Merfolk!

Merfolk!

Oriane Rondeau

merfolk

Merfolk!

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inside of front COVER PAGE

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endpaper or flyleaf

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Merfolk!

Oriane Rondeau

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Table of contents 30 II . Mermaid now

Mermaiding as a lifestyle NC Mermania Convention A language Mermaid schools Aesthetics

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I . Mermaid history

Professional mermaiding Professional outfit makers Acting for ocean conservation Helping yourself and others

Mythology Anette Kellermann Esther Williams Weeki Wachee mermaids Post 1980s pop culture

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Introduction

Interviews

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A growing interest

Bibliography

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Introduction Let’s take a dive into the merfolk community. Who are these people dressing up as mermaids? Why did they choose for such a specific and strange lifestyle?

Mermaids have always been a fascination in the popular culture. For some people, this fascination is so strong they decided to become mermaids themselves, to realize this dream they had as a child.

You might have a laugh at first, maybe you’ll be surprised or maybe you won’t believe it, anyway there is definitely something you will discover about these mermaids.

Enjoy the dive!

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I . Mermaid history

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From a myth to a lifestyle,

Mermaids have been a fascination through history.

Strangely attractive, somehow repulsive. In 1905 appears the first friendly and positive "real life" mermaid. The beggining of a trend back then is turning into a lifestyle today. How did mermaiding became a life goal for so many people?

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Mythology, the first representations of mermaids

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A mermaid is a legendary aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including the Near East, Europe, Africa and Asia. The first stories appeared in ancient Assyria, in which the goddess Atargatis transformed herself into a mermaid out of shame for accidentally killing her human lover. Mermaids are sometimes associated with perilous events such as floods, storms, shipwrecks and drownings. In other folk traditions (or sometimes within the same tradition), they can be benevolent or beneficent, bestowing boons or falling in love with humans.

The male equivalent of the mermaid is the merman, also a familiar figure in folklore and heraldry. Although traditions about and sightings of mermen are less common than those of mermaids, they are generally assumed to co-exist with their female counterparts.

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A Mermaid by John William Waterhouse 1901

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I . mermaid history Selection of mermaid inspired covers from La Vie Parisienne, french magazine published between 1863 and 1970

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First issue of La Vie Sirene in 2013, inspired by La Vie Parisienne

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I . mermaid history Shots of Kellerman from Siren of the Sea in 1911

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Annette Kellerman, the first "real life" mermaid

Later, she became the first "real life mermaid" ever. She designed and produced the very first wearable tail in 1910. Before Kellermann, mermaids had always been depicted in mythology as evil creatures, she was the first one introducing the positive and friendly image we have now.

She played in different movies and performed in different theater pieces with her tail. That was the very first step of the creation of the merfolk culture.

She got so much fame in Hollywood that she became one of the most paid artist at that time, and was known as "The million dollar mermaid".

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Anette Kellerman was an australian professional swimmer, actress and performer.

In 1905, she designed the first one piece bathsuit for women and got disqualified for this reason of a swimming competition.

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Esther Williams, democratizing underwater shows

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Esther Williams was one of the biggest figures, if not the biggest, in underwater ballet. She is still today, a major inspiration to merfolks.

Just as Annette Kellermann –whom she was looking up to– she was a professional swimmer and was meant to compete at the Olympic games in 1940 until it was canceled because of the war. After that she started acting in some movies and payed tribute to Kellermann in "Million Dollar Mermaid" (1952), one of the first movies featuring highly orchestrated swimming ballet. She was always playing herself in the movies and never had any understudy and therfore was called "the Hollywood mermaid". Because of her highly physically demanding roles she will play in her last movie quite early in 1961 with the movie "the Magic Fountain".

Williams will remain a very important inspiration for mermaids show today.

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Esther Kellerman in Million Dollar Mermaid in 1952

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I . mermaid history Weeki Wachee mermaids in 1947

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Weeki Wachee Mermaids Spring, first live mermaid show

At that time the tails were in textile and perfomers had oxygen and masks for safety reasons. Today, mermaids are free divers certified and have silicone tails, which are way heavier and these performances are extremely physically demanding and dangerous.

At some poin the show was owned by broadcast network ABC which led to a lot of attention. The attraction got featured in some movies such as "Mr Peabody and the Mermaid". Still today, the show is one of the most popular in Florida.

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At the same time in the 1950s, Newt Perry created the Weeki Wachee Mermaids Spring shows in the natural Weeki Wachee Spring in Florida. He was also an professional swimmer and developped breathing techniques for his shows. It was the first time ever mermaids were performing live in fresh water. Some movies recorded from these performances are available on the Weeki Wachee website, as the mermaids shows are still performed now.

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I . mermaid history Official movie poster of Mr Peabody and the Mermaid

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Shots of Ann Blyth in Mr Peabody and the Mermaid in 1948

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I . mermaid history Weeki Wachee mermaids today

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A few words from an former Weeki Wachee Mermaid

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"I’m Mermaid Marla, a former, professional Mermaid from Weeki Wachee!

I’m also known as MerElder in some pods and bubble circles. Weeki’s MerQueen, Barbara Wynns bequeathed the title of "Mer Ambassador" on me. Weeki Wachee Springs was my home waters for a little over two and a half years from 1969-1972!

When I performed there, we had on staff about 20 Swimmers, and always 10 official Mermaids. We swam three to four 50 min. shows per day, eight on holidays. The Springs water temperature is a steady 72°F (22°C). Saturday’s we’d also swim a night show. The night water is a deep, dark blue-black color. Even with lights on, it felt colder !

The curious 18-24 inches catfish came out to swim with us during night show Deep Dives. Down at more then 70 feet deep, while wedged in the rocks against the current, without the air hose bubbles, they’d swim up to your mask, or tickle your arm ! We had a big stick to ward them off, but never hurt them. Swimming three to five hours a day, sometimes 6 days a week was cold work. Shows were only canceled for overhead lightning! My record breath hold, during a Deep Dive was 4 min. 11 sec! A working record at the time. I had a special guest in the audience... Grampa!

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Mermaid Marla at the Weeki Wachee in the 70s Marla Klaus at the Weeki Wachee in the 60s Marla’s official mermaid necklace

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To become an official Mermaid, one of the 10 Mermaids had to retire. It’s very bittersweet. A MerSister whom you swam with for usually a few years, a real sister and friend, would leave.

Then Top Swimmer was promoted to official title of Mermaid. I became a Mermaid when my MerSister and dear friend Mermaid Dottie, resigned.

MerDottie was getting married, underwater there in a satin white tail! A Weeki first! A few days later, our General Manager, Jack Mahon, awarded me my Mermaid necklace, a beautiful sterling charm of Weeki’s signature Adagio. Inscribed on the back: my name and date of "Making Mermaid", Oct. 25th, 1970. One enjoyable task I took on was the care and upkeep of our suits and tails. I learned the secrets of tail making, by doing repairs and modifications. The Lurex metallic tail fabric was made from a heavy elasticized fabric, not spandex. Our tails had long waist-to-fin tip zippers affording us quick costume changes.

Sometimes, I had to modify a tail for a more petite Swimmer, shortening and reinstalling the zipper. Our original tails were made for us at ABC Paramounts’ special effects studio. It could take them six weeks or more to construct and mail us a new tail. I’ve made many, many fabric tails since 1969. I now only take custom requests."

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Post 1980s pop culture A break through for the merfolk culture

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The 1980 marked a breakthrough in the mermaid culture. First in 1984 with the Movie "Splash" by Ron Howard which is still referenced almost everytime by current merfolks as the movie that dragged them into the community.

Then in 1989, "The Little Mermaid" by Walt Disney had a huge success and therefore largely contributed to the mermaid excitment we know today. There are countless Ariel mernames today in the community.

Later on in 2006, the australian TV serie "H2O just add water" appeared and really made a splash. Still today it is a very influential show especially for youg teenage girls looking forward to be part of the community.

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The little Mermaid movie poster

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I . mermaid history Splash movie poster

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h2o just add water, poster season 2

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Photo taken at NC Mermania 2017

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The merfolk culture,

As a g-rated movie for adults, Splash really was a break through for the community.

Some might say this is where everything started. People who always had been fascinated with mermaids finally felt legitimate to express it and realized they could actually be mers themselves.

This was the beginning of the merfolk as we know it now.

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II . mermaids now Photo taken at NC Mermania 2017

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Mermaiding as a lifestyle

For a lot of people in this community, being a mermaid is a lifestyle. They are of course aware that mermaids do not exist physiologically but decided to embrace this little bit of magic they can bring to themselves and others.

Mermaiding as a lifestyle is mainly for them living around water, being able to go swimming everyday with a tail on and forget from time to time the boring land reality.

The community in itself is quite important in the US, but within this pod, smaller communities are existing in each town, where mers gather to go swimming, exchange tips about mermaid clothing, make up.

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Mermaiding as a lifestyle first appeared in the United States, quickly followed by Australia. The community started shortly after Splash and The Little Mermaid came out, in the 1990s. Today it is expending, and the community is starting to appear and grow also in Europe.

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II . mermaids now Cookie Ramirez getting mer-ried to Ralph de Jesus in 2015

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II . mermaids now Cookie Ramirez at NC Mermania 2017

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NC Mermania convention

Mermaids conventions are pretty much like comic cons, except it takes place in a pool. During the event there is conferences, atelier for children, lectures, underwater photoshoots as well as land photoshoots.

Apart from big gatherings such as Mermania, mermaids tend to always gather to swim together. It is like a big family. There are a lot of different pods around the world, but the biggest ones are in Southern California, due to the amount of natural srpings and fresh waters there.

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Mermaid gatherings are also getting more and more important. The biggest one this year was the NC Mer-mania in North Carolina. Around 350 mermaids gathered in a big diving swimming pool.

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Photos taken at NC Mermania 2017

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II . mermaids now Photo taken at NC Mermania 2017

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II . mermaids now Storytelling atelier for children at NC Mermania at Mermania 2017 Conference "Mers of color" at NC Mermania 2017

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Mermaid Kariel and two fans at NC Mermania 2017

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A specific language

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The language used between merpeople is very specific. As a mermaid, mermaiding is your hobby.

First of all, everything is mer-. You have a mer-name or mer-persona, mer-friends, a mer-family, you can choose what would be your mer-pet, mer-hair care and the list goes on and on. When you are getting out of the pool but your tail is very heavy and you cannot take it off, you can have a mertender to help you out and put you in a wheelchair.

If you are often hanging out with some mer-friends, then you are part of a pod. Some pods also exist on social media, so you don’t necessary have to be close to your fellow mers.

You can choose a name for your pod but know that Najestic pod is already taken. The pod is like your mer-family. With your mer-family, you are not having a nice time, you are having a fintastic and mermazing time. Your mer-friends can also be your fishy friends, and it also refers to all the sea animals you like, including your supposed mer-pet. If you are a professional mermaid and your business is working well, then you have a fintastic fishy business. And that is a reason to flip your fins out of joy!

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Mermaids schools, an expanding business in the US and Europe

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The Mermaid Kat Academy was the world’s first mermaid school that made mermaiding accessible to everyone and opened in August 2012. Shorty after that the Philippine Mermaid Swimming Academy and several other mermaid schools opened around the world. It first happened in the US but it is expending more around Europe. In 2014, a school opened in Munich, Germany, then in Marseille, France in 2015 and quickly followed by the Meermin School in Deventer, the Netherlands.

Mermaid Crystal, the main dutch figure in mermaiding created the school along with her business as a performer mermaid.

She teaches with her fellow mers through three different levels.

The first level is mainly about learning how to swim with a tail on, knowing about all safety measures and equipment, which is essential for a good and safe practice.

The second level is all about aesthetics, learning how to choose the right make up, the right top to fit your tail, how to pose underwater and make photoshoots. Finally the last level is about learning how to free dive, knowing the different steps to go back to the surface without damaging your ears. You also learn in the third lesson how to do tricks such as blowing heart bubbles.

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Meermin School

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II . mermaids now Basic fabric tail by Fin Fun Productions

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A highly detailed aesthetic The first tail designed by Annette Kellermann was a very simple fabric tail, and until the 90s, tails design were pretty simple. Today, mermaid outfits got way more detailed and extravagant. As Daniel Craig said during Mermania, "Everyone’s tail is unique and it’s almost just a reflection of their personality.".

Then you have the tails for a more professional activity, in neoprene with resin scales and a silicone fluke around a carbon monofin. These ones are handmade and you have the possibility to choose the colors and type of scales you want. They are called Mythic tails.

The last tail category are the full silicone on neoprene one, entirely handmade and full custom so you actually have someone make a cast of yourself all the way down.

You can design your own fluke and chose for each color, and you can also ask for additional fins and a blended waist.

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Mermaid tails are a real business especially in the united states. You have different ranges of tails. First you have for a fair price, basic textile tails, they come in a whole range of different print and colors and are associated with a basic monofin.

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II . mermaids now The newest Mythic tail (half resin and half silicone on neoprene)

by Finfolk Productions

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Full silicone tail on neoprene by Finfolk Production

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Mahina monofin

Mermaid monofin Aquarius monofin

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The shape of the monofin you choose also defines your mer-persona. There are 3 different types, the typical mermaid shape, the aquarius shape and the mahina shape. These are the ones you will find premade on the market. But some companies also offer to make custom monofin, so you can have a unique mermaid shape. For example, mermaid Linden has a unique whale shaped monofin for her tail, which makes her merpersona very unique.

Along with the tails come all the accesories. For mermaids, you have all hair accessories, tops, necklaces bracelets, sometimes wrist scales. For men you can find a whole range of crowns, belt, tritons and a lot of scale wrists.

The mermaid make-up also plays a big part on the aesthetic, merging tribal and contemporary trends such as contouring.

Both for men and women, additional fins are very common. Everything has to fit together and reflect on your mer-personality. But the most important is the motion in the water. The specificity of the full silicone tails for example is that the fluke is very thin and flexible on the tips, which gives a very beautiful and life-like motion in the water. These tails come with a lot of practic e to learn how to swim aestheticly and handle the weight of you tail (around 10 to 15 kg for a full silicone one) and accessories.

Though the aesthetic in the water is not the only matter. Because mermaiding became a lifestyle, some companies specialized in tail making like finfolk production also started what they call "landwear" collections, enabling mers to be mermaids on land as well as in the water.

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II . mermaids now Two full silicone tails owned by Merman Arion

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Wrist scales by Finfolk production Close up of the painting process on a full silicone tail by Finfolk

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II . mermaids now Mermaid Alanna

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Merman Blix at NC Mermania 2017

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Landwear by Finfolk Production

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Interview

Alexis Vassal aka Merman Arion

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Merman Arion, Original interview in French Depuis combien de temps êtes vous devenu un homme-sirène ?

"C’est ma quatrième année. Je suis dans le milieu du mermaiding depuis 2013 après m’être inscrit sur le forum international appelé MerNetwork. C’est là que tout a commencé et ce n’est pas prêt d’être fini."

Comment avez vous découvert cette possibilité, quelles ont été vos inspirations ?

Interview - Alex Vassal

"J’aime cet univers depuis que j’ai vu "la petite sirène" de Walt Disney ainsi que le film "Splash" (1985) avec Tom Hanks et Daryl Hannah. Par la suite, c’est une vidéo faisant le buzz sur facebook qui a tout déclenché : un garçon américain appelé Eric Ducharme avait participé à une télé-realité pour montrer sa passion d’homme-sirène et son entreprise en tant que créateur de costumes. On l’appelle Mertailor. Il est de ceux qui m’inspirent beaucoup car il nage très bien dans ses vidéos et il a une très belle apparence esthétique. Il y a bien aussi la sirène professionnelle Hannah Fraser qui est une des figures les plus emblématiques de notre communauté."

Est-ce que vous considérez votre queue de sirène comme une part de votre identité ?

"Tout à fait. Je me suis toujours senti comme à la maison en nageant dans l’eau. Ma mère m’a raconté quand j’étais plus jeune, j’étais toujours le premier à sauter dans la piscine ou la mer et le dernier à en ressortir. Je ressentais une affinité tellement forte que je pourrais rester dans le bain des heures avec mes nageoires.

C’est très dur de nager normalement quand on est si bien dans nos écailles et qu’on nage très vite et gracieusement. J’aime le silence et l’apaisement que l’eau nous procure quand on nage en dessous de la surface, c’est très reposant après une semaine intense de travail."

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merfolk Après avoir fait quelques recherches sur le sujet, j’ai le sentiment que les merfolk communities sont liées à des valeurs beaucoup plus qu’à une esthétique, l’acceptance de soi-même, la protection de l’environnement etc…, qu’en pensez vous ?

"C’est exactement ça. Beaucoup d’entre nous qui en ont fait une profession profite du mermaiding pour militer pour la protection des océans, des espèces marines protégées, pour apprendre à mieux garder les plages propres mais aussi pour enseigner des valeurs à travers des histoires pour enfants, des conférences, des conventions où les médias partagent nos expériences vécues. Nous avons un esprit très "famille" où chacun se soutient et s’encourage mutuellement. La convention annuelle "MerMania" est justement un condensé de tout cela."

"Tout à fait ouvert et très accueillant. Pour ma part, je n’ai eu aucune difficulté à m’intégrer dans ce milieu. Effectivement il y a moins d’hommes car beaucoup craignent qu’on remette en cause leur masculinité et leur sexualité. La faute en revient surtout à Disney pour avoir fait énormément de commercialisation sur Ariel en tant que personnage emblématique et féminin mais personne ne semble accorder d’importance au roi Triton qui a pourtant une forte présence dans le film. Autant carrément le dire, il n’y aurait pas de sirènes sans tritons donc les hommes ont autant leur place que les femmes. Dans les bonus du film, on apprend qu’un personnage de triton appelé Arold avait eu sa place dans le story-board original et finalement la scène de son entretien avec Ursula n’a pas été retenue. C’est pourtant fort dommage car beaucoup de garçons auraient pu s’identifier à ce personnage et réaliser que c’est un univers autant à leur portée que pour les filles. Malheureusement, ils ne peuvent que compter sur le personnage d’Eric, un humain qu’ils identifient comme étant la "norme".

En ce qui me concerne, je me moque de ce que les gens puissent penser de moi quand ils m’aperçoivent à la piscine ou à la mer avec une de mes nageoires. J’ai toujours eu des retours très positifs et c’est une grande chance mais je me doute que ce n’est pas autant facile pour d’autres selon l’environnement où ils se trouvent."

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Interview - Alex Vassal

J’ai pu constater que les sirènes étaient beaucoup plus répandues que les tritons dans ce milieu, est-il difficile de s’intégrer en tant qu’homme dans ce monde où est-ce qu’au contraire un milieu que vous décririez comme très ouvert et accueillant ?

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Merman Arion, translated interview in English "Have you heard about mermen before? My name is Arion. I’m a merman from France who loves making a splash everywhere that includes water."

For how long have you been a merman ?

Interview - Alex Vassal

"It has been 4 years. I am in the mermaiding community since 2013 after subscribing on the international online forum MerNetwork. That is where everything started and it is just the beginning."

How did you find out you could become a merman ? What were your inspirations ?

"I like this world ever since I saw “the Little Mermaid” from Walt Disney and “Splash” (1985) with Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah.

After that, it is a video which went viral on Facebook that triggered me : an American guy called Eric Ducharme took part in a reality show to show his passion as a merman and his business as a costume designer. They call him Mertailor. He inspires me a lot because he swims very well in his videos and has a very beautiful aesthetic look. I am also very inspired by the professional mermaid Hannah Fraser who is one of the most important figures of our community."

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Interview - Alex Vassal

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Do you consider your tail as a part of your identity ?

After making some research about this topic, I have the feeling merfolk communities are more related to values rather than aesthetics, what is your opinion on that ?

"Exactly. A lot of us who turned mermaiding into a professional activity take this opportunity to act for the protection of oceans, protecting sea species, to teach how to better keep beaches clean but also to teach values through stories we tell to children, conferences, conventions where medias share our lived experiences. We have a very family like link, where everyone support and encourage each other.

The annual convention “MerMania� sums up all of this."

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Interview - Alex Vassal

"Absolutely. I always felt home swimming in the water. My mother told me I was always the first one jumping in the pool or the sea as a kid, and the last one to get out. I felt such a strong link with water that I could stay for hours in the bath with my fins. It is very hard to swim normally when you feel that good in your scales and you can swim very fast and gracefully. I like the silence and peacefulness of water when you swim beneath the surface, it is very resting after an intense week of work."

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Through my research, I noticed there were far more mermaids than mermen in the community, is it difficult as a man to get into this community or would you describe it as a very openminded and welcoming environment ?

Interview - Alex Vassal

"It is very openminded and welcoming. As far as I am concerned, I had no difficulties integrating it. There are indeed less men because a lot of them fear judgements about their masculinity or sexuality. This is mainly due to Disney for making so much advertising about Ariel as an emblematic feminine character though no one seems to pay attention to the king Triton who has a strong presence in the movie. Let’s face it, there wouldn’t be mermaids without mermen so men are just as legitimate as women. In the film bonuses, we learn that a merman character named Arnold was in the original storyboard and finally his scene of a interview with Ursula got cut off.

It is a pitty because many boys could have identified as this character and realised that this world doesn’t exclude them at all. Unfortunately, they only have Eric’s character, a human they can identify as being “normal”.

I personally don’t care what people might think about me when they see me in the pool or at the see with one of my tails. I always had very positive feedback and I am very lucky but I guess it isn’t that easy for others according to the environment they grow in/live in."

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Interview - Alex Vassal

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Mermaid Hannah

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How and why, merfolk values

Despite very strong and –for many outsiders– odd aesthetics, mermaiding is far more related to a set of values rather than a look.

A majority of mers in the community turned their passion into a professional activity, and saw an opportunity there to transmit positive messages, values.

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Professional mermaiding

A lot of mermaids are already scuba divers certified or coming from a professional swimming background and take this opportunity to play in these shows, but also at private birthday parties for children or at hotel openings.

Modeling is also a big part of the job, and it requires a lot of training to be able to pose underwater looking natural. Professional mermaids all say they had to train a lot before being able to look relaxed and smile while taking poses with a quite heavy tail (most professionals own a full silicone tail).

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Mermaiding is a hobby, a lifestyle for many, but a big part of the community turned it into a professional activity. The roots of mermaiding come from the entertaining field and it is still today very popular. In the US, Mermaid shows are very present, especially in Florida with the Weeki Wachee Spring and in North Carolina.

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III . Mermaids now Syrena, Singapore’s first mermaid

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Mermaid Crystal

The Nova Mermaid

Mermaid Crystal

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Mermaid Hannah

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Professional outfit makers A lot of mermaids starting out as amateurs are looking for a way to live their passion full time as a professional activity.

Some are doing shows as shown before, and a lot of them are creating costumes for the community. Almost every mermaid tails, tops and accessories on the market are handmaid by merfolk people. During a talk with Abby and Bryn Roberts, two sisters who started their tail company finfolk production, gave me an interesting insight on their professional activity :

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"Personally, Abby and I love creating art, and having the opportunity to run a full time business surrounding our work and this very unique group of individuals. We also pull a lot of inspiration from our love for the ocean, and diving, especially after living in Hawaii the last couple of years.

We plan on beginning some work for ocean related non profits later this year !"

Finfolk Productions is the most famous and the best quality tails you can get on the market. But Mertailor was the first one to start making full silicone tails, though he is doing more mermen tails than Finfolk that address a more feminine public.

Concerning accessories, many mermaids do their own, and a lot of them sell it such as Mermaid Kariel who makes the most famous tops.

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Merman tail by Mertailor (full silicone) Mermaid tails by Finfolk productions (full silicone) Tops by Mermaid Hyli

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III . Mermaids now Abby and Bryn (Finfolk Production) and Syrena

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III . Mermaids now Mermaid Linden Mermaid Hannah

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Mermaids acting for oceans conservation

They benefit from a very attractive, seducing and unique image that ensure them to have their voice heard. Mermaid Linden for example started a youtube channel for kids to teach them about different endangered or unknown sea species in her vlogs "the mermaid minute". She posts videos of herself swimming in the sea next to wild creatures to show these creatures as peaceful and not dangerous for humans.

The idea created by the movie "Jaws" by Spielberg (1975) that sharks for example would be agressive or human killers got strongly implemented in our western culture and many children books picked up on this idea. Mermaid Linden tries in her show to reverse this idea and show children a different point of view.

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A few mermaids in the community come from a science or biology study background and use their mer-status as an opportunity to raise awareness for ocean conservation and more generally for environment protection.

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Still in the entertainment field, Mermaid Hannah, very important figure of the community (mentionned by Merman Arion) is playing a big role for ocean conservation.

She was borned in England but grew up in Australia. After some attacks by tiger sharks in Australia, the government was considering opening a shark hunt.

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As an activist, she decided to free dive surrounded by tiger sharks, and made a dance performance with them to demonstrate that with an appropriate behaviour, these sharks are not showing any sign of aggressivity.

This action got her a lot of attention and publicity. She is often using the aesthetic and dances she learned form her mermaid career to protest aginst some fishing practices or ocean pollution. She also dived once with a mature great white shark for the TV documentary film "Great white shark, beyond the cage of fear" (2013).

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Hannah Fraser (Mermaid Hannah) during her performance "Tigress shark"

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III . Mermaids now Hannah Fraser (Mermaid Hannah) during her performance "Tigress shark"

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"Save the mermaids" actions

Besides performances, some mermaids organizations exist to act for ocean conservations. The most famous one is "save the mermaid".

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"We had the vision to Save the Mermaids in January of 2009 with intent to engage the Santa Barbara community in the movement away from disposable plastics and educate our youth through exciting and fun learning opportunities. Our group of incredibly creative and ocean-oriented girlfriends were quick to get involved, volunteering for beach cleanups, school presentations, and taking on leadership roles to host community events. The founding board included Lillie Stanton, China Jones, Kate Nelson, Kaia Stachel-Zambryski, and Jordan Lerum, who still are on the board today. In 2013 Kaia Stachel-Zambryski took over as Executive Director and brought Save the Mermaids into establishment as a 501 nonprofit. She also developed our school education programs such as The Mermaid Challenge as well as after school programs and camps, Ocean Explorers.

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Screenshots of "Save the mermaid" website

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merfolk Since establishment, the Mermaids have continued to share their message locally as well as throughout Central and South America, Australia, and Southeast Asia.

The Mermaids are creative, fun, magical women who represent the beauty and mystery of the ocean environment while enticing our community to join us in it’s preservation. We hold weekly beach cleanups, school presentations, awareness events, workshops, and are deeply involved with the Ban the Bag movement in the Santa Barbara County! Save the Mermaids have partnered with many local groups in town to help bring students out onto the ocean or into the ocean education environments.

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Through “hands-on” experiences we strive to educate and excite students about our coastal waters and make them feel responsible to create the change that will directly affect the oceans health.

Throughout the years our Education Programs have expanded from single-use plastic to include marine wildlife, marine ecology, ocean health, beach erosion, water quality, watersheds, sustainable farming, all natural eco friendly home & body products and more! Educating youth and adults in a way that is creative, hands-on, experiential, and meaningful encourages participants to become more confident in their understanding and appreciation of our marine environment. As Mermaids we remain committed to our mission as Ambassadors of the sea and leaders and role models in our communities. We invite you to be the change we wish to see in this big, blue world ! Let’s bring the ocean to your flippers !"

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Mermaiding as a way to help yourself and others Hearing a lot of experiences from merfolks, becoming a mermaid is not just only about making a child dream coming true.

A lot of them started mermaiding to feel more confident, to overcome depression or even to recovery from serious desease.

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In an interview to metro.co.uk, Mermaid Essie, explained how mermaiding helped her with coping with her insecurities : "I have a lot of body insecurities, I think a lot of people do. When I am in my tail I don’t feel insecure anymore. Because it suddenly doesn’t matter what size I am because I am a mermaid and that is what people really focus on."

Some facebook pods are existing where mermaids from all over the world share their experience in a very family like relation. Many of them are recommending mermaiding to recover from serious desease or as a training for some handicaps.

It is very interesting reading these interactions how people that have never met or talk to eachother share their experience and help eachother out, giving you this feeling of a very safe place.

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Mermaid Linden and children Mermaid Alexa, Mermaid Essie, Merperson Mathlinnie and Mermaid Cyanea

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III . Mermaids now Mermaid Alexa and Mermaid Essie

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Some professional mermaids like Mermaid Linden uses their status to help sick children. They go to the hospital with their tales and just seeing this little bit of magic help children having hope and fight better against their sickness.

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This idea that imagination and play can be valuable to recovery for children as well as for adults is really well explained

by Mermaid Raina. She started 3 different mermaiding companies and wrote 3 books on how to turn mermainding into a professional activity. She is also writing a lot of articles on her website as well as weekly vlogs.

Because tails have been prohibited in a lot of public swimming pools lately in Canada and the United States, she is trying to sort out the benefits and dangers of wearing a tail for children.

Mermaiding for a big part of the community is a form of empowerment, and it is somehow very brave to go and do what you really like to do despite all the criticism you might encounter.

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Mermaid Linden and children

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III . Mermaids now Raina Mermaid and children

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Many long term studies and whole fields of education are putting forth that imagination and play help children develop, and people of all ages cope as well as learn better. Putting on a mermaid tail allows a person of any age a chance to use their imagination and be physically fit. This it turn helps with focus, happiness, lifelong success in learning, and overall developmental health. The emergent curriculum approach specifically looks at how play benefits children. We know that children aren’t physically active, or playing enough.

We have watched astounding confidence building take place because of these efforts. Children who start classes In a life jacket and by the end are swimming like a fish and enrolled in further swimming lessons. We have watched shy girls unsure of themselves, blossom into young girls with bright imaginations."

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"Girls are the overwhelming majority of mermaid swimmers, though many boys enjoy it too. But sadly, many long term studies are showing that as they grow girls are less physically active, have more body image issues, and drop out of sports.

In a time when childhood obesity rates are on the rise, it is important to find these physical activities that children love, and empower them toward it- not take it away from them. Based on many fitness calculators and comparisons with other swimming techniques, mermaid swimming has the capacity to burn up to 500 calories an hour.

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A growing interest Mermaiding is lately becoming more and more popular. Many schools are opening in Europe, and gatherings such as NC Mermania are getting more frequent and popular.

Along with that, there is a real mermaid trend going on outside the merfolk itself. The theater play "The Little Mermaid" is on international tour due to great success. Three Little Mermaids movies are coming up in 2017, including one action movie from Disney and one adaptation from the original Hans Christian Andersen’s tale. But that is not all, a Splash reboot is being discussed at the moment with a gender swap where Channing Tatum would play Daryl Hannah’s role as a merman as well as "The Lure", a musical about cannibal mermaids. A serie "Siren" is also coming up in 2017 by the production studio Freeform about a fight between land and mer people.

The mermaiding community is attracting more and more people because it grew up with the years, adapting to social changes and always being very openminded. In times where gender questions are taking an important place in the public debate, the mer community is already seeing beyond that by adopting a very open and positive attitude regarding any kind of people.

Mermaiding has no age, gender or race whatsoever, so it is time for you to put a tail on!

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"The Little Mermaid" theater show Shot from "The Little Mermaid" movie trailer adapted from Hans Christian Andersen’s

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Bilbliography https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mermaiding // p20, 34, 41,83 http://lesculottees.blog.lemonde.fr/2016/02/22/annette-kellerman-sirene/ // p16-17 http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35472490 http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/annette-kellerman // p16-17 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annette_Kellermann // p1617 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esther_Williams // p18-19 http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7bn7c_final-du-baldes-sirenes-avec-esthe_shortfilms // p18-19 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYW64moSLKg // p18-19 http://esther-williams.com/ // p18-19 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weeki_Wachee_Springs // p20-27 http://weekiwachee.com/ // p20-27 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4152514/6-00050lb-tails-plenty-lube-Welcome-Mermania.html // p3637, 40-47

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https://auramarzoukphotography.smugmug.com/Mermania-2017 – p36-37, 40-47 http://www.savethemermaids.org/mermaid-lifestyle – p96-99 http://rainamermaid.weebly.com – p106-107 http://www.meerminschool.nl – p50-51 http://www.mermaidcrystal.com – p50-51, p85 https://www.finfolkproductions.com – p86-87, p54-55, p62-63 https://www.themertailor.com – p86-87 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNDVFsOY1HMSXDhcxuEfGoA – p100-101, p90-91 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChmwyjKeu5XrkbSkt-_lI_A – p92-95 https://www.facebook.com/groups/641647382692327/?fref =ts – p28-29, p48-49, p60, p1, p108 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04txkn9 – p100_103 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04txlrq – p34-37, p40-47 http://www.boredpanda.com/you-are-not-the-weirdohere – p34-37, p40-47 http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/inside-worlds-largest-mermaid-conventions-fin-tastic-weekend-45527781 – p34-37, p40-47 https://epicshutterblog.wordpress.com/2017/02/11/mermania-mermaids-pirates-and-sirens-oh-my – p34-37, p40-47

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https://www.rescuesirens.com/blogs/news/nc-mermania-2017-part-3-social-events-panels – p34-37, p40-47 http://www.twcnews.com/nc/triad/top-videos/2017/01/20/ merfolk-visit-greensboro-for-mermania.html – p34-37, p40-47 http://blog.erinstblaine.com/2017/01/being-mermaid-mytrip-to-nc-mermania.html?m=1 –­ p34-37, p40-47 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2302275/Reallife-mermaid-swims-sharks-using-10-000-tail--holdbreath-underwater-FIVE-minutes.html – p92-95 http://www.hannahfraser.com/mermaid –­ p90-95 http://hannahmermaid.com – p90-95 https://www.instagram.com – p98, p70-79, p85 http://www.finfunmermaid.com – p52, p56 http://www.finfriends.com – p56-57 https://www.mahinamermaid.com – p56-57 https://thevirginiamermaid.wordpress.com – p85 http://www.mermaidsinmotion.com – p90-91, p100-101 https://www.etsy.com/shop/SirenAllure – p86-87 https://www.themermaidsyrena.com – p84, p88-89 http://www.mermaidcrystal.com – p7, p85 http://www.finisinc.com – p56

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ISBN 978-0-244-30492-8 ISBN 978-0-244-30492-8

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Merfolk!

Oriane Rondeau

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