Magic has a misogyny problem. Hold on a minute – did that first sentence upset you? You may believe magic isn't at all sexist. Heck, you might think it's easier in general for female magicians. Well, I disagree.
Anyway... it can be hard to debate the current state of anything, and it tends to be a little easier to look back and reflect on the past.
Would it be sexist if The Magic Circle, the world-famous magic society, banned women from joining? Hopefully, we're all in agreement that, yes, that would be very sexist.
Okay – here's the mindblowing bit – The Magic Circle used to have a rule banning women, and the rule only changed in 1991. That's right, women were allowed to vote, join the military, and serve on a jury many decades before 75% of the male membership decided to allow women to be Magic Circle members, too.
1991! WTF. Four years before I was born! I actually know magicians who were members at a time when it was against the rules for women to join the magic circle. And only 75% voted to let women join! What was going on, eh?
It's easy to look back and see that it all looks a bit messed up.
We might do the same in the future. Maybe magicians will think back and be critical of this newsletter because we've only featured two female writers so far.
