Why are there so few women in magic?

[AshleyHall]

This post was edited due to the overwhelming support and awesome answers that were gathered in this forum post... thank you to all of the fantastic magic kiddos who posted here... love you all!

 

[MitchellStafiej]

I don't think there is a definitive reason as to why. But I assume it's the same reason that there are few women hockey players, etc. It wasn't long ago that women weren't all that respected (thank god they are now).

Also, women in magic were often portrayed as the assistants and had trouble breaking free from that stereotype.

Hopefully things will change .

Mitchell

 

[TheStreetAce]

Personally I think it's kool that women dare to do what men have done for nearly, forever! I don't know why people are so sexist. I'm glad Theory 11 is doing what it does to you for everyone! It's just like a magicians home!

 

[Anthony Bass]

I think there should definitely be more females in magic, but I think it's a fact of pure interest. The art of magic just seems to interest guys more than girls. Why? I'm going to be a little stereotypical, so forgive me. Guys seem to be a little more self-centered than women, and on that note tend to want to impress everybody. And magic is an awesome way to impress people. I'm not saying men are attention craving lunatics, but they do seem to want to impress others more than women do. Also, guys are more curious as to how something is done than women, and therefore, they look into finding out how a certain effect is done, and how he can impress his friends/family, and gets bitten by the bug.

Plus, "magic" and "men" both start with the letter M. It's common sense!

Anthony Bass

 

[Amirshaw]

wow very good question, i guess magic is more of a guy thing, i mean its just like how girls are into their hair, and were into cards, it just works that way lol

 

[Dude291]

Mmm...
Take it like this:
A lot of guys love cars: The model, the color, the wheels, etc.
Girls doesn´t put that kind of attention

It may be like that

P.S.: Katie is sooooooo hot by the way, it´s nice to have her in our group XD. She just looks so sexy with her deck of cards lol.
No offence!!!!!!!!

 

[Sergey]

Well, welcome here then, I am supportive of women doing magic, but I don't know why, I agree with Anthony about the interest thing, except you can add to that, that guys like to impress girls, and girls don't have to impress guys that much. My best guess that the stereorype continues.......

 

[Magic Katie]

Hmmm... well it is interesting.

Being a female magician is hard. REALLY hard. I've gotten a lot of crap for it, mainly from immature people. And your right, message boards are hell. I use to post a lot at Ellusionist (now I don't post at all, anywhere) and in the beginning the PMs from random kids asking for a Myspace and picture and saying they knew I "had to be hot" or whatever... was really disheartening. I was there for the magic and no one could see that. It took so much time and energy to finally bring the image I wanted to myself. The guys though had a much easier time.

But I realized something, even though in the internet realm of magic I was eventually well respected, at least in the Ellusionist community, I still had confidence issues in real life. And my internet magic counterpart of myself was soaring ahead in knowledge, while in real life I had been so beaten down by the lack of confidence from people not giving me a chance before I even started that it just all fell apart. I haven't picked up cards or a book on magic in SO long. I could have been great. I could have been the next big thing. I knew people, I knew things. I have the love for magic, deep inside me. And it's not just me... it's so so so many girls. But society shook their heads. And I could only take so much before just saying "screw it".

Sucks.


-Katie

 

[phrozunsun]

I don't think there is a definitive reason as to why. But I assume it's the same reason that there are few women hockey players, etc. It wasn't long ago that women weren't all that respected (thank god they are now).

Also, women in magic were often portrayed as the assistants and had trouble breaking free from that stereotype.

Hopefully things will change .

Mitchell

I think that's only half the reason.

when the first bunch of women step into a male dominated area, one of two things happen.

1. They treat her like "one of the guys" (meaning they act like they do around the guys without toning it down)
2. They all jump at her because she's relatively cute and interested in the same thing.

Both situations can make girls uncomfortable. For #1 some girls can't handle being one of the guys. For #2, some girls feel awkward about so many guys "on the attack" at once.

after the initial major breakthrough, the social order gets shaken up and things change.

 

[KatieKenner]

Well, I'm going to be completely honest.

There are a few reasons why there are few women in magic.

*They think it is an easy way to gain fame. Little do they know that they have to gain the same amount of respect from a certain group (other male magicians). And this IS NOT an easy group to impress. Trust me. I've been there. Most women do not realize that magic is not simply jumping in and out of boxes doing a few cool dance steps on stage. You have to practice and know your stuff.

*Magicians are mean, and by mean I mean OVERLY critical, (take a look at all the "what do you think about this" or "review" threads.) Well MOST of them are. Women are not born with thick skin. Its something you develop with time. I know I've been torn apart in chats, at lectures and performances. Its hard to hear some of the stuff they say about you. But a lot of chicks don't take it as ammo for the next adventure.. its easier for them to quit.

*They expect special attention. Nuff said. You have to accept that you are going into a male dominated world. You are going to have to learn to fend for yourself. There are going to situations where you have to talk the talk AND walk the walk... and if you don't follow through... you will be laughed at. This is when you have to deal with triumph or mortification.

Those are just a few reasons... asking "Why are there so few females in magic" is like asking "How come there are so few cool magicians". Its something you have to deal with.

Thats my profound thought of the day.

Katie Egleston

 

[dummyisdumb]

Well, I'm not trying to be sexist here, but there are a little women in EVERYTHING, accept it.

 

[StevenLevitt]

That is sexist, and untrue.

 

[Philip]

PUT YOUR HANDS UP FOR DETROIT.

There are tons of female magicians, thing is they all hang out with me have no time for others. Truth is I'm just lending Katie to Chris...

 

[fridoliina]

Hello everyone

I can just answer for myself why i dont think you see many female magicians around. I would really like to have someone i could talk and discusse magic with but almost everytime i get some one to talk to and i talk with them on Aim/msn the discussion goes over from finding the best coin bend to if i have big breasts and that has made me stop posting on alot of forums but this one seems really nice.

 

[NlightN]

ofc there is a lot of "are you hot" or "do you have big boobs" talk on the internet. cause kids are dominating it. there was an age poll here and i think when i saw the numbers the age group 13-18 blew all the others out of the water. im not saying age has everything to do with it but its certainly a factor.

there are few women in everything that started out as something only men did to begin with.
its just stamped in all our heads and once a female start doing what was "male only" everyone goes "OMFGWTFBBQ GURRRRLZ IN ZEH INTARWEBZ???"

in skateboarding its like that at least. if a girl starts skating all the boys gathers around her especially if she is pretty.

DONT SCARE THE WOMEN AWAY PLEASE :'(

 

[OwnerM]

I know that in case of my girlfriend, she's more interesting in being awed than to pick it apart.
She's smart enough to figure out how I do a trick if she knew some of the secrets. So she wants to know as little as possible as to how I do any trick, not to be ignorant, but to keep the emotional sense of wonder and awe when I perform for her.
As for me, I enjoy giving that feeling to her (and others, but her especailly. ), and I like to know how a trick works.
I don't mean to sound sexist, but I think women are more generally into the emotions of what magic can bring while men are generally more into the mechanics of magic.

 

[Twozwozer]

I think Ill refer back to Steerpike on this one.

Magicians in general are wankers.

Cheers, Tom
Ps. Well Magicians are to Female Magicians (Of course not all of them)

 

[NlightN]

but I think women are more generally into the emotions of what magic can bring while men are generally more into the mechanics of magic.

because women operate on emotions.

with magic its a lot easier to be at the receiving end when it comes to emotions.

 

[Magic Katie]

I don't mean to sound sexist, but I think women are more generally into the emotions of what magic can bring while men are generally more into the mechanics of magic.

Well if your "generally more into the mechanics of magic" then you'll never be anything special. Doing an ACR with killer presentation is ten times better than doing some crazy, difficult effect and lacking complete emotion and therefore lacking presentation because emotion is part of the presentation. Hmmm..

-Katie

 

[fridoliina]

I think its better to be into the emotional parts that magic can bring rather then have a extreamly high skill level so i dont think thats the problem.

One thing that came to my mind when i was thinking about this is that i see many people when they first starts of does it to impress people and mostly females. But we females does not need magic tricks to impress you guys, we have other things.