Showing posts with label female. Show all posts
Showing posts with label female. Show all posts

No Women Please: It's Magic

When was the last time you saw a female magician perform? You will say "never". This is a phenomenon little understood. For some reason women hardly ever choose to become magicians. All magical societies may as well declare themselves men-only organizations.

Some blame the history of witch burning for this outcome. However, witch burning hasn't been done for centuries. A female in an act is commonly perceived to be the magician's assistant. This idea is entrenched and is more likely to be the cause.

When most organizations were initially founded it was in the time of male dominated secret societies. This could be a factor. Another theory is that conjuring is somehow akin to maths. Boys prefer maths much more than females. Indeed, it has been found that members of school maths and science clubs will also be members of magic clubs.

The suit commonly worn by magicians is also a turn-off for females. Perhaps they feel that an audience will not accept a skirt or dress. Magical societies will surely be the last bastion to fall in the feminine revolution, perhaps when we first see a magician wearing a skirt - unless he/she is Scottish.
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Entertainment
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Male Bowerbird Grows Tomatoes

The bowerbird is unusual to say the least.  A fancy structure is built by the male to attract females.  It is an arch of still growing undergrowth with a walk through from one side to the other.  In the middle and to one side is a collection of leaves, fruit, shells, dead insects and odd glistening objects manufactured by humans.

When a female is in range the male "screeches" at the female to make her look at his handiwork. Males often wave fruit at females.  The male stays in the area of the bower for up to ten years so he has an investment in that location.  Researchers have found that males do not just pick up fruit laying around.  The spotted bowerbird actually grows his own fruit.

As the male tends to his "plot" he throws out dried fruit of the bush tomato and clears the ground, thus leaving healthy seeds to sprout and grow into bushes.  The area around the bower is full of bushes in fruit with tomatoes.  This symbiosis is part of the bowerbird mating game.
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Ornithology
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Male Bower Bird Deludes the Female

Human males often lie to female partners to make them bond more and ultimately become a lifelong mate. Whether the female is aware of this doesn't seem to matter. Even when she knows, her affection is stronger than accepting she has been duped.

Male great bower birds also deceive females. He makes an intricate, often beautiful, structure to lure a prospective mate. First a bower is constructed which consists of twigs piled on top of each other. Then a walkway is built with an arch big enough for both birds to walk through. The final sweetener is the cache of rocks, shells, bones and fruit.

The male bird carefully places each piece of the cache either further away or at the front of the display to look better from the perspective of the female. He picks up each article waving it in front of her. The deception is that large objects are place further away and small objects are placed toward the front.

She is transfixed by his display and while "hypnotized" he mates with her. Sometimes she is not impressed and will not go into the swoon state. To prevent this, males will trash the work of rivals. Males of other species such as gray parrots, mistle thrush and pigeons deceive females as well.
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Wildlife
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