Susan's Place Transgender Resources

I've been wanting to ask this for ages   :D!

Did you or did you not like mermaids growing up? (in movies, in toys, in general...)

I've understood that many trans girls LOVE them!!!

It's interesting coz the first time I heard that - that made me think my own childhood & the fact that I absolutely HATED everything related with them xDDD! (Even though I played with dolls etc.)

So, is this a trans thing? Do trans guys hate them & all trans girls find them fascinating,  ;D?

What about you?

- And don't forget to vote, guys -

I kinda liked them,  but I have another trans* friend (mtf) who is obsessed with them. X

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The only mermaid I remember was the "little mermaid " by Hans Christian Anderson.  I liked her, but it was a children's story and I was a child.  But as I write this I'm realizing I was thrilled to go on the ride at Disneyland's CA Adventure.  Go on it every time we are there.  And it is a story of transformation.  Oh my, I'm getting verklempt!
Hugs, Jessica 🙋‍♀️

Mermaid anything just didn't feature in my childhood. I watched the Little mermaid a few times but not one of my favourite Disney films. And watched Splash one or two times (best romantic film ever btw)

Yes, yes, yes, I wanted to be a mermaid.  I first wanted to be one before I even knew that girls didn't have willies, so that can't have been the reason at the time.  I was only given boys' comics, but one of them was the first Giant Superman Annual.  It was dated 1960 but I was in England and US comics usually reached us several months after publication.  There was a story about Lori the mermaid.  I particularly remember that issue because there was a lot in it I liked, including a Supergirl story.

The next "I want to be a mermaid" phase was after seeing Miranda, starring Glynis Johns.  By then I knew that I really was a boy but I'm still not sure that I was consciously or subconsciously choosing a fishtail over legs and a willy. 

As an adult, I thoroughly enjoyed Splash and Disney's Little Mermaid.  I actually have a number of plastic toy mermaids, including an Ariel, that I bought as an adult.  Childish, I know.  I should have at least gotten a porcelain one.

It is said to be a trans girl thing.  I once read a book called The Erotic World of Faery, in which the author claimed that Hans Christian Andersen was a trans woman, and that the mermaid's wish to lose her tail was an expression of Andersen's desire for emasculation.  Youtube's Maya was once called Transmermaid and I think that Jazz Jenning's family have a business selling mermaid tails.  There is also an organisation called Mermaids UK that provides support for transgender children.

Quote from: MaryT on December 08, 2017, 03:17:05 PM
I actually have a number of plastic toy mermaids, including an Ariel, that I bought as an adult.  Childish, I know.  I should have at least gotten a porcelain one.

Oh, come one. That's cute,  ;)! You are NEVER too old to satisfy your childhood fantasies! I know adults who collect barbie dolls, for example... ;) And I've bought my fair share of toys I would have liked to have, like a few plastic dinosaurs,  :D! - The inner child in you rejoices - What's wrong with that,  ;)? After all, adults design those things... so it's someone's job  :D!

But man I hated those mermaids as a kid, xD. To me they were like the most repulsive girly thing ever!

Quote from: Elis on December 08, 2017, 03:12:53 PM
watched Splash one or two times (best romantic film ever btw)

I don't think I've ever seen that one!

I always liked them but, wasn't obsessed with them. I loved them because I had fish most of my life and being part fish seemed cool.

Quote from: PurpleWolf on December 08, 2017, 03:29:26 PM
Oh, come one. That's cute,  ;)! You are NEVER too old to satisfy your childhood fantasies! I know adults who collect barbie dolls, for example... ;) And I've bought my fair share of toys I would have liked to have, like a few plastic dinosaurs,  :D! - The inner child in you rejoices - What's wrong with that,  ;)? After all, adults design those things... so it's someone's job  :D!

But man I hated those mermaids as a kid, xD. To me they were like the most repulsive girly thing ever!
I don't think I've ever seen that one!

You have to see it!!! I almost cry at the ending every single time!!. And bonus stars a young Tom Hanks :)

Neutral! I couldn't care less about mermaids they never interested me at all.

I grew up in Calif. near the ocean, I've always loved mermaids  ;D   I would ask the gruff old fishermen if they'd ever seen one

There was this Greek named Jocko that I would talk to, he seem to get a bit of a kick out me

Anyway he told me that they were rather sly creatures that you don't see too often but sometimes they'll splash their tails out of the water when they're swimming

So I told him I was gonna go swimming every day till I found one and he told me to be careful because if I swam too far out I might turn into one

That excited me even more so I started practicing to swim like a mermaid but ended up chipping one of me front teeth LOL

My sister had all the little memaid stuff in her bed room I was always jealous.

I'm a trans man and I've always really liked mermaids / other fairytale creatures! I've found my fascination for them to only grow over the years as well. I also grew up on the East Coast near the ocean and any time I went swimming I would imagine I was a mermaid.

I loved them. My sister gave me a small plastic mermaid when I was 9. She also gave me a locket with a mermaid in it. I love Nightwish songs about mermaids.

Honestly, no not at all. I've always found mermaids to be kind of creepy.

Quote from: Julia1996 on December 10, 2017, 08:16:09 AM
Honestly, no not at all. I've always found mermaids to be kind of creepy.

Creepy,  ;D?!! Never heard that one before!

Quote from: PurpleWolf on December 10, 2017, 08:24:35 AM
Creepy,  ;D?!! Never heard that one before!

Yeah creepy. I know most girls like them but I always found a half fish woman creepy. But I'm not normal anyway. The first time I ever saw the wizard of oz when I was about 6 I thought it was really sad the witch got melted and died. See, not normal. LOL.

Hmmmm,  :eusa_think:  Think I might call my next band "Creepy Mermaid" LOL

Quote from: V M on December 10, 2017, 08:36:31 AM
Hmmmm,  :eusa_think:  Think I might call my next band "Creepy Mermaid" LOL

That actually would be a really cool name for a band.

Quote from: Julia1996 on December 10, 2017, 08:16:09 AM
Honestly, no not at all. I've always found mermaids to be kind of creepy.

Quote from: PurpleWolf on December 10, 2017, 08:24:35 AM
Creepy,  ;D?!! Never heard that one before!

Quote from: Julia1996 on December 10, 2017, 08:30:56 AM
Yeah creepy. I know most girls like them but I always found a half fish woman creepy. But I'm not normal anyway. The first time I ever saw the wizard of oz when I was about 6 I thought it was really sad the witch got melted and died. See, not normal. LOL.

I love mermaids but in some of the folklore, I think that they are supposed to be creepy.  They are sometimes equated with sirens that lure sailors to their doom.  I didn't see Disney's Peter Pan till I was an adult but I remember the mermaid's comment when Peter rescues Wendy from their clutches: "We were only trying to drown her." 

Come to think of it, the scene in The Wizard of Oz where the witch melts is pretty horrific, even by horror movie standards, and the witch's cries should be heart rending.  It took a six year old trans girl to see that.  See Julia, some children can be nice. 

I really liked the witch. I just thought it was so cool that she could do magic and fly on a broom.

Quote from: Twocky61 on December 10, 2017, 11:35:24 AM
I often wonder how Mermaid's would be able reproduce with their legs bound together

So let's suppose Mermaid's do actually exist

Maybe there would be at their groin a flap that pulls open and closes, Like a fish's fin

But then there is the issue of giving birth. That flap would not be wide enough

;D ;D ;D

I don't know...! But then again, dolphins give birth too, so...!

I've always thought of how dirty the sea is so never understood why mermaids are seen as sexy or why you'd want to be one; just gross knowing where they've been  :D

Quote from: Julia1996 on December 10, 2017, 09:15:56 AM
That actually would be a really cool name for a band.

Yeah, I kinda like that one also  ;D

I wasn't obsessed with them, but I liked them a lot. But then I love all that stuff a lot, I was obsessed with mythology as a kid.

While we think of many classical mythological mermaids as not exactly friendly, it depends on if you think of sirens or nereids. Nereids are the little mermaid style, and were generally good(though also not always sexy, as some versions had them with full scales and with fish mouths :D). Sirens are the "evil mermaid" that lured sailors to their death, but  were actually more like harpies that became conflated with mermaids over time.

Nope, I wasn't into mermaids or dolls of any kind. Even as a preschool aged kid I actively disliked dolls. But My Little Ponies? Sign me up. :)

Disney's "The Little Mermaid" came out when I was in high school.  I really enjoyed it especially the transformation aspects.  But other than that, I didn't have the whole, I'm going to get a mermaid tattoo, level of fascination.

Absolutely! I was a kid when The Little Mermaid came out and even back then I wanted to be Ariel (never could understand why she would want to become human, we suck). I also think that's where my love of red hair comes from, lol.

Quote from: Julia1996 on December 10, 2017, 04:35:29 PM
Well if she did have some kind of hidden vagina I can't imagine how fishy that would smell. LOL

Well, I can't say I've noticed but it has been said of cis women that ....

Never mind.  Anyway, I quite like anchovies.   ::)

I saw that film Splash a lot as a kid. Someone owned the VHS in the house so it was on and I didn't mind it. Also heard about how the Disney version of the "Little Mermaid" story is quite a different tone from the original tale, when I was a kid. It was pretty depressing as I recall. I was a big fan of swimming in the sea though, so my focus was on fish and dolphins. Mermaids didn't occur to me as something to be fascinated with.

If you go on YouTube you can find lots of "professional mermaids" filmed under the water wearing monofins.   

Loved the "Splash" movie when it first came out but got board with it after awhile of seeing too often, didn't care much for Disney's "Little Mermaid" although I did think it was kinda cute LOL

I did like mermaids as a child, but not the mermaids themselves.  I was instead fascinated by the transformation aspect of mermaid to human girl/woman.

Quote from: Viktor on December 11, 2017, 06:59:56 PM
Also heard about how the Disney version of the "Little Mermaid" story is quite a different tone from the original tale, when I was a kid. It was pretty depressing as I recall.

True.  She didn't get the prince.  She did go to heaven when she died, though, so it's sort of a happy ending.

Quote from: MaryT on December 13, 2017, 08:25:36 AM
True.  She didn't get the prince.  She did go to heaven when she died, though, so it's sort of a happy ending.

Considering most fairy tales and old stories for children are darker than modern horror movies, it was about as happy as it gets. ;D

Not to mention it was by the same guy who wrote the Little Match Girl. Compared to that, the ending for the Little Mermaid is supremely mild, heh.