A recent article asks why there are so few female magicians and proposes several possible reasons. The story makes for interesting reading, but it's opening statement, a comparison, makes no sense. In fact, in my mind, it nearly derails the story and its premise.
To apparently indicate gender bias, the writer states that few today can name Adelaide Hermann, one of the top magicians during the early part of the 20th Century. And the writer compares her name recognition today against that of Harry Houdini. But gender bias? It's Harry Houdini that we're talking about.
I think that just about everyone over the age of twelve can name Harry Houdini. And while I have no studies to back this up, I think that like Adelaide Hermann, many can't name most of Houdini's contemporaries that include: Blackstone, Thurston, Kellar, Maskelyne and Chung Ling Soo and Adelaide Hermann's husband, Alexander Hermann.
Male or female, one can't compare any other historical magician or even entertainer of the era (with the exception of Charlie Chaplin) against the name recognition of Harry Houdini, who I think is among the best known entertainers of all time. It's much like saying no one recalls President James Buchanan but everyone can identify President Abraham Lincoln.
The article poses many reasons for the lack of women in magic and offers some intriguing food for thought. I may return to this topic.
More Reading:
Women in Boxes
Interview: Gay Blackstone - "Masters of Illusion"
Picture C Masters of Illusion
Comments
I agree with you Wayne, the opening premise of the article is ridiculous. But anyway, I wonder why there’s so much hand-wringing over this topic of women in magic? The reasons range from both psychological to practical (in our youth-obsessed society, women have a shorter career span in magic than men do). On the other hand, men tend to die about 7 years earlier than women, but I see little hand-wringing about that, and it’s a more dire issue than the number of women in magic!
I find it ironic that women are underrepresented as the lead magician when in fact the assistant (almost always female) who does most of the heavy lifting in stage magic.
The one thing I have noted when women “take the lead” is that the audience has the female assistant image ingrained in their expectations. Yes, this is a stupid assumption by the public, especially in this day and age, but just because it is stupid doesn’t mean it’s not happening.
It doesn’t help that some women illusionists’ still costume themselves as assistants. I’m not saying “revealing” or “sexy” is wrong but some women use a look that is a nicer or 1 step above a version of the assistants costume.
One example is a performer on “Masters of Illusion”. I am sorry that I can’t remember her name, but she is quite good. During her street segments she is dressed quite fine. She is in casual clothes and is definitely “in charge”.
However, when she performed a Linking Rings routine onstage she dressed in what looked like black bicycle shorts. The look didn’t work.
Of course women shouldn’t dress the same as men and I am not clever enough to come up with specifics (I keep picturing 70’s pant suits… eeewww). Those who are actually clever enough should come up with costumes that do convey a “master of the space” and not simply fancy assistant clothes.
Good morning,
Just in the 2 brief comments, (Wayne’s and Tim’s), there are plenty of debatable ( not controversial )issues regarding the topic of “Women In Magic”. The main reaction I have to those words is that people almost instantly conjure an image of women performing magic on stage.! This also happens with men to a smaller degree.Most members of SAM and IBM enter the groups wanting to learn more magic , whether it is for their ultimate goal of writing about magic, ( Historically ), doing ( performing ) a little bit of magic for their family and friends, associating with magicians , sharing magic, etc., etc.,, Yet , including myself , it is very difficult to name women who are stage performers.Just Rachel Wild Columbini, Julie Chen,Mia, Melanie, is all I could come up within a 1 minute deadline that I set for myself. There are only 2 or 3 that I know who do not perform, but “know” magic and stay in the backgroundand contribute greatly to the art of magic and entertainment.
Ah, well.I just wanted to chime in here to add a comment to the subject matter. 6 A.M.is definitely NOT the time of day to gather one’s thoughts and write a coherent essay, about my favorite subject.
Blessings,
Patricia
I have asked a few female magicians how we could increase the number of young ladies in our magic clubs.
I am sorry to say they did not have any suggestions.
Any ideas?
This is a topic that recently captured my interest after renting a magic documentary from Netflix. I, too, wonder why there are so few women practicing magic. I suspect that one reason might be that there are few notable role models for them to look to. As a boy, I would watch Doug Henning or David Copperfield on their TV specials, and they served as role models to help inspire my interest in magic. Where are the role models for women today in magic? This is not to say that there are not many successful, and wonderful magicians today that are women, nor that a male magician cannot serve as a role model for a young girl interested in magic, but I still think that we need a big name – a modern Adelaide Hermann – to help broaden interest among young girls who might grow up to be magicians themselves one day.