talkmagic.co.uk

So what are the collective thoughts as to why in the 21st Century there are so few female magicians about?

It's not as though there is usually any physical reason to prevent or deter women/girls from performing. Can it really be that the traditional male magician image is off-putting when other far more male dominated professions and hobbies are now populated with reasonable numbers if not equal numbers of the female kind? Where are all the glamorous assistants? No offense but a bloke in a dress just does not do anything for me.

Is enough done to encourage a wider participation in magic?
I would have thought that from the marketing angle alone there is room for at least one or two big name female magic performers. Perhaps it is just a male only interest and fascination but I somehow doubt that.

I know of a few ladies in the realms of mentalism and other than a few names appearing on forums such as this only "Fay Presto" springs to mind other than 'assistants'.

Females in magic - Discuss...

In a word: tradition

And magic generally appeals to the male brain which is - speaking generally here of course - more wired for understanding systems and such, and the female brain more so for empathising.

Which is ironic, really, considering what magic should be about.

There's an old thread on the same topic at http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/ftopic1511.php, it looks like the situation hasn't changed much in the last 4 years!

I don't really think that the situation is too bad, there's Juliana Chen and Laura London who spring straight to mind.

I think one reason that there aren't more girlies in magic is because a lot of the mainstream magic at the moment is quite dark, David Blaine, Criss Angel and Derren Brown for example. I'm not sure that this sort of thing really appeals to women.

I think if there was more stage magic with music, bright costumes, etc I think we might see more women taking it up. That's my eventual goal, to put together a magic act incorporating some dance and music.

Well, I'm not sure, but I think women in America are still being cautious of magic ever since that incident in Salem, MA where every woman suspected of performing magic was killed in one way or enough . I think it might've put most women off performing.


I all seriousness, I think that most women don't do magic because, well frankly, they don't like it so much as to perfom it. I'm not saying there are no women who like performing magic, because obviously there are. But I've found from the women magicians I've seen, that there is a slight uncomfortable vibe around them. Now, I may just have seen bad women magicians (which was probably the case, I'd never heard of either of them before or since) but maybe more women don't get into magic because it has been such a man's thing to pull a quarter out of someone's nose.

Mandrake - That clip on the thread you mentioned above.

I think we should DEMAND more female magicians!!! Will start petitioning Number 10 now.


There is certainly a barrier to women becoming more involved other than simply being window dressing and I suspect that it is down to the fact that there are not that many women involved so it's quite intimidating for them to enter a male dominated area. The (sorry huge generalisation and stereotype about to be used) type who go in for joining the military, becoming mechanics, builders, rugby players etc are probably not likely to be of the same ilk as those who enjoy the arts and performing.

I'd love to manage a good female act performing the 'dark arts' as I think it could be a real winner. Much as I like the idea of Venom Magic I believe there is scope for women to move from beyond that and rival men without the need for playing the sex card. Marie Stokes managed and I'm sure she would not be most folks idea of a hot date - especially now. (Please don't get offended if you take her as being a genuine psychic rather than mentalist but I''m struggling to think of big name women in the field).

My day job involves a large degree of psychology and there are differences in how males and females perceive situations, their interests and how they like to portray themselves but having wasted a few hours thinking it over I can't see anything other than social convention being the reason why we have so few ladies in our midst (amateur or professional - they may not wish to be referred to as pros!). There are good points made that many women are often too busy with family and home but I know many women who actively pursue other interests beyond the domestic and if you've ever had to fathom out how the washing machine settings work, looked at a knitting pattern or listened to women gossip you'll know that they are just as into technical things and how they work, problem solving and great at patter.

With the current popularity of street magic and one or two of the better mind folk I would have expected at least a small number of girls/women to explore it further as there is no obvious (other than sexism or lack of peers/role models) reason they could not do the same sort of things.

Maybe they really do just come from a different planet.

I thought it was because they spend too much time cooking and washing, they don't have time for magic.

Also could you imagine the patter, you'd have lost interest by the time the effect is over.

I'm only joking of course, I'd love to see more women in magic. It probably is just tradition but I'd have thought magic would have become more relaxed like other things in society have become nowadays. Maybe if they was one or two female magicians that could break into the mainstream would help popularity.

Brozen Link :/
Warning though, nsfw

I don't know what the link was but it didn't work for me.

Seeing the words Ursula Martinez in there, it's probably the one which has been posted a few times before before - a silk and TT routine where Ursula removes clothing in time to the Pink Panther music. Not that I've watched it, you understand…(well, not today so far anyway.0 .

That's the one!! (for crying out loud calm down Mandrake, you only saw it 2 hours ago, and 4 hours ago, and twice during coffee break this morning.......)

Well after watching that I definitely think that there should be more ladies in magic

TT's is there anything they can't do?

Be honest, could you imagine a bloke doing that same routine ?