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A prominent regular on the inner-Sydney and Melbourne art gallery circuit has been left rattled today, after learning that Australia’s stage and theatre community has a much deeper and disturbing culture of sexual harassment and misconduct than all the football codes combined.

56-year-old Geoffrey Mclushlan was one of the first members of his book club to condemn the piggish behaviour of Mitchell Pearce when he saw the video footage of him gyrating against a poodle, but now he’s been forced to confront a long string of assaults perpetrated by his thespian idols.

“I just, simply, refuse to believe it” he says.

“How on earth do people honestly believe that these industries, where smart people actually use their brains for the greater good, are more likely to behave inappropriately than these meathead neanderthals we are told to worship in the winter time”

“The Arts is always a sitting duck for the bogan media types”

“They love ruining the careers of our great thinkers”

However Geoffrey’s ignorant bliss, which is now verging on full blown denial, has been blown out of the water by an industry survey by The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance

Of 1124 people who responded to the survey by the MEAA’s Actors Equity branch, 40 per cent said they had experienced such incidents: 35 per cent at the hands of another performer; 35 per cent by a crew member; 18 per cent by a director; and 10 per cent by others (including conductors, teachers and photographers).

“Its simply not the same” he whines.

“You are going to tell me that some misread signals and overexcited onstage handsiness is the same as groping a trashy augmented groupie in a nightclub”

“I stand with the accused, in the arts”