This cartoon in the Dec. 18, 2018 issue of The New Yorker sums up one of the enduring problems in our art, which is of course sexism and the continued reduction of female assistants and spectators alike to the status of sexualized objects:
https://media.newyorker.com/cartoons/5c0......2361.jpg

The fact that a mainstream magazine published the image is all the proof one needs that a significant portion of the public really does see us this way, and all too accurately: as a Men's Only form of entertainment in which women are always the pretty accessories or peripherals. How many national illusion shows are still using stereotypically "beautiful" women in skimpy outfits in their acts? It remains the norm. Just recently, I saw comedy magician Jonathan Burns' appearance last year on Penn and Teller's "Fool Us," and I was shocked by the disgusting way the performer chose to end his otherwise brilliant routine: with him pretending to ejaculate on a spectator on stage. (Yes, seriously.) But if you look at the video of the performance, about 6 minutes in, you can see that the woman standing there "gets" what he's doing and doesn't like it. However, she's on national TV (or soon will be), and has to be a good sport. Meanwhile, the audience is hooting and hollering, and Penn and Teller are falling over laughing. It was like a symbolic gang rape. Unacceptable.

I would love to see just one professional full-time magician in Vegas or some similar venue say publicly that objectifying women on stage is an anachronism and one that we need to retire. I'd like to see just one magic distributor say that it will no longer produce advertising copy for its effects in which *every* spectator is referred to as "she," and *every* magician is referred to as "he." Man=subject. Woman=object.

We are finally seeing more women entering the magical arts, and that will help shift public perceptions of what we are about. Meanwhile, though, male performers like me have a special responsibility to name this crap and to hold other male magicians accountable to a new standard. It's gone on for way to long. I encourage other Café residents to start cataloguing these sexist idiocies. In fact, how about we start a whole website on the topic? Or create a hashtag, like #VanishingSexism?

Thank you for this post.

Sadly but predictably, when I introduced this theme the other day on the Right and Wrong? discussion page (https://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewtopic.php?forum=177&topic=681387), I got hammered with the usual defensive, clueless responses by male performers. "There are none so blind as those who won't see," as the saying goes. So it remains an uphill battle.

Something I find rather disturbing in myself is that I hadn’t even gotten the inappropriateness of the treatment of the lady audience member the first time I watched Burns do that. I had to imagine it going the other way (which would have been objectively funnier) to see how wrong it was. And I think of myself as pretty fair minded.

I do appreciate you posting this because it is important for magic to move beyond sexual role definition.

Patrick

Melies, what should male and female be referred to as, if not he or she? You did not give the reference words you desire. There are two sexes in this World, and there is a large difference in physical make up between them.

I have always referred to a helper, male or female, as YOU. Will you come up and help me? Will you hold this scarf? Will you pick a card?

Ladies have a certain way of standing, holding, and natural show business presence that male do not possess. It is all about the show an the audience reactions and acceptance to the visual.

Cheleste Evans is the only female magician I ever seen live, that impressed my interest in magic. She was the best. I have never seen a female magician as good as her in my magic visits to conventions.

If you are referring to the famous comedy team Burns and Allen, they did originally go the other way at 1st, but George realized the audience did not laugh at Gracie being the straight person. So they switched it around, because every time Gracie was getting the laughs, it is show business and they wanted to earn a living in Vaudeville.

Bill, you write: "Melies, what should male and female be referred to as, if not he or she?...I have always referred to a helper, male or female, as YOU."

You seem to misapprehend my point: almost every magic book, every ad copy, every commercial effect, depicts the spectator as "she" or "her," not "you." In other words, the spectator is invariably the DONE TO. Now, why is that? Don't we bring men and women onto our stages? I'm suggesting that the use of language matters: among other things, continually referring to spectators as exclusively female reinforces the passivity of women and the agency of male performers.

"Ladies have a certain way of standing, holding, and natural show business presence that male do not possess. It is all about the show an the audience reactions and acceptance to the visual."

Sorry, but you are wrong. Gender is a social construction. It is not natural. Pygmy women in Africa, Aztec women in the 4th century, Hopi women in 800 BCE, and Austrian hairdressers do not or did not stand the same way, act the same way, hold themselves the same way, etc. And they don't/didn't all have the same "natural show business presence," etc. The skimpily clad women in Copperfield's shows do not naturally hold their bodies that way, they are told what to do, how to stand, how to smile, etc. It is a disciplining of the female body as rigorous nearly as what Ballanchine subjected his ballerinas to. Not natural.

You write: "Cheleste Evans is the only female magician I ever seen live, that impressed my interest in magic. She was the best. I have never seen a female magician as good as her in my magic visits to conventions."

That is such a sexist comment, I can't believe you said it--but you did. It's like someone saying, "I once saw Arthur Ashe play, but I never saw another Black play tennis as well before or since." I.e., the logical inference being, BLACK PEOPLE CAN'T BE GREAT TENNIS PLAYERS, AND THE REASON THERE AREN'T MORE OF 'EM IS BECAUSE THEY JUST AREN'T ANY GOOD. I.e. not because of SYSTEMIC UNRELENTING RACISM IN THE WHITE TENNIS WORLD.

Well, I have seen many fabulous female magicians (like Belinda Sinclair)--as good or better than 98% of the male magicians I've seen. But to bring up personal anecdotes is completely beside the point. Your attitude is sadly like that of every other party who ever objected that black people can't be college professors, or women can't be trusted to vote, or the reason there aren't more women in math and science is probably due to genetic inferiority (thank you, Larry Summers), etc.

I'll tell you why there aren't more good female magicians, and also why the ones who are good often shy away from the magic conventions: because the conventions, and the Magic Café, are full of sexist men who don't take women's equality seriously and who are quite happy to keep the club closed.

You are totally wrong, I live in a black community, and friends with many of them. And comparing 4th world people to the United States is stretching things really far. 4th world woman do have a style all to themselves, but you are so angry, you cannot see it. Wen I was in Vietnam, the men and women were totally unique. I like and interacted whenever possible with them. A very nice and unique culture.

You are also wrong, that we don't want woman in magic, they bend over backwards to help and show case them whenever possible.

You have a very negative view, I am sorry for you, as you are totally wrong.

If you want to get rid of he and she, as I ask, come up with a words you would replace them with. The English language is constantly changing, but if you look want it changed, then change it, but don't put your work on others, and say they are wrong.

A man and woman is in a store, one of them black and one is white, how would you tell the police, who was stealing the merchandise. You have seconds to speak.

I was once asked by a black person, how would you point out a person from 10 people only one was black, they are all grouped together across the street. How would you tell, which person you speaking about? They all had baseball caps, white T shirts and jeans on, and all wore sneakers. He never gave me the answer.

I grew up when there was very few if any black people in my town. It was not a small town. So I have not prejudice against anyone, I make up my mind about all people after I interact with them. My parents never commented about race or prejudice in any form. Just yesterday, a friend of mine, who was once a neighbor just stopped by to say hello. It was thoughtful of him, and he is doing well.

I don't know where you get you judgmental attitude, but it is horrible.

To compare the BLACK issue with the FEMALE issue...I just shake my head ruefully. Yeah. Use ANY excuse...no matter how inane...OK this male is slithering away now...

Doug

Dougini, Melies brought up the Black issue.

I know. Shameful...

Indeed. Here is an example...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDvw3gboX5I&feature=youtu.be

Doug

Performance is for, not upon, at or to.
Hearts are not the same as clubs or diamonds.

Bill, I was talking about Johnathan Burns, as referenced in the OP.

Patrick

Many magicians treat their spectators, and their volunteers in particular, with little respect. The "I am powerful and make you look stupid" narrative is quite widespread, as far as I can see. Female spectators and volunteers seem to be treated with even less respect than male ones. In addition to the general narrative to ridicule the spectator, there can be sexist remarks, too. And while there are reasons to prefer female volunteers for one trick and male volunteers for another one, I think that all volunteers (and in fact all spectators) should be treated respectfully.

Pen Jillette is one male magician who has said that sexism in magic is a problem. May there be many more saying the same.

https://globalnews.ca/news/3816289/young......-teller/

DaKine Oregon

Penn also thinks the next big magician in America will be a woman, based on math. He also discusses pranks and Virtual Reality.

https://www.salon.com/2019/07/04/penn-ji......a-woman/

DaKine Oregon.

Melies - I was agreeing with munch of your thinking until you turned to projecting ...

but, I ma questioning your statement , "the spectator is invariably the DONE TO. Now, why is that? Don't we bring men and women onto our stages? I'm suggesting that the use of language matters: among other things, continually referring to spectators as exclusively female reinforces the passivity of women and the agency of male performers."

This suggest that you understand the dynamics of magic very little, and proper "Volunteer Assistant" selection even less.

The selection has very little to do with sex, but might be based on gender. Men and women are physically different in strength, left-right sensitivity, eye-contact cues, etc.

The desired "story told after" is the ONLY basis of selecting a particular VA, with "must be magic" the theme.

Yes, SOME performers make selections based on sex/gender. Just don't toss everyone into the same change bag.

And SOME Americans speak English. SOME trees have leaves. And SOME vehicles run on gasoline. Let's not pretend that the vast, vast majority of volunteers aren't female, and chosen because they are female. Male volunteers are chosen when the magician needs the appearance of strength or danger, or they are going to mercilessly make fun of the volunteer. Most of the rest of the time, they are women.

I see a lot of magic, much of it at the Magic Castle. The Magic Castle has five performance spaces booked every night, and more if you include bars, impromptu performances, the Cellar Theater, and special events. If you go onto YouTube, you'll see hundreds of videos of magicians performing at the Castle. Do it. Go to YouTube, search all those videos, and report back with how often when volunteers are used, a female volunteer is chosen. Now sometimes, particularly in the close-up gallery, you'll see a couple chosen: a man and a woman. But when it's not a couple, more than 90% of the time it's all women. I think I have seen a total of two such videos where it was all men, and was not a situation described above (danger, strength or gag). And in one of those, the volunteers were asked to drink poison. If you see anything close to a 50/50 split (other than couples) I will eat a hat on video.

The majority of volunteers chosen are young, female, and attractive. Women are chosen for eye candy. They are chosen because they are perceived as more pliable and more cooperative. They are chosen to preserve the "one up" position of the male magician. They are chosen because women are believed to be less likely to challenge the magician. They are chosen because it is tradition. I have magic books that go on at length about choosing female volunteers. It's a FACT that the vast majority of volunteers chosen are women and because they are women.

That is not to say that magicians who use women as volunteers are doing so to be purposefully sexist. I don't claim to know their motive. Perhaps some are, I don't know. But they do it, subconsciously or for whatever reason. I sat and watched Pop Haydn do six shows one night behind the WC Fields Bar at the Castle. The audiences were 50/50 male to female. He opened with the same trick each time, and he chose a female volunteer each and every time. Pop is a friend. He doesn't have a sexist bone in his body. If someone said one of two magicians was sexist, and one was Pop, I'd always conclude that the sexist was the other one. Yet here he is, choosing women. On YouTube he has a whole bunch of videos of him performing Chicago Surprise. Almost every one features female volunteers. There is one video with a couple. And the ONLY video that features a man is a guy named Jay, and Pop trots that video out as a demonstration of how you can handle a difficult volunteer. He has posted it here in the café more than once for that very principle. Otherwise, they are all women. And as I said before, there is no one I know who is less sexist than Pop. He's a truly beautiful soul. And yet, here we are.

So let's not pretend that "some" performers make selections based on gender. Let's acknowledge that it happens the vast, vast majority of the time. It's a thing. And we can't get past it until we admit it.

We use to joke that the prettiest girl in the Copperfield audience would be selected on stage. Absolutely, females are picked for eye candy. I would argue that more attractive people generally means you had a more successful act.

That is not just magic. That's everywhere. All things being equal, the more attractive person will always get the job. Many studies have been done on this. It pays to be pretty. It is not just a female phenomenon. Better looking males will always get the job as well.

We cannot fight human nature. In fact, when I goto a show, I don't want to see average people. When I watch movies, I want better looking characters.

Women are not picked because they are weak, or feeble minded. That is reading way to much into it. If anything, an old white guy is getting picked for those stereotypes. They usually can handle the poor treatment that goes with weak, and feeble minded character.

Sure young men are picked for strength. Because they are physically strongest. If you want two people tugging on Rope (pendragons rings a bell) showing they are strong, you grab two guys.

Next year, I plan to have my daughters perform a chair suspension. I already am telling them to pick a girl with long hair. The long hair adds the best visual, and typically females weigh less. Am I being sexist? Or do I understand what creates the best illusion?

I'd like to see a study on the people picked verses where they sit. My wife refuses to sit in the first few rows because she does not want to be picked. There also is eye contact. Are men more quick to look away?

I think it's extremely sexist to think men pick women based on weak women characteristics.