire contributor.
Through it all, Tame has refused to be defined by darkness, telling marie claire that focusing on the negatives is not always helpful. “I get frustrated when people only want to focus on the negative details – tell me about your rape; take us back to your darkest moment,” she said. “When there’s all this rage and widespread shock, we can get stuck in a cycle of darkness – and that’s not productive.”
And in that vein, the 29-year-old is taking an entirely new approach to spreading her message: going on tour.
What’s the tour about?
“I got approached, and I was like sure why not!” Tame says of the decision to go on tour – something that feels a little left-of-field, but given how powerful a stage presence Tame has been at all of her public speaking events, is actually not so out-of-character. “It won’t be Ted Talk-y,” she’s quick to add. “I might come out and do like three minutes of absolutely stupid stand-up-style jokes, but then I’ll have someone wrangling me, otherwise everyone will be lost to the tangential vortex of my brain.” (No complaints here!)
As for what she’ll be speaking about, Tame says she’s keen to cover what it’s like after being thrust into the spotlight. Since she was named Australian of the Year, she’s faced both high praise and heavy criticism, and after a few years, has figured out a way to navigate it all and keep herself steady. She’ll also share what it was like to launch her foundation, run an ultramarathon and laugh her way through immeasurable pain.
“The idea of tour is to reflect on, to put it eloquently, the fuckshow that has been the last three years,” she says. “Just being brutally honest and taking a humourous approach to examining what the very unique experience was like of being thrown out of obscurity and into the spotlight to speak about something very highly emotional and highly politically charged and fraught with trauma,” she says. She’ll also give her audiences a sneak peak at what she’s working on now and next, including legislative reform and her personal growth.
At the end, she’ll host a Q+A for audience members to chat directly with her on stage.
Where can I get tickets?
Tame’s tour, called – fittingly – Lightening the Load, will be held at three venues: Enmore Theatre in Sydney on September 28, Powerhouse Theatre in Brisbane on October 5, and Playhouse Theatre in Melbourne on October 19. Tickets are available now.
Help Is Available:
- If you require immediate assistance, please call 000.
- If you’d like to speak to someone about intimate partner violence, call the 1800 Respect hotline on 1800 737 732 or chat online.
- If you’re under 25, you can reach Kid’s Helpline at 1800 55 1800 or chat online.
This article originally appeared on Marie Claire Australia and is republished here with permission.
