Mermaids: Hooked on the Lore, or the Allure?

featuring professional mermaid Gabrielle Rivera, folklorist Benjamin Radford, & character designer Oak Honey

brought to you by Janji

With all of the romance, lust, mystery, and occasional danger folded into nearly every mermaid tale, it’s somewhat easy to explain our fixation on these characters. But where the stories ensnare us all is in how one-dimensional they can be, especially when it comes to surface level mermaid archetypes, which are often full of hyper-sexualization, body image expectations, and heteronormative gender roles. Dive in with us past the surface level narratives we’ve learned about merfolk, and explore deeper waters.

Featured in this Episode:

Gabriel Rivera / Nymphia the Nautilus Mermaid

Benjamin Radford

Oak Honey

About Our Sponsor:

  • Janji aims to explore, connect, and give back by crafting comfortable, responsibly-produced running apparel guided by the places we run and the people we meet.

  • Get 15% off your next order of Janji with code SEXOUTSIDE at checkout

Additional Resources:

Let’s be friends:


Hosted by Laura Borichevsky.
Cover artwork by Hailey Hirst.
Music by The Wild Wild, Timbre, and Wavcrush, licensed via MusicBed.

TRANSCRIPT

Note: This transcript was lightly edited and created using a transcription service. As such it may contain spelling errors.

Laura Borichevsky (narration):

“I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
I do not think that they will sing to me.
I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.”

Poet TS Eliot wrote those famous words in the early 1900’s, and it’s just one of the many, many places we can find fantastical stories about mermaids. In fact, the amount of poems, movies, and oral histories we have worldwide have kept the myth of mermaids alive for generations. And with the romance, lust, mystery, and occasional danger folded into nearly every mermaid tale, it’s somewhat easy to explain our fixation on these characters. In fact, there seems to be a socially-perpetuated allure to their beauty and femininity.

And although they’re alluring, where the stories ensnare us all is in how one-dimensional these stories can sometimes be, especially when we have so often *not* looked past surface level mermaid archetypes to explore these mythological creatures at greater depths. And when it comes to Sex Outside, it didn’t take much searching to realize just how much there actually is to unpack-- from hyper-sexualization historically and present day, to body image expectations in these characters, to hyper-feminization and gender norms as a whole. In short, there are a lot of ways that mermaids (and merfolk as a whole) have been confined to specific, prescribed imagery and stories-- and often what gets left out of the mix is that there are a lot of ways that mermaids have not only evolved over time in the past, but are currently expanding their own worlds on land and sea.

And yes, we know-- mermaids are currently not considered a part of scientific ecology. But they still impact our world all the same: the stories we tell one another, the way we create and uphold beauty standards… the way we underline gender and heteronormativity. So it pays to look a little more closely at mermaids and ask why we have generally kept them bound to specific narratives? And because of the rich history and folklore surrounding these well-known creatures, we have to look at both to see where we’ve been, and where we’re going in order to truly understand how the beliefs we have accepted about mermaids for so long might actually have reflections into our more tangible lives. 

And I’ll tell you right now— we’re not going to cover it all. Because the world of mermaids is, truly, as vast as the ocean itself. But this is a good place to start. And if nothing else, I hope this episode gives you some insight, perspective, and motivation to interrogate some of the assumptions we have been taught around popular characters and the archetypes we’ve consistently put onto them-- because as we all know, more often than not, there is so much more than what the surface holds.

So, time to dive in. You ready? I’m Laura Borichevsky, and this is Sex Outside.

Gabriel Rivera:

When you think about it, no two fish in the ocean are the same and mermaids are technically a part of two worlds, ocean and land. You're not quite sure where you kind of belong in, but you are this creature that embodies the harmony between both

Laura Borichevsky (narration):

As you could safely assume, I’m not a mermaid expert. So to start out, it felt important to find someone who could help create some historical context around these creatures… and fortunately, I found just the right person.

Benjamin Radford:

Yeah, as soon as I got your email, I'm like, yeah, this is my groove. Yeah. It's like folklore and sexuality and psychology and culture. It's just so cool.

Laura Borichevsky (narration):

Ben Radford is a folklorist, historian, and writer-- who also happens to have his own podcast on mythological creatures called Squaring the Strange. And Ben gives us a great primer on where the myth of the mermaid, in general, originated from to begin with.

Benjamin Radford:

You have to look at them in context. And the context is that, you know, humans have always been fascinated by the boundaries between humans and other animals. And so this is where you get to the mythologies of werewolves, people who turn into wolves. And by the way, there were also wererabbits, werecows, there are many wereanimals. And among them was of course, animals that were either half fish or half bird, or what have you. And then that also sort of engendered lots of stories and myths about what might be out there, because keep in mind that thousands of years ago, sort of a hundred years ago, much of the world, was terra incognita. People lived and died often within, you know, a couple of hundred miles before they were born. So there was no internet, of course there was no way to know what's going on in foreign lands.

And so, throughout much of human history, there was this vacuum of knowledge about, you know, what is out there, what is in the oceans, what is on other continents? And so the information they had was often brought by travelers and traders. So you would people who would, you were gathering, uh, skins or jewels or spices in foreign lands. And as part of their job, they would travel. And along with traveling, they would tell stories. And sometimes those stories were based on fact, oftentimes there were these sort of embellished stories of, you know, there'd be dragons, right? There were stories of things in other foreign distant lands. And in the case of mermaids specifically, these will oftentimes of course, come up from fishing villages because you know, you would have, people would go out to sea sometimes for hours, days and longer. And when they're out to sea for long periods of time, catching fish, whatever, you know, they would come back and, you know, they would have the catch, but they would sometimes tell stories of odd things they had seen in the sea. And so you can see how that might sort of spawned some of these early myths.

Laura Borichevsky:

Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, if you're going to go out and spend all that time fishing, it's nice to come back with a story.

Benjamin Radford:

Right? If nothing else, right? Like if nothing else, it's the one that got away. But there's an even deeper level here, because oftentimes you would find that fishing communities specifically tend to be very superstitious in a way that for example, farming communities are partly because fishing communities, they are much more dependent on literally life and death of the sea and stormy weather swells. And, you know, fishing is a dangerous business and always has been, and certainly was back when we didn't have GPS and coast guards to rescue people. And so oftentimes fishermen and fishing villages and communities would be very superstitious as they would perform certain rituals before they went out to sea to appease the gods, to try and bring some luck to them. I did some research into labyrinths and there were stories of fishermen who'd walk a labyrinth before going out to sea because the idea was that if there were any evil spirits, following them, they would be trapped in the labyrinth and they would rush out of the labyrinth and out to sea before the evil could follow them. So there's oftentimes been a tradition or a sense that mermaids were associated with fate and in some cases, death and evil, but then later on you also see these other versions where mermaids were also alluring and sexual. And so there's this really fascinating dichotomy there.

Laura Borichevsky:

Yeah. Well, and how mermaids as mythological creatures hold both of those, sometimes within the same character and then sometimes on these opposite or, you know, different ends as well. It really is interesting.

Benjamin Radford:

Yeah. I mean, so you have these figures that are associated with both fortunate and death at the same time. There are these alluring, beautiful women, a lot of people focus on mermaids, but of course there's also more men, but you know, typically these days, when you see cultural representations of mermaids, they're either sort of sexualized or they're the stuff of children's stories, right? So you have these sort of dichotomous Disney-fied version of The Little Mermaid, or you have more sort of what folklorists might call more traditional stories of, in some cases, alleged eye witness accounts of mermaids, even meeting them. And in some cases marrying them, depending on who you talk to.

Gabriel Rivera:

Hi everybody, I go by Nymphia the Nautilus Mermaid, but my real name is Gabrielle Rivera. And I am a professional mermaid based in Oakland, California, within the Bay area itself.

Laura Borichevsky (narration):

Speaking of meeting mermaids, let’s jump ahead to the present day for a minute. Gabriel Rivera, who also goes by Nymphia the Nautilus Mermaid, is a professional mermaid based on the West Coast. And although we fully recognize that the folklore of mermaids originated from fishermen myths, the reality is that much has evolved since then. In fact, for decades there has been a culture around what Gabriel refers to as “mermaiding”-- which for Gabriel looks like taking on the role of a mermaid firsthand by being one professionally in her own community.

Gabriel Rivera:

Before I started mermaiding-- once upon a time when I was in my early years of college, I used to be in the cosplay community. So I have a very big passion in costume design and I studied fashion design when I was in college.

And one of the things that I really wanted to try to do was to make a mermaid tail for a costume. You can probably guess who it was, given cosplay. So I was looking around trying to get inspiration for this Ariel costume that I'd been wanting to make. And lo and behold, I stumbled upon this forum online called MerNetwork, which I don't think is in much use nowadays, since I know it's kind of gravitated toward other formats of social media, but MerNetwork was like the, be all end all place for like mermaid community news, mermaid community tutorials for like tail making and such how to make a living, being a professional mermaid and just kind of things that are always being updated and just news and stuff in general. And from there, I just kind of got hooked and I just started looking more into the community itself.

I started swimming more locally and pools and such, but I don't think I ever got into the professional scene until years later. When I started and I broke the news to my family that I really wanted to try this new outlet for like being a professional mermaid. My mom was actually the one who suggested turning it into a business. So my mom, my dad and me, we all kind of sat around in a circle in the house. And every couple of weeks we would have like these little business meetings and trying to plan everything out, leading into the grand unveiling, if you will. So in that time I kind of got a good, solid business plan going. I got the silicone tails started. My family had helped pitch in for like trying to get that silicone tail made. I got in touch with a lot of people.

And then my first event that I ever performed pre silicone tale was at a Renaissance fair in San Diego, which I was living in at the time. And from there, I got in touch with a lot of people. I met a really famous mermaid from Las Vegas, named Alicia Moore. I got in touch with one of our local groups in San Diego called the OB Mer Pod. And then from there, I started accompanying them to a lot of their events as their Ariel, if you will, because I love to sing and I love interacting with children. So getting that kind of experience in the door was a lot of fun for me. And I can actually confidently say that I did a performance on a pirate ship through this whole thing that just blew my mind. I didn't think that it would ever be possible, but I was literally sitting under an awning with all of these mermaids here. And we were on the Star of India, which is an actual replica ship. Getting to be on board the ship and getting to see all the facets and stuff was really, really cool. And then from there I just kind of got hooked and tried to immerse myself into the professional scene as much as I was able to.

Laura Borichevsky (narration):

And as she got more and more “hooked” by the mermaiding industry, Gabriel became closer with not just mermaids as a character, a myth, or a social construct in our society-- but it also was something that helped her to expand in a deeply personal way, especially when it comes to gender identity and sexuality.

Gabriel Rivera:

Oh gosh. I mean, it's very much a transformative kind of experience for me personally at the time when I started mermaiding I hadn't officially come out as being transgender or getting into my own gender identity, and I just kind of cross dressed for fun in regards to like cosplay and such. So I feel like because of mermaiding and because of the way that it translates my own femininity, I think it really made such a difference because it was like, I feel at my most feminine when I'm in full costume. So wig, makeup, hair, mermaid top, mermaid tail, or even like, if I'm wearing one of the land versions of my characters, costumes, I truly feel like I'm at my most feminine. And I think that in itself is really wonderful because it really shows that a passion that you love and a passion that you have wanted to try to get into for many, many years, it truly transforms you from the inside out.

And I think in that sense, it really has brought me joy in that regard. But another thing as far as like another joy, if you will, is I have a very big passion for storytelling. So getting to share the stories of like my mermaid characters adventures and trying to share that with children, especially those who may be like, “Oh my god, this is the first time I've ever met a mermaid before. I have so many questions!” I want to ask them. So when they come to me and they ask me all of these questions, I try my best to try to act in character, play along with them and just be this not ideal mermaid, but my own variation of a mermaid that maybe I didn't really get to see growing up. And then of course having an aquatics background, I love being in the water. And just that feeling of just feeling submerged in the water with your tail, swimming along, whether it be in a pool or in the open ocean, it just gives you this overwhelming sense of peace and this overwhelming sense of tranquility that, I mean, like to put it in the words of one of my mentors, if you will, that the outside world is so noisy and DIYing underwater, and once you slip surface, it's all quiet and calm and peaceful. And that in itself just brings all the joy in the world,


Laura Borichevsky (narration):

The freedom to be yourself, away from the world above and any expectations our society has created around gender and sexuality-- it’s something that Gabriel finds in mermaiding. Which feels especially meaningful-- because as we peel back another layer of mermaid storytelling, we often find prescriptive, heteronormative, binary gender roles that are played out and reinforced through fishermen and pirate tales. And this isn’t specific to one country or culture. Ben points out that, worldwide, mermaids have often been the focal point of many stories that underline specific gender power dynamics.

Benjamin Radford:

There's lots of different cultural versions of mermaids. So even though the version that we see again, the most common one with the little mermaid and the Disney fied version of the Hans Christian Anderson story-- which by the way, if you don't know the original story, it's pretty grim. It's not, it's not the cutesy version you see. But there's versions in Asia, in Japan, in India and elsewhere. So it really is a cross-cultural phenomena and it really is more interesting than people sort of maybe give it credit for. I mean, we sort of see mermaids these sort of cute things, you know, they're on Starbucks signs and this and that, but when you do a deeper dive, pardon the pun, you really find a lot of fascinating folkloric and social and cultural aspects to it. If you can look at the selkies for example, which were creatures that would come out of the ocean and they would be seen as these sailing beauties they're actually seals. Once they come upon shore, they would drop their seal skin. And the story is that passing by men, usually fishermen would see and fall in love with these bathing beauties, and they would actually steal their seal skins. And that would prevent them from going back to the ocean. So again, in the silky traditions, there's lots of these dynamics of particularly women crossing boundaries and not being able to go back because of gender dynamics.

Laura Borichevsky (narration):

So mermaids… selkies… what about sirens? They too, being very similar to mermaids, carry gender-prescribed stories through folklore, and even into popular media and movies today.

Benjamin Radford:

Actually in folklore, as you know, there's lots of fuzzy boundaries. And so there are very few hard and fast distinctions. Well, this is X and this is why well in folklore and in stories and in what people believe in tell there's lots of fluidity to them. And one of the parallels of course, is that the sirens are their name. Part of the legend of the sirens is the sirens would be out typically along Rocky shores and places like that. And the idea was that fishermen who were out again for hours or days at a time would sometimes hear this beautiful singing and they would stop their fishing and it would be enchanted by this. And they would peer around trying to figure out: where is this beautiful singing come from? And the stories that they would then see these, these beautiful women, uh, on a nearby shore or rocks or shoals, and they would be drawn to them and they would steer the boat toward them to go see these beautiful, mostly-naked women. But this would be of course their doom because what the sirens were actually doing was drawing the ship towards rocks and the ship would be destroyed and that the sailors were drowned. And so there's lots of overlap between mermaids, per se, and sirens. So it's a bit of a blurred distinction.

Laura Borichevsky:

That's really helpful. Thank you so much for sharing that. Cause yeah, I've been doing a little bit of my own personal reflection on where mermaids and sirens show up in the popular culture that I'm familiar with and the only non-super-feminine or over-sexualized representation of mermaids or sirens that I can think of off the top of my head that are in mainstream media currently was from Pirates of the Caribbean. I forget if it's like the third or the fourth movie, it's my least favorite actually, but there are sirens there and they're quite vicious, you know, and there is some allure to them, but they're mostly really dangerous. And I was like, “wow, I can't think of another mermaid or siren that shows up in popular culture who has that, like the more fatal, like dangerous side is the forefront of the character,” right? Normally is very much wrapped up in hyper-femininity and hyper-sexualization.

Benjamin Radford:

Yeah, no, you raise an interesting point and that's, again, it goes back to the sort of pop culture dichotomy of them either being sort of cutesy fairytale characters or these sexual slash dangerous characters, another example, uh, which I don't know if you've seen or not is the 2015 film, the lure, it's a Polish film and it's set in the 1980s. It's like this horror, musical thing. It's about these two mermaids who are caught off the coast in Europe and they end up performing in a nightclub. And it's really interesting because it combines this sort of feminist thing. It combines these mermaids and it actually has attempts at mermaid sex. As you have a, one of the characters falls in love with the man and gives up her tail. So giving up the part that anchors her to the ocean and loses her voice in the process, because again, both of them are singers and there's one point in this sort of bizarre gruesome, but really, really chanting film where in order to have sex with her boyfriend, she has her tail cut off. It's a fascinating, more recent version of that.

Laura Borichevsky (narration):

We've made a splash, but there's a lot deeper to dive into when it comes to mermaids. So we'll be back to explore together after this.


Gabriel Rivera:

I mean, it kind of goes back to like when like mermaids first featured in television and film,

Laura Borichevsky (narration):

If you thought Ben was the only one who had thoughts on how film and television has impacted-- and many times, perpetuated-- our views of mermaids, think again. Gabriel has a lot of thoughts on the ways we as a society have leaned on specific identities when it comes to mermaids in the media.

Gabriel Rivera:

You have people like Esther Williams who did a lot of underwater swimming work in film and television. And then you also have in more recent years, Daryl Hannah, who was really famous for her portrayal of Madison in Splash. And then of course, Ariel from The Little Mermaid being one of the big staples of a lot of kids, first interactions with learning. And a lot of times these mermaids that they feature on these media platforms, they're usually very skinny, white light blonde or red hair, blue eyes. And then just kind of this romantic sensibility.

Laura Borichevsky (narration):

In listening to Gabriel describe how mermaids are often portrayed-- it’s hard to not feel incredibly familiar to it. In fact, looking back in the recent past, I think it’s safe to say that many of us would be challenged to find a mermaid that was presented to us in our childhood or adolescence that didn’t fit that description to a pretty significant degree. 

And as Gabriel will get to, this isn’t just inequitable when it comes to representation of different races, genders, and other identities and lived experiences-- but it also is *incredibly* prescriptive when it comes to body type, which honestly was one of the very first things that had come to mind when we opened up this can of worms about mermaids.

There’s a lot we could potentially say about fatphobia and ableism when it comes to the traditional, popular mermaid archetype-- but we are fortunate enough that Oak Honey, a nonbinary TikTok artist, was open to us sharing their wise thoughts instead, because they frame the need for rethinking mermaid bodies much better than we ever could:

Oak Honey:

So mermaids are fat; mermaids are plus-sized. I'm an artist, an illustrator most of the time. And I mostly do character design and character development, which requires a lot of research. Recently I've been designing mermaids, which has required a lot of marine life research and turns out it's really fucking cold underwater. And so most marine life that has skin anyway, that's similar to human skin, like manatees and whales and things like that. They have just such a thick layer of blubber to keep them warm. And also fat reserves are just important for survival, but yeah, mermaids would be fat-- and it's more specifically mermaids would have like a realistic bodybuilder type body. Like, I'm not talking about the traditional bodybuilder, like “Dorito” 0% fat, but I'm talking about the real bodybuilders that have just so much muscle underneath and a lot of fat covering all that muscle up. So do what that, what you will,

Laura Borichevsky (narration):

The good news is that things haven’t remained *completely* stagnant in the way we see mermaids. In fact, Gabriel identifies the ways that some media is starting to diversify how mermaids can be, and why that matters.

Gabriel Rivera:

The one thing that I can say that has challenged that ideology is, I'm not sure if you're familiar with Siren on Freeform, but I love the way that the mermaids were portrayed in that show in particular, because you not only have those stereotypical skinny mermaids, but you also have male mermaids who gets featured. You get mermaids of color who get featured in there as well. And it's such a varied mix of what I believe mermaids should represent because it's like, when you think about it, no two fish in the ocean are the same and every fish has its own pattern, color, scheme, behavior, social interaction with other species, and like getting to explore that and to make that so unique to whichever world you're trying to create in regards to your world, people can really diversify the narrative and can really make your kind of depiction of merpeople stand out. And in addition to Siren, you also have, if you want to go way, way back, The 13th Year was a Disney channel original movie that actually featured a merman as its main character. It felt kind of like a reverse Little Mermaid. It was like a teenage boy in high school was going through these changes and turns out that he was the son of a mermaid. And he starts kind of going through this awkward stage of puberty

Laura Borichevsky (narration):

Outside of the media we know-- mermaids have also been portrayed through oral and written histories, as Ben’s been pointing out. But how much impact did that all have? It turns out-- a lot. In fact, throughout time mermaids have been woven into systemic purity narratives as well as our greater society.

Benjamin Radford:

Even though today, mermaids are sort of seen as obviously fictional, cutesy dragon-type creatures in that, you know, they're in storybooks. It's important to keep in mind that for much of human history, people thought mermaids were real. And as I talked about before, there's various reasons for that. Of course, you know, just lack of knowledge, lack of exploration knowledge about the world, but it was very much a thing that many people believed. And another interesting facet this sort of brings in the gender and sexuality is that, as I mentioned before, the mermaids were typically associated symbolically with fate and misfortune and you know, the allure of the feminine. And of course the dangerous side of that.

But partly because of that, what you found was that the Roman Catholic church characterized mermaids as being the dangers of the flesh, right? So you would have carvings of mermaids in all these churches-- not because they're saying, “Hey, look at this cool mermaid!” It's because the mermaid was a symbol of Satan. It was a symbol of the dangers of coming to the temptations of the flesh. And in fact, when I was researching this topic just a couple of days ago, I came across a little factoid, which I hadn't seen before, which is that actually the term “mermaid” in the 1500’s was used to refer to prostitutes. There was a strong association from say, 1400 to 1600 or so that mermaids in some cases were real and/or metaphorical, right? So not only was there this blurring of people who actually believed in the literal existence of mermaids, but it was then sort of metaphorically co-opted by the church to represent the danger of sin as a reminder to parishioners, not to succumb to the temptations of the flesh, because a mermaid, though she may be beautiful… she will lead you to ruin.

Laura Borichevsky (narration):

So, to Ben’s point-- mermaids were aligned with evil in some religions, centuries back. But what about currently? How have things evolved? As our public notion of sexuality and gender has continued to expand-- and as we *don’t* see many mermaid statues collecting dust in cathedrals… how is the mermaid holding powerful symbolism today?

Gabriel Rivera:

I mean, as far as my own journey goes and like trying to go into the realm of sexuality as a whole, I know a lot of people within the LGBT community actively thrive on that mermaid symbolism because it's like, you're not really bound by one world, if you will. Mermaids are technically a part of two worlds: ocean and land. You're not quite sure where you kind of belong, but you are this creature that embodies the harmony between both. And with that being said, I feel like because of that whole aspect, I feel like a lot of people within the LGBTQ community can really identify with the mythology and the lore of what more people represent that ideal of transformation that ideal of becoming your best self and trying to liberate from the norms of what society puts on you. And I think in that respect within that space, I think it really makes a difference.

I know quite a few mermen and mermaids within the LGBTQ community. And one of my really dear friends, my friend, Kaylee, who is also a trans mermaid as well, and as we are in our garb or we're in our tails, we feel at our most feminine and at our, at our most competent, I try my best to be that voice for people who want to be within the professional scene, but aren't usually kind of considered the norm in regards to mermaids because everyone needs to see themselves represented in a way that is both beautiful and confident. And I wholeheartedly stand by that message through and through and try to express it in any way that I can.

Benjamin Radford:

… And they're really good by the way. I was super impressed by the athleticism and the beauty and the grace. I just, I couldn't do that. I'd be drowning. I'd be this bobbing white lump at the top screaming and flailing.

Laura Borichevsky (narration):

As we’ve touched on so many different facets of mermaids in this episode, it only seemed right to turn our attention to the modern industry around it all. While Ben may not be cut out for professional mermaiding as an actor and athletic swimmer, Gabriel spends much of her time mermaiding as her character Nymphia. But there’s a lot more to mermaiding than performance.

Gabriel Rivera:

Oh gosh, it's such a varied occupation because there are so many facets to like the mermaid world and the mermaid kind of career in general. And you have people who are active performers. They do like birthday parties, corporate events, weddings, Renaissance fairs. There are so many things that you can perform in, in terms of mermaiding, I've also done like nightlife and nightclubs.

Laura Borichevsky (narration):

Night clubs are actually one of the origins of much of the current-day industry around this profession-- and Ben, as you can imagine, has some quick history on it all.

Benjamin Radford:

One of the traditional original mermaid shows was that we can watch in Florida, Weeki Wachi, it's probably America's best known sort of mermaid show. And it opened in 1947 and sort of famous for many things. It's a waterpark, but it's the mermaid shows that were their specialty originally. They didn't have tails, actually. There were just women who were good athletic swimmers who would do these grateful flips underwater. And originally the mermaids were called AquaBelles. So aqua meaning water, of course, belle being the beauty, the feminine sort of thing. And there were both male and female performers at the beginning, but the women were much more popular.

But what was interesting and when you sort of dig a little deeper into it was that there was this sort of sexualized aspect to it because it wasn't just that the mermaids were swimming and doing flips and waving the kids, which they were, but there was also the sort of male gaze aspect because you had these mermaids they're behind glass. So there's this sort of, you know, metaphorical window through which you're seeing them, you know, sometimes, uh, you know, pretending they're not being seen right there, they're bathing. They're, you know, they're doing these, you know, essential, feminine things. And of course being seen in the process. And so the female audience members, many of them were probably thinking how cool it would be to actually be a mermaid, right? They're like, “Oh, the freedom, the power.” And the men are thinking, “Hey, that's a hot lady. I wish I could get in there.” And a lot of the mermaids originally, not only were they doing these flips and turns and these graceful things underwater, which was all beautiful in and of itself, but they were often framed with, uh, shall we say-- phallic imagery? So the mermaids would… they ate a lot of bananas. They drank a lot of Coke from glass soda bottles, very slowly and lovingly. You can guess where that went. As I recall the story, finally, at some point it was like, yeah, can we make them do apples now? Surely these mermaids don't only eat bananas slowly and lovingly and profile

Laura Borichevsky (narration):

Mermaid shows have been held at Weeki Wachi since the late 1940’s-- and they’re still going today, though less bananas are involved. And mermaiding as a whole, as Gabriel has been sharing through her own insights into the community, has evolved so much as our thoughts around what intentionality, inclusivity, and equity looks like-- including through characters we’re familiar with, like merfolk. And as it turns out there are many, many ways to get involved in mermaiding these days, which has led to a huge opening for this community from solo-prenuers to small businesses.

Gabriel Rivera:

You can also run an Etsy store where you make mermaid-themed things, like mermaid tops, tail making is also a big one, accessories, crowns... things of that nature that kind of get the costuming and the look of a mermaid. And then you also have mermaid photographers who will do like mermaid transformations. They'll take regular people from just anywhere and then they'll transform them into a mermaid for like a really fun photo shoot or maybe like a surprise outing with friends. And it's just, I think the market of like the mermaid realm, if you will, is just so big and so varied, it's kind of hard to really explain how to kind of encapsulate it all into one thing, but it just kind of shows how big and varied everything is. Cause it's like, there's not really one way to mermaid as a professional or to be a mermaid who makes a living creating mermaid themed things or mermaid content and such.

Laura Borichevsky (narration):

You probably get the idea by now-- but mermaids hold a lot more than songs and secrets from the ocean floor. And the stories we have both told and accepted about mermaids over centuries-- it has evolved. But there’s still so much room for growth, and the way we will continue to see an ever-expanding narrative is through listening to voices like Gabriel and asking questions about the longstanding narratives we’ve been hooked on.

And, speaking of getting hooked-- if you’re leaving this episode feeling a little mer-curious, Gabriel has some thoughts on what it means to join the greater mermaid community.

Gabriel Rivera:

If you want to join in the mercommunity, just bring what you have to the table. The mermaid community itself is such a safe space for all backgrounds, regardless of your race, gender, sexuality, religion, what have you. We do what we can to make sure that everybody feels welcome and is able to hold their space within our community. And as a community, we should have this ideal of unity with everybody. And everybody within our realm is allowed to kind of share the floor and bring what they have and be themselves. And so if anybody out there who's listening might want to take a dive and just jump into the community, head on, like by all means-- you are more than welcome to be a part of our world, if you will.

Laura Borichevsky (narration):

Thank you so much to Gabriel Rivera and Benjamin Radford  for their time, and insights for this episode-- and an extra thanks to Oak Honey for your thoughts on mermaid bodies. To see more of Gabriel’s underwater adventures as Nymphia the Nautilus Mermaid, you can find her on Instagram @nautilusseanymph, and you can hear more from Ben Radford on his podcast Squaring the Strange-- which, funny enough, recently released their own episode all about mermaids if you can’t get enough sea-worthy folklore. You can find Oak Honey on TikTok at  We’ve also linked the studies mentioned in this episode in our show notes, along with *so many other* helpful resources, so make sure to go check those out.

And don’t forget-- you can catch full episodes of Sex Outside every other week on Thursdays, and on the opposite weeks, you can hear brand new Nature Quickies, which are short, 5-minute dives into specific, practical topics about our bodies and the outdoors-- so stay tuned to catch a new one next Thursday. In the meantime, please consider supporting the show by leaving us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts, making sure you’re subscribed, or by sharing this episode with a friend you think might like it.

We also have a pretty great merch shop online. There are shirts, stickers-- even underwear. To see what it’s all about, head over at sexoutsidepodcast.com/shop.

Music is by the Wild Wild, Timbre, and Wavcrush. I’m Laura Borichevsky. Thanks for joining us. Until next time!

Full EpisodeLaura BorichevskyComment