Online news outlet The Daily Mail published a now deleted photo of Ms Tame on Monday, which showed her sitting on a couch with a long cylindrical object that appeared to be a bong leaning against her foot.

In response on Saturday, Ms Tame tweeted a thread titled "An open letter" which emphasised the importance of recognising how child sexual abuse survivors manage their trauma, which she said can involve drugs, self-harm, skipping school and other self-destructive or maladaptive coping mechanisms.

"Publicly shaming survivors for their past is as low as you can possibly go," Ms Tame said.

"Drugs feature in the broader story of abuse, during and after. They feed into and compound the many layers of guilt and confusion. Later they become a familiar, go-to means of escape.

"By point-mocking a symptom of a bigger picture, you've reinforced the imbalance of an already skewed culture. You've chosen to punish the product of an evil, not the evil itself. This is precisely why survivors don't report. Congratulations."

READ MORE:

This is the second response Ms Tame has made in relation to the photo being distributed. Her first was a post of the actual photo on Tuesday, making a joke in relation to the Prime Minister's 60 Minutes interview when he sang April Sun in Cuba.

"Alright, I confess, we were doing a cover of April Sun in Cuba. On the oboe," Ms Tame said.

The child sexual abuse survivors' advocate used the the open letter to inform readers of how shame plays a big role in the survivor experience, and said while the distribution of the image would have had a negative influence on survivors, the response from people calling it out meant a lot.

"[It's] with a swollen heart that I wish to thank the legions of strangers and friends alike from all over Australia who showed up and showed out for survivors by calling out the unnecessary shaming stunt on Monday. I have never seen anything quite like it," she said.

Ms Tame launched the Grace Tame Foundation in December, an organisation that aims to combat child sexual abuse through working with political and societal leaders and helping fund peak bodies to advocate for meaningful change, which Ms Tame referred to at the end of her letter.

"Our foundation received a record amount of donations that day, bringing us one step closer to a future free from the sexual abuse of children and others. Now that's a story worth publishing," she said.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: