Magician Kayla Drescher poses before her performance at the Magic Castle, in Hollywood, California on Oct. 13, 2021. (Photo by VALERIE MACON / AFP)
LOS ANGELES鈥擲itting behind a card table in the secretive Magic Castle, Kayla Drescher widens her eyes and nods exasperatedly when asked about being called a 鈥渇emale magician.鈥�
鈥淵es, I am very, very sick of being asked what it鈥檚 like to be a woman in this industry,鈥� she says.
鈥溾�楩emale magician鈥� feels like I鈥檓 being placed in a subcategory of magic 鈥� I鈥檓 being placed in a metaphorical box, not just an illusion.鈥�
But while the label is 鈥渆xhausting鈥� and 鈥渁nnoying鈥� for Drescher, 鈥渨e still have such a small percentage of women in this industry 鈥� I think it does still need to be talked about.鈥�
The stereotype of a magician in a top hat sawing his glamorous, sequinned female assistant in half endures among the wider public, who can rarely name performers beyond Harry Houdini, David Copperfield, and David Blaine.
While the outfits have changed, still just 7 percent of magicians operating today are female 鈥� roughly the same proportion as the membership of the elite 鈥淎cademy of Magical Arts鈥� that calls the Magic Castle home.
Drescher is one of two billed female headliners on the night of the Agence France-Presse鈥檚 (AFP) visit to the cavernous members-only institution on a hill above Hollywood, which is devoted to the art of illusion.
As the reaction of a spellbound audience to Drescher鈥檚 baffling card tricks and subtle sleights of hand later in the evening will show, women may be a minority in magic but are no less of a draw.
Drescher, 31, has been performing since she was 7, and has long found that audiences鈥攍ike the aficionados and rowdy wine-drinking Halloween parties filling the 鈥淐lose Up Gallery鈥濃�攖end not to care about a performer鈥檚 gender.
Instead, it is the 鈥渟hocking old-fashioned鈥� mind-set of magicians that is keeping the number of women in her trade low鈥攁nd that is something she feels is important to keep 鈥測elling about.鈥�
Drescher has long dealt with male magicians excluding her, assuming she is someone鈥檚 girlfriend, or even one time requesting she 鈥渄o magic by a poolside in a bikini鈥� in Las Vegas.
鈥淢agic is very much written by men and for men, so suits, large trouser pockets, big hands, all these different elements, very masculine-style stuff,鈥� said Drescher, who hosts the 鈥淪he-zam鈥� podcast.
鈥淵ou have to get through, jump over, a lot of hurdles in order to be respected in the community for being a magician and not just a woman. And that鈥檚 always annoying.鈥�
According to Drescher, if the assistant could just as easily be replaced with an inanimate object like a lamp or a table 鈥渟he doesn鈥檛 need to be there 鈥� she鈥檚 a prop.鈥�
鈥淭he mutilation of women 鈥� 鈥� she sighs. 鈥淚t just feels really gross in 2021. But luckily it is shifting.鈥�
The last few years and #MeToo have massively boosted demand for female magicians, says Drescher.
But built-in obstacles remain, including the powerful status of reform-resistant, generally male-dominated magic 鈥渃lubs.鈥�
The Academy of Magical Arts itself faced allegations of sexual harassment in a Los Angeles Times investigation last year.