Sensitive content
This site contains sensitive content that includes references to sexual violence.
Latest
The marginalized majority: Honoring Professor S. Caroline Taylor AM
"She endured two criminal trials that resulted in the conviction and imprisonment of her father and complete rejection by her family and others. Those trials became infamous — cited in parliament and by Attorneys-General — as examples of the punishing treatment victims endure in courtrooms. Many people would have stepped away from public life after that. Caroline stepped forward."
For this series spotlighting the co-founders of the Brave Movement, I have sat down one-on-one with survivor leaders around the world to hear their experiences in their own words.
This piece is different.
Professor S. Caroline Taylor AM is currently navigating serious illness. Rather than conduct a traditional Q&A, I have chosen to write this reflection in her honor — drawing from her decades of scholarship, advocacy, public testimony, expert advisory roles, and the words she has shared over a lifetime of leadership.
Caroline has never needed an interviewer to make her voice heard. She is internationally recognized as Australia’s leading publicly identified survivor advocate.
For more than 30 years, she has stood publicly — and often alone — demanding justice for victims of childhood sexual abuse.
Rebuilding, relentlessly
After experiencing homelessness and interrupted education, Caroline returned to university as a mature-aged student. She graduated with First Class Honours and went on to complete a PhD, which received the prestigious Jean Martin Award for the best PhD in social sciences in Australia.
Her thesis examined the legal construction of child sexual abuse — how the law narrates, distorts, and sometimes silences victims. That work was tabled in parliament. It informed law reform in Victoria and beyond. She distilled her PhD into 2 books and led funded research, resulting in more than 50 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. She served on international editorial boards. She advised police, prosecutors, and lawmakers. She trained Interpol officers. She was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for her contribution to the protection and welfare of child abuse victims. Caroline is currently an expert lived experience advisor to the Federal Attorney General’s office.
"In 2004, she quietly founded a registered not-for-profit charity — using her own money — to provide scholarships to survivors whose education had been derailed by abuse. Nearly 20 years later, it continues without government funding."
Caroline has often said that education is something no one can take from you. It is a building block for reclaiming a life on your own terms.
She rebuilt more than her own life.
She rebuilt systems.
Why Brave?
When we co-founded the Brave Movement in 2022, we did so because survivor leadership needed to move from the margins to the center.
Caroline has long argued that survivor voices must not simply be included. They must formally shape policy, legislation, and reform at every level.
In 2023, the Council of Europe commissioned her to write the world’s first Policy Guidelines for engaging and including victim-survivors of childhood sexual abuse in all levels of policy, legislative, and service reform. Those guidelines are now published in multiple languages and adopted by more than 50 countries.
That is the scale of leadership Caroline brings to every room.
And yet, for her, one profound injustice remains unaddressed.
Intrafamilial child sexual abuse: The marginalized majority
Globally, approximately 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 7 boys experience sexual violence before the age of 18. Data from the Violence Against Children and Youth Surveys (VACS), led by national governments as part of the Together for Girls partnership, reveal that up to half of child sexual abuse is perpetrated by family members, depending on the country.
And yet public discourse — and often public policy — continues to focus on stranger danger and online grooming.
The uncomfortable truth is this: for many children, the greatest danger is inside the home.
Children abused within the family face compounded trauma: betrayal, retaliation, homelessness, disbelief, and legal systems that have historically treated intrafamilial cases more leniently than cases involving non-family offenders. In Australia, the landmark Royal Commission into institutional child sexual abuse explicitly excluded intrafamilial abuse.
Caroline has described survivors of intrafamilial abuse as the marginalized majority.
"There has never been a focused Royal Commission into intrafamilial child sexual abuse anywhere in the world. Until now, no country has had the courage to examine this reality fully."
The walk: Melbourne to Canberra
This year, Caroline is leading a 670-kilometre walk from Melbourne to Canberra.
It is both symbolic and strategic.
She intends to sleep rough most nights by the roadside to represent the loneliness, homelessness, and abandonment many survivors experience upon disclosure. She will walk alongside seven other survivors of intrafamilial sexual abuse — including internationally recognized advocates and an Indigenous leader — stopping in towns along the way to speak with communities and media.
The walk will culminate at Parliament House in Canberra, where the group intends to present a petition to the Prime Minister demanding a Royal Commission into Intrafamilial Child Sexual Abuse.
In 2025, Caroline was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive, and incurable cancer. She has undergone months of chemotherapy and major surgeries. In January 2026, Caroline was advised that her cancer had further metastasised to major organs with a terminal diagnosis.
"She intends to walk with whatever supports she needs — a walker, a wheelchair — and to sleep roadside regardless."
She has given clear instructions: the walk must proceed even if she cannot complete it.
This is not symbolic defiance.
It is a lifetime of conviction distilled into action.
Why this moment matters
Australia is currently under global scrutiny and admiration for its leadership on keeping children safe online. Governments, civil society leaders, and technology companies are watching closely as Australia shapes global conversations around digital safety and child protection — including being one of the first countries to ban social media for children under 16.
This year, Australia will also host major international convenings, including Women Deliver in April and the ISPCAN International Congress on Child Abuse and Neglect in August — bringing global leaders in gender equality and child protection to Australian soil.
As the world’s eyes turn toward Australia, there is a rare opportunity.
An opportunity not only to lead on online harms, but to show courage in addressing the most hidden and uncomfortable form of violence against children: intrafamilial sexual abuse.
Child sexual abuse cannot be effectively addressed or prevented with less than half the story. Survivors of intrafamilial abuse — often silenced, stigmatized, disbelieved, and in some cases legally forced into continued contact with offenders — deserve a national reckoning equal to that afforded to institutional abuse survivors.
"If Australia were to convene the first Royal Commission into Intrafamilial Sexual Abuse, it would send a powerful message to the world — that child safety is not selective, not partial, and not politically convenient. Justice must be whole. Justice must be complete. And if Australia leads, the world can follow."
How you can support this world-first campaign
To make this walk possible, urgent support is needed.
The campaign requires:
- Media partnerships to provide daily coverage.
- Sponsorship to support international and interstate survivor advocates participating.
- Marketing and branding support to develop a campaign identity and webpage.
- A support vehicle for safety and logistics.
- Walking gear, food, water, and emergency contingencies.
- Funding to execute the campaign safely and effectively.
- Donations to support Caroline’s long-standing scholarship charity for survivors.
If you are a media outlet, philanthropist, corporate sponsor, policymaker, or someone who believes that children deserve protection, this is your moment.
Caroline has spent three decades refusing to allow intrafamilial abuse to remain invisible.
Now she is walking — literally — to ensure it cannot be ignored any longer.
Let Australia and the world follow.
