And yet, on the eve of releasing her memoir, Harmer recounts being subjected to the sort of male behaviour which would cancel a career today. And not just during her early work years. Even as the best paid and most powerful woman on Australian radio, she was still \u201cputting up with it\u201d.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Wendy Harmer at home in Sydney on the eve of her memoir being released.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>James Brickwood<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cThere was absolutely no one to tell,\u201d she says, neither in the sleek 2DayFM studios in the early 1990s where she would end up earning over a million dollars a year to anchor its breakfast show, nor at the Advertiser\u2019s<\/em> drab offices, where she was its first female cadet news reporter in 130 years, and banned by her male bosses from wearing trousers in favour of skirts.<\/p>\n A school teacher\u2019s daughter raised in regional Victoria and born with a hair lip and cleft palate, twice-married mother of two Harmer attributes her \u201ctough carapace\u201d to surviving a childhood riddled with bullying and emotional neglect, one which prepared her well for a roller coaster career in the spotlight.<\/p>\n \u201cI did get caught up in the whole fame thing for a while. You can turn into an arrogant pain in the arse… You\u2019ve got to be quite vigilant about your own behaviour,\u201d she says, adding that when her career highs ended, usually amid a blaze of headlines, \u201cI soon discovered how quickly you return to the back of the bus \u2026 in about two weeks!\u201d<\/p>\n Despite her talent and independence, she writes in Lies My Mirror Told Me<\/em> that men held the levers during all the most pivotal moments in her career, both good and bad.<\/p>\n She praises fellow male comedians who encouraged her to break into Australia\u2019s male-only stand-up comedy circuit, and yet it was Harmer, an avowed feminist, who quit the Advertiser<\/em> after thwarting the unwanted advances of a senior male colleague. Her rebuttal resulted in being overlooked for key story assignments.<\/p>\n \u201cI was a kid, I soon developed a more assertive attitude … Many men I have worked with have said I\u2019m a bit scary, they\u2019re usually the ones who got second billing,\u201d Harmer tells the Herald<\/em>. \u201cCertainly, I would not like my daughter to have gone through some of the things I went through in the workplace.\u201d<\/p>\n Even as an undisputed star, about to make radio history by dethroning the once unbeatable Doug Mulray in Sydney\u2019s fierce ratings wars, Harmer reveals male colleagues were still crossing \u201cboundaries\u201d in a workplace culture which not only allowed the behaviour but celebrated it.<\/p>\n Her co-host Jamie Dunn, the comic puppeteer most famous for his Agro alter ego, would \u201cjokingly\u201d expose his genitals in the 2DayFM studio, as part of an ongoing gag that played out on air.<\/p>\n Wendy Harmer centre, with Jamie Dunn (left) and Paul Holmes in the 2DayFM studio in January 1993.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Barry Chapman\/Fairfax Media<\/cite><\/p>\n Harmer says she never found it funny, nor did she find it \u201cparticularly sexual, I suspect Jamie was a bit of a naturist\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI still can\u2019t fathom why he would do it as a gag on radio,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Their other co-host Paul Holmes recalls the gag happening \u201ca lot\u201d, explaining in the book: \u201cHe\u2019d drop his dacks, exposing his penis, raise his hands in the air and strike a pose … It was a good way to change the subject. You\u2019d say, \u2018Oh my God, Jamie, put it away!\u2019 And on we\u2019d go.\u201d<\/p>\n Harmer writes she saw Dunn\u2019s \u201cpenis more times than I care to remember\u201d and recalls her increasingly fraught on-air banter with him being \u201clike the fabled Kilkenny cats\u201d.<\/p>\n Dunn eventually left the show, reportedly claiming at the time it wasn\u2019t \u201cbig enough\u201d for the two of them.<\/p>\n Unaware of Harmer\u2019s book, Dunn told the Herald<\/em> he remained a great admirer of her \u201cundeniable talent\u201d, but agreed they had \u201cvery different\u201d broadcasting styles, and said he \u201conly\u201d exposed himself \u201conce or twice\u201d, as \u201ca harmless joke\u201d.<\/p>\n Their boss, former 2dayFM program director Brad March, told the Herald<\/em> he had \u201cvague recollections\u201d of it happening. He said Harmer was a \u201ctrailblazer\u201d for women in Australian radio, and that her \u201cfriction\u201d with Dunn resulted in \u201csome really great radio\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were a bit naive I guess,\u201d Harmer says about why women tolerated such antics from male peers. \u201cWe [women] put up with a lot of shit, really.\u201d<\/p>\n Dunn was eventually moved to Brisbane radio, revealing to the Herald<\/em>: \u201cWendy gave me a Voodoo doll of herself, along with a bag of pins, as a farewell gift.\u201d<\/p>\n Harmer also writes about more clandestine sexism under a chapter titled Ducks On A Pond<\/em>, a warning used by hunters to keep silent lest they startle their feathered prey.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n