There are stories of coincidence and chance, of intersections and strange things told, and which is which and nobody knows; and we generally say,”Well, if that was in a movie, I wouldn’t believe it.” This is Ask Ken. There are a lot of strange things told here. I’m your host, Kartin’ Ken. Let’s look at a question from the fairer sex.
Today’s Question comes to us from Carley Bennett. Carley writes:
Dearest Ken Krouner,
I am writing you from the mostly non-existent quasi-other half of the magicing world…. the ladies half. My question is about gender roles in the game. Why are female players so far and few in-between? I can’t imagine the poor personal hygiene of many male players to be the sole culprit. Knowing as we do in these modern times that men and women are equal in brain power, and knowing that the physical side of magic is left to lifting various food articles to the mouth in-between games, there seems no reason for female players to be so few in number (or so poor in playing). In addition, do you have any advice for the ladies of magic who want to be serious yet are viewed as pushovers and fair sport for the many be-zitted and smelly male players?
– Carley Bennett
P.S. Have any women players won significant placing in any pro tournaments?
P.P.S. Are you free this Friday night? I want to see if you look as cheesy in person as you do in your StarCity picture!
Well Carley, these are some excellent questions. I think the main reason women don’t flock towards Magic is its genre. Most people who started playing were comic book collectors, role-playing gamers, or strategy gamers. These areas also tend to have few women in them. Now, I don’t want to make a lot of speculation as to why this is. Some of my thoughts may be viewed as sexist, although I assure you they are not.
I will comment on one issue I have seen come up more than once. There is a lot of sexism in the game. As you stated in your letter, women are viewed as pushovers. This creates another interesting interaction. Male gamers have a huge tendency to offer”help” to female players. The last time I spotted this, R&D’s own Aaron Forsythe, in a draft against me, went over behind Magic Online programmer’s Rachel Reynolds and started feeding her plays. At no point did Rachel ask for the help. He just plopped down and started telling her what to do. I didn’t care as we were just playing for fun, but if I were Rachel I would have felt like crap. [However, Editors of well-known websites will occasionally appreciate help during testing, particularly if they are… awful. – Knut, not a girl but appreciative of help]
I think this general sexist vibe has kept a lot of women out. Not all women though. One of the first successful women in Magic was Christa Stenger, who won California Regionals. The first ever Grand Prix in New Orleans saw Bill Stead defeat the creator of one of the most dominant decks of all time, Trix, Michelle Bush. And last year Turkey saw its National Championship won by a female, Eda Bisel.
Sadly I am all booked up tonight but I assure you I look every bit as cheesy in real life. Just take that picture, un-spike the hair, rinse out the blonde dye, and add some weight, and you got yourself a KK circa 2004.
By the way, the Japanese were once viewed as pushovers too.
The source on the female of the species,
KK
Another quote, another letter, another week in the books folks. Join us next week for some more fun and excitement. G’night everybody!