collective conscious

Grace Tame is the symbol of Australian women’s collective conscious

Words by Ruby Lehmann This is a quick trigger warning; this piece discusses sexual abuse and online trolling stories.

On the 25th of January 2021 Australian of the year, Grace Tame made headlines after a photo of her, and Prime Minister Scott Morrison caught the nation’s attention for many reasons. Tame and her fiancé had been invited to the Lodge in Canberra to celebrate the 2022 Australian of the Year finalists when a photo-op was organised. The photo shows a sullen-faced Tame next to a grinning Morrison thus sparking a wildfire of backlash towards Tame. The public was seemingly divided over their opinions. Many praised Tame for standing her ground, overshadowed by others expressing their criticism. Online she was called ungrateful, disrespectful, and childish, the last being the cruellest considering her childhood had been tainted by sexual abuse. Some had the audacity to say she did not deserve the accolade, going as far as saying it should be taken away from her due to her ‘impolite’ actions. Imagine? One of the highest honours and recognitions taken away from you because you didn’t smile in a two-minute photo-op. I can guarantee; there would be no chance of this outcry if Tame had been a man… Grace won the Australian of the Year award in 2021 due to her tireless work and advocacy for survivors of sexual assault, particularly survivors of child sexual abuse in institutional settings. At just 15 years old, Tame was groomed and repeatedly sexually assaulted by her 58-year-old math teacher. Gag laws in Tasmania at the time silenced her from speaking out about her assault and perpetrator openly. At the same time, he instead was free to publicly describe his crimes as ‘awesome’ and ‘enviable.”

Tame went to the Tasmanian Supreme court to fight for her right to tell her story, heavily assisted by the #LetHerSpeak campaign that led to the reform of gag laws in Tasmania. She has since, bravely led incredible work, using her public voice to speak up and push for legal reform regarding child sexual abuse and raise awareness surrounding the impacts. Over the last twelve months, Tame has poured countless hours into bringing structural change to end child sexual abuse, re-traumatising herself repeatedly, opening herself up to public discourse and attacks, and most of the

time does so with a smile. So why should she smile and act ingenuine next to a man who has repeatedly shown his lack of care and understanding for sexual violence survivors over the same twelve months?

The same man who only just in October left her out of drafting the national strategy to prevent child sexual abuse and then finding out about this draft via a radio interview. The same man appointed Lorraine Finaly as the following human rights commissioner despite opposing an affirmative consent model; Tame has thoroughly advocated for reform. Even after Brittany Higgins spoke out, the same man temporarily gave Christian Porter more power and appointed him as the House of Representatives leader. Or even the same man who, after Tame’s incredibly moving Australian of the Year speech, followed it up with the words ‘Gee, I bet that felt good to get out….’

After all of that, why should she have to stand and smile next to a man who has continuously disrespected her and the work she advocates for daily, re-traumatising herself every time she speaks on her own experience? And why does the public believe they are owed a smile or even have the right to tell her how she should act?

Early in life, women are always taught to appear ‘happy’ and ‘smiley’; maintain this or face the idea of becoming aesthetically unappealing and having their looks be up for discussion. A serious or angrylooking man suggests passion or determination, whereas if women exhibited the same expression, it is it is then seen as an image of irrationality and instability.

Comments using these descriptors were levelled against Tame after the photo-op, exposing the everyday misogynistic comments women are met with for refusing to smile and play nice when catcalled on the street or in the boardroom. The constant expectation of women to be smiling depoliticises them, and only further promotes the conformation in their own subjugation.

Had Tame ‘just smiled’ in the photos with Morrison, it simply would have let the Parliament institution and patriarchal structures within it off the hook for the pains and injustices against women in Australia and worldwide. Tame’s reaction only begins to touch the surface of the general feeling amongst Australian women after everything that has been endured over the last year.