I actually think of 13 different people before I think of either.

In reading Dick Oslund's new book I thought, "Could a woman have done this?" Our culture and treatment of woman would never have allowed it even if the audience would have accepted it.

Today I wonder if any person would be willing to work that hard - either gender. Would today's student audience accept it?

Perhaps a female performer would be respected more in high school settings, but just getting student to shut off cell phones could make it impossible anyway.

My point is that magic is largely determined by the expectations of the audience. Can a woman meet that better than a man?

Personally a female magician will get my attention quicker than a male magician simply because I see fewer female magicians. There does seem to be some reason for women not becoming magicians. Wish there were more.

This conversation reminds me of one I had a long time ago in my profession. I am an engineer who used to run a repair shop. Back then I had a handful of male techs working for me. We got into an argument over how men and women are perceived in the tech industry so I made a wager. I told them that the next client who comes through the door, let me talk to them for 15 minutes and answer their questions, then step out but don't engage. Act like you are doing something else, perhaps clean the cabinets or something. Also they were told to not answer questions, and to keep letting me answer.

They did just that, and even though I was answering everything the person asked, and was the boss as well as the most educated person there, invariably people would turn from me and begin talking to one of the guys... even though the guys wouldn't answer and I would keep answering the questions, the person would never turn back towards me to continue talking. One of my employees even turned back towards me and kept referring the client to me for answers. Both male and female clients have this behavior.

People would assume I was the secretary. I had one older woman actually say as I walked out of my office to respond to a request for help from one of the newer employees, “ This guy is knows his stuff, how long before you learn as much as him?” I had not met this person before, and as soon as she said that the tech spoke up and let her know that he was my apprentice.

I won the wager, and the guys learned something.

It is something in our culture, how gender is perceived. It will be a long time before those boundaries are changed. I learned that I have to be at least 3 times better at my job than those around me in order to stand out.

This comic has some serious truth in it. I am sure this also applies to the profession of magic.

I think some of the posts in this thread demonstrate that people see female magicians differently than male magicians. That might not mean that a female magician discerns a palpable difference during performances, though I will tell you that I am aware of the need to get women spectators "on my side" early on, which is something that never even occurs to male magicians.

I have had to make nice with the Ladies before starting a performance. Not too often but the tension can be felt at times.

Guys get push back from other Guys who perceive them as a threat. I think it is the same sort of thing.

Sometimes Male Magicians have to win Women over to even watch Magic though. This may be because some Women have run into boorish Magicians in the past. Tricks like the Ding Dong Trick and TT in the Ear etc... have done a lot towards making some Women dislike "Magic" (for good reason).

It is all about how the performance is framed and our interpersonal relationship is viewed.

Dana is right, it is up to us to set the tone before we start.

-Mary Mowder

[quote]On Jun 19, 2015, randirain wrote:


Now to edit what Bill said....
You have to make yourself stand out as a performer.
You take whatever your advantages are, and use them to your advantage.
Everybody does things differently.
Everybody is different and you must find your artistic lines.

What most people who want to do stand up have to do is, create something worth watching.
They have schools for that.

People need to be who they are and not bow to stereotypes. Some people don't feel "sexy", and you know what, that's okay. More power to you!
I believe it was Max Maven who said, "the audience doesn't have to like you, they just have to find you interesting."
That is your job, to be interesting. Whether that means playing good housewife from the 50's to get Bill off, or if it means flipping the coin and putting people on edge. It's not what someone else tells you, it's what you say, and never forget it.


A gracious reply and excellent re-framing.

Boys have dolls too.......we just call them "action-figures"

Hint: I don't think I can ever look as good as you do in a photo !
That's a big difference