Woman who tricked her way into men-only Magic Circle allowed in

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy79nq4yz4o

by cmsefton • 1 year ago

48 17 1 year ago

schiffern• 1 year ago

Justice is done.

You would think that magicians, of all people, would appreciate a well-executed and harmless deception. More proof that no matter who you are, nobody likes being the butt of the trick...

mellosouls• 1 year ago

Its a shame it needed a female leader of the Magic Circle to make this happen. Neither the original story, the ridiculous, petulant response or long time to a resolution are a good look for the society.

l33tbro• 1 year ago

Exactly. It should have been a man who decided, who would have surely banished this imposter on the grounds of sedition and harlotry.

unsupp0rted2• 1 year ago

Indeed. I wish the entirety of the Magic Circle were female from the start, to avoid discrimination of this sort.

Men should be moved to their own separate social and professional clubs, where they can't disenfranchise anybody.

decremental• 1 year ago

RIP that friend group. Once women get involved in a men's only space it destroys that dynamic forever. Nothing but trouble can come from this.

Ferret7446• 1 year ago

I feel like people would have a different reaction to a man who tricked his way into a women-only social group.

Brian_K_White2• 1 year ago

I feel like in either case any opinion should have to depend on how the group explians the purpose of it's policy, and has to actually be merely a "social group" with no material consequences to membership.

People seem to have an opinion that reflects the nature of both points here.

unsupp0rted2• 1 year ago

Shouldn't there be material consequences? Whichever group is materially better (better at magic, better at drawing audiences to a venue, whatever the KPIs) should benefit materially, right?

And presumably that's a mixed group of men and women, because heterogenous groups wrt sex/gender are better.

locopati2• 1 year ago

Yes. It's called a power imbalance. The two things are not equivalent for that reason.

username1352• 1 year ago

Id go with double standard

unparagoned• 1 year ago

There are various reasons that female only groups might need protection that don’t apply to males. So yes you might expect different views.

mcphage• 1 year ago

Sophie Lloyd says she disguised herself as a man to fool examiners into letting her join the elite society in 1991, at a time female magicians were not allowed to be members.
When the Circle announced it was permitting women to join later that year, Ms Lloyd revealed her deception, prompting the society to expel her at the very same meeting it admitted its first female magicians.
But the Magic Circle did not take kindly to the news. The duo got a letter saying that Raymond had been expelled, and in October 1991, at the first meeting accepting women into the society, Ms Lloyd was kicked out.

Interesting—there was a fantasy novel with much the same premise that came out in early 1992—The Lark and the Wren. Just with bards, instead of magicians. I wonder if these real events were an inspiration?

IAmBroom2• 1 year ago

An amazing number of misogynist sealions have come out to bask in these comments.

Plus a few racists.

Woman who tricked her way into men-only Magic Circle allowed in

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