Picture this: a father and son get into a car crash. The father dies. In order to take his mind off his grief, the son attends a magic show. The magician asks for a volunteer and the son raises his hand. The magician says, “I can’t saw this boy in half. He’s my son.” How is this possible?
Seventy percent of people can’t solve this riddle because they’re unable to imagine that the magician is the boy’s mother. Is this really how we should be treating female magicians? Of course not. Female magicians deserve much more respect.
Magical Keith Herringbone. Charles The Illusionist. Tristan Tootinghammer. These are the names you think of when you think of today’s top magicians. Notice how not one of them is a woman? Sadly, that’s no coincidence. According to the latest study from Potions & Doodads Quarterly, the average female magician makes only one dollar to a male magician’s $80,000. And you know it gets even worse with race.
Female magicians often find their authority questioned. According to a report in MAGIC!, the magic-only sister publication of The Paris Review, nearly all professional female magicians report having been mistaken for being the magician’s assistant at their very own magic show.
Then, there’s the fact that the women who are willing to fight this uphill battle to pursue their love of magic often find themselves sexualized. Did you know that “Female Magician” is the 15,487th most popular search term on Pornhub? Despicable, I know, but until we do something about this, we’re all part of the problem.
The reality is that a woman can perform a straitjacket escape just as well as any man, if not even better. But still we find ourselves referring to female magicians as “female magicians,” while male magicians are simply referred to as “magicians.” And haven’t you ever wondered why when a man performs a trick, he’s a brilliant mastermind, yet when a woman does the same trick, she’s a loser? These harmful double standards run rampant in the magic community.
You’re probably wondering, “Jacob Elordi, why do you care so much?” I care because that boy in the riddle, who watched his dad die and wanted his mom to saw him in half, wasn’t just any boy. It was me. And after a lifetime of watching my mom, a proud female magician, get walked all over by the misogynists of magic, I’ve had enough. And that’s why I, Jacob Elordi, vow to stop performing in ALL MOVIES AND TV SHOWS until female magicians get the respect they deserve.
