Merfolk of Color

[Merman_Shawn]

It really is a shame that you don't see any Mer-Folk of dark skin color in any movie or shows. What's up with that? I know mer-folk related media is hard enough to find, I'm just sick of seeing the same depictions of mermaids as caucasian women. Let's shake it up a bit Hollywood!

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

Yeah, especially since there are merfolk of different regions throughout the world... Mermaid Tales from Around the World features Menana of the Waterfall (North American Indian), The Fish Husband (Nigerian), The Serpent and the Sea Queen (Japanese), The Princess of the Tung Lake (Chinese), The Sea Princess of Persia (Iranian), not to mention the Encantados of Brazil, Atargatis, and other mermaids from different traditions. There are plenty of mermaid stories out there, but the entertainment industry has focused on a very limited selection (though, in fairness, it's not just mermaids... I haven't seen any vampire blockbusters about Penanggalans, either).

[Mermaid Lohgan]

The only Mermaid of 'colour' that I saw in a movie was an African American woman in a very small shot of PotC: On Stranger Tides.


<img>http://www.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_content_width/hash/f1/16/f1160d3fa8903a8e190cbc4ae324ff53.jpg</img>

The one all the way to the left. She's so beautiful.

[Drowning]

I would love to see merfolk of every color!


It really is a shame that you don't see any Mer-Folk of dark skin color in any movie or shows. What's up with that? I know mer-folk related media is hard enough to find, I'm just sick of seeing the same depictions of mermaids as caucasian women. Let's shake it up a bit Hollywood!

[Prince Calypso]

me and my mother were having this exact same conversation a few days ago.
she loves that i'm a mermaid and that i have found a group of people who share my love and passions but she had asked me once how many black mermaids i knew in the community and i told a quite a few which made her happy. she them implored me to included colored mermaids in my stories and my drawing because as she put it
"Black Woman Make anything looks good, even scales darlin'"

but in all seriousness it would be nice to see more mermaids of color in the media and in books and tv shows and movies. I've looked at loads of mermaid commercials and its always white girls, same goes for magazine adds and the like
I do think however once the mermaiding craze goes mainstream the black community and the other communities of color as well will want to jump on the band wagon.

[Spindrift]

I'm hapa.

[Psychic Tideborn]

I believe Disney had a little latin mermaid cameo in one of the Little Mermaid episodes, then again the character was based off of a real little girl who had cancer I believe and she loved mermaids... it was like a make a wish kind of thing... so as much as I love the fact that they did this, before and even after there has not been another non-caucasion mermaid on the disney front. As far as merfolk of color, I am SO glad to be a part of the growing community of the color brigade! My best friend and I are both mixed and we both have our other halves, mine is merfolk, His is elves. We are both glad to represent. I can't wait to get my tail so I can help raise awareness of the darker side of the merfolk world lol

[Nate Walis]

The Fathom Films title "Mermaid Island" featured mermaids of almost every colour and variation you could imagine, but apart from that I have to agree that it's a crying shame we don't see more black, asian and oriental mermaids in mainstream treatments of the subject.

[Lyna]

latex man did some tails for some asian mermaids right? i reeeaaallly wanna see some asian mermaids. and i know a mighty tanned merman personally. he's one of the top most awesome merfolk i've met to date! but yes, they are usually teenaged caucasian females. but it's also usually one mermaid per movie. and we need some films portraying pods. :)

[Mermaid Dottie]

"Black Woman Make anything looks good, even scales darlin'"


Your Mom is right!
Although I've never really wished to be anything other than my Scot-Irish self, I've often envied how the black girls at my school could look so fantastic in something that was NEON colored. Banana yellow dresses, lime-rickey flavored shirt/pant combos.... Electric Turquoise sweaters.... The contrast is gorgeous....
Just the other day I went to the pool and saw this gorgeous black chick with hair longer than mine, and I thought, "You should come mermaiding with me..."

[Mermaid Dottie]

I've always wanted to see someone Asian in something like this (http://www.google.com/search?q=koi+mermaid&hl=en&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=OQIYUMSLHIbp6wGq0oD4CA&ved=0CFEQsAQ&biw=1360&bih=705).
Maybe with black spots?

[Merman_Shawn]

<img>http://www.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_content_width/hash/f1/16/f1160d3fa8903a8e190cbc4ae324ff53.jpg</img>

The one all the way to the left. She's so beautiful.

It really sucks she was just an aquatic extra. She really is quite lovely!
I would really love to see Zoe Saldana as a mermaid, or maybe Rosario Dawson!

[Merman_Shawn]

latex man did some tails for some asian mermaids right? i reeeaaallly wanna see some asian mermaids. and i know a mighty tanned merman personally. he's one of the top most awesome merfolk i've met to date! but yes, they are usually teenaged caucasian females. but it's also usually one mermaid per movie. and we need some films portraying pods. :)

Look up the Dyesebel series of TV shows and Movies from the Philippines.
​http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLveynvow10

[Alveric]

Here's one. There are others in my stories, but she's the only one I have a picture of.
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[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

*smacks forehead* I can't believe I forgot to mention La Sirene and/or Mami Wata! Admittedly lighter-skinned in appearance, she is still supposed to be an African Mermaid (as Mami Wata) or one of African descent (as La Sirene), or another aspect of Erzulie the loa of all forms of love, and one of the more powerful, if lesser known, Voodoo gods.

[merboy78xy]

well, let's not forget that the eerie mermaids in the movie PETER were asian.
I feel like between that and the asian mermaid series: DYESEBEL and DYOSA, not to mention MERMAID MARRIED A MAN (and now the new one that latexman did his tails for, Thai)-- I feel a bit like the Asians have really stepped up in the merfolk world. I think that there should also be a sort of new skin color "races" of merfolk... where their tail color blends into their skin making them different from the mortal colors.
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[Prince Calypso]

i was just watching POTC 4 again and i realized that ther mermaid who got stabbed as she was jumping out of the water was the black mermaid
*FLAMER SHIELD UP*
i'm not trying to start anything to make any kind of statement
it just caught me by surprised when i realized it.

[merboy78xy]

I know! I think it's amazing that there truly IS a stereotype that the first to go in any horror move is: The black character, followed by the gay character, etc...
I'm always like: "Why's it gotta be the black guy!?"

so in this case its: "Why's it gotta be the black mermaid!?"

[Mermaid Cascada]

I never noticed that but you guys are totally right.

[Mermaid Momo]

there's also Yemaya (another name of mama wata)
http://givnology.com/eve/forums/a/ga/ul/896102009/inlineimg/Y/YAMAYA.jpghttp://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9V3mWl-uC_I/S_SDeJnuBvI/AAAAAAAAAnU/PwHE7_RLT_o/s400/GODDESS+yemaya5.jpghttp://www.sistersofearthsong.com/YEMAYA/yemaya2.jpg
and her daughter Oshun
http://www.fairiesandfantasy.com/artworks/oshun.jpghttp://stores.walk-in-beauty.net/catalog/oshun350.jpg

i once found a picture of Oshun with a yellow tail, but couldn't find it again, sowwy.
and here's a blog i follow that post minority merfolk: http://mermaidsofcolor.tumblr.com

[Merman_Shawn]

there's also Yemaya (another name of mama wata)
http://givnology.com/eve/forums/a/ga/ul/896102009/inlineimg/Y/YAMAYA.jpghttp://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9V3mWl-uC_I/S_SDeJnuBvI/AAAAAAAAAnU/PwHE7_RLT_o/s400/GODDESS+yemaya5.jpghttp://www.sistersofearthsong.com/YEMAYA/yemaya2.jpg
and her daughter Oshun
http://www.fairiesandfantasy.com/artworks/oshun.jpghttp://stores.walk-in-beauty.net/catalog/oshun350.jpg

i once found a picture of Oshun with a yellow tail, but couldn't find it again, sowwy.
and here's a blog i follow that post minority merfolk: http://mermaidsofcolor.tumblr.com

What a great resource that site was. Thank you. :)

[Mermaid Momo]

no problem :)

[Mermaid Momo]

look what i found!
http://picture-book.com/files/userimages/46u/mermaid.jpg
it's from some children's book, but there wasn't a book cited.

[Mermaid Maleficia]

me and my mother were having this exact same conversation a few days ago.
she loves that i'm a mermaid and that i have found a group of people who share my love and passions but she had asked me once how many black mermaids i knew in the community and i told a quite a few which made her happy. she them implored me to included colored mermaids in my stories and my drawing because as she put it
"Black Woman Make anything looks good, even scales darlin'"

but in all seriousness it would be nice to see more mermaids of color in the media and in books and tv shows and movies. I've looked at loads of mermaid commercials and its always white girls, same goes for magazine adds and the like
I do think however once the mermaiding craze goes mainstream the black community and the other communities of color as well will want to jump on the band wagon.
Well all of this makes me feel better I want to mermaid so badly well currently I am training right now.

[Mermaid Rillia]

SO glad this topic came up. I dont feel so alone. :)

[SilverSiren]

I know! I think it's amazing that there truly IS a stereotype that the first to go in any horror move is: The black character, followed by the gay character, etc...
I'm always like: "Why's it gotta be the black guy!?"

so in this case its: "Why's it gotta be the black mermaid!?"

I know! I totally agree! The token black guy, they have him in every group! When it comes to drama, he's there so no one seems racist, in horror movies its the same thing but they kill the dude off first, and now its the same with fantasy movies, black mermaid gets gutted. What the heck?! As for my coloured contribution to the mers, I am Native American :)

[Prince Calypso]

so the the saddest/sweetest thing happened to me this weekend.
i was at a local pool braving to put on my mermaid Tail and swim with a couple of friends
the pool really wasn't that crowed or anything just me, my four friends, and like six adults and five little kids
so as i'm trying to convince myself to just go ahead and out the tail on and get the fuck in the pool, my friends chanting "YOU CAN DO IT!"
I this little black girl sitting by the shallow end on the stairs looking sad and grumpy so i told my friend to shut it and walked over and asked her what was wrong.
apparently she had wanted to play mermaids with the other girls but on of the girls had simply said to her "but mermaids aren't black"
no the little girl hadn't said it to be cruel or anything i think she was simply obzerving what she has seen on tv and in pictures
so i told the little girl that that of course mermaids were black and i was one
to which she says reather cutely
but your a boy right?
to which i nodded and said yes but boys can be mermaids too
so i told her to wait where she was at and i would show her. i put my tail
snuck into the pool and swam right passed the other girls playing mermaid and over to the girl on the stairs
i have never seen such a huge excited smile in my life.
i put her on my back and swam over to the girls again and said
"i'm Shionie's mermaid friend, she says you won't let her play mermaids with you. thats not very nice. Shionie makes a very pretty mermaid"

my first swim in my tail and i end up making some little girl's day.
i'm like in happy tears i swear.

[happyguava]

Calypso, that's such a beautiful story!! Perfect right place/right time moment, you must have felt amazing :)

[Merman_Shawn]

so the the saddest/sweetest thing happened to me this weekend.
i was at a local pool braving to put on my mermaid Tail and swim with a couple of friends
the pool really wasn't that crowed or anything just me, my four friends, and like six adults and five little kids
so as i'm trying to convince myself to just go ahead and out the tail on and get the fuck in the pool, my friends chanting "YOU CAN DO IT!"
I this little black girl sitting by the shallow end on the stairs looking sad and grumpy so i told my friend to shut it and walked over and asked her what was wrong.
apparently she had wanted to play mermaids with the other girls but on of the girls had simply said to her "but mermaids aren't black"
no the little girl hadn't said it to be cruel or anything i think she was simply obzerving what she has seen on tv and in pictures
so i told the little girl that that of course mermaids were black and i was one
to which she says reather cutely
but your a boy right?
to which i nodded and said yes but boys can be mermaids too
so i told her to wait where she was at and i would show her. i put my tail
snuck into the pool and swam right passed the other girls playing mermaid and over to the girl on the stairs
i have never seen such a huge excited smile in my life.
i put her on my back and swam over to the girls again and said
"i'm Shionie's mermaid friend, she says you won't let her play mermaids with you. thats not very nice. Shionie makes a very pretty mermaid"

my first swim in my tail and i end up making some little girl's day.
i'm like in happy tears i swear.

Calypso saves the day!

[Prince Calypso]

I honestly i felt like i was some kind of underwater fairy tail hero
the little black girl's mother thanked me over and over and said that it was a shame that there weren't mermaid African american mermaid for her little girl to look up to so i asked for her email address and sent her all the picture i had that were kid appropriate that featured black, African, Cuban, and any other mermaids of color i had.
i even told her about fishbutts for getting a tail for Shionie

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

Bravo, Calypso :)

[jukumerboii]

amazing story!! brought me to tears a lil bit!

[Mermaid Lorelei]

Oh my goodness! Calypso, that's amazing!

[SilverSiren]

Calypso, once again, your amazing. Very Cinna of you.

[Mermaid Annariea]

my first swim in my tail and i end up making some little girl's day.
i'm like in happy tears i swear.

omg, calypso, thats such a sweet story :3
good for you! and i hope she gets a cute little tail of her own!

[Mermaid Momo]

http://weblog.liberatormagazine.com/2012/05/nijla-mumins-deluge-magical-realism.html
Found out about a new movie featuring POC as the main characters!

[Mermaid Citrine]

Calypso -- amazing story- great job !! And yes I want to see more mermaids and mermen of all colors ! Our differences are what makes us all beautiful and unique. I have Doreen Virtue's Mermaid Oracle Cards and I know there's a few Mermaids of color in there too...I'll try to post them,
Thanks for sharing the beautiful images. I especially love the one with the earth in her belly :)

[Mermaid Citrine]

On a related note, I had this vision before that it would be really cool to see more tribal or native styled merfolk like tails and costumes that are inspired by traditional dress of people from different continents and countries....like a South American themed Mermaid, African themed, Asian, Native American, Inuit, etc, etc. Some one could really go crazy with that theme....like Mermaids from around the world :)

[Mermaid Oshun]

I am one of the few dark mermaids on this forum. I am half Italian and half Black. I will try to defeat my social phobia and fear of people and attend the conventions some times. But not just yet. I am too afraid of crowds at this point and I would hate to have a major emotional setback if I attend an event and anything happens to make matters worst. I remember one of the last NON mer conventions I went to about 10 years ago, strangers I was being introduced to were making off the wall snarky comments to me.

[LittlePolly]

In the Disney series of the little mermaid there was a colored mermaid with a pink tail and she was deaf. She had an Octopus that translated her deaf talk. Is this the one you meant Psychic Tideborn ? http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/12/29/ezu7arah.jpg


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[Echidna]

I remember one of the last NON mer conventions I went to about 10 years ago, strangers I was being introduced to were making off the wall snarky comments to me.

Hopefully, a mer convention is a friendlier place!
Sadly, I'm not in the US. I'd be happy and honored to meet you :)

By the way, I never realized you were of colour, with you being blonde and all.
I know several people who have a black parent and a white one with blond hair, and they all look amazing,
so those strangers were probably just being dicks. :p

[Mermaid Oshun]

Caltuna you are such a sweet heart and I would LOVE to meet you too one day ! :hug:

[deepblue]

Calypso, that is my favorite story of the day. Aww! <3

Dark Tide Productions posted this on his Facebook page. Beautiful mer by Simon Eckert. I think she's my favorite yet.

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So pretty.

Personally, being native American (three tribes- two in one and one other- and a regional from below a modern man-made border) and Celtic, means no one ever knows what the hell I am. Mostly I don't mind. I'm a member of a tribe, my grandfather was Chief for many years, yet because I'm in SoCal (my enrolled tribe is currently in Oklahoma, but like most tribes there we were forced there, and not from there) and the tribes here have very different physical features, I'm often a surprise when at Pow Wows. I get, "You're Native?" because I look nothing like the tribes here. And when I'm at Euro-pagan events, celebrating my Celt heritage, I get, "You're Irish/Scots/etc.?" And my daughter, who's a member of our tribe, has curly red hair but dark brown eyes... who knows what it's going to be like for her. She's going to have a unique perspective, that's for sure.

Either way, people get hung up on first physical impressions, when it's not in their usual paradigm. It's good that they can get a gentle jolt out of that myopic state- enlightens them. ;)

I don't get questions about race regarding mermaids. I get really much stupider questions because I love something (mermaids) that has a different diet than I follow, even though they're not real. People can be incredibly dense.

[Seatan]

It IS sad that merfolk of color are so rarely portrayed, because it enhances the stereotype even within the race. When I was engaged to my AA fiancé (the one whose mother told him a white family could never love him like a black family and basically ended our engagement by saying she would disown him for marrying me) I heard a ton of racist remarks from BLACK people, things that as a white person born in the 80s had never even crossed my mind! One of those was "black people can't swim." Black people, especially older ones, would say this like it was absolutely true and that everyone knew it! I had never even heard that stereotype as a white person and the idea was LUDICROUS to me, but a TON of my black family in law to be believed it! There was also this weird stereotype that lighter skinned black people were more attractive than darker skinned black people, which had NEVER crossed my mind (I find AAs to be VERY attractive in general) but which everyone in that family seemed to believe! My fiancé was jealous of his lighter skinned brother when my fiancé was a billion times hotter! How are we supposed to end racism when some members of that very race believe more racial stereotypes than white people? I think the media's lack of portrayal of POC doing non stereotypical things is very much to blame. It is getting better, but it reeeeally makes me sad to hear POC believing and preaching these stereotypes to their children.

[Mermaid Oshun]

Gosh Seavanna, I am so sorry your relationship was ended due to intolerance. And yes, intolerance exists in all races. The good thing that you mentioned is that being born in the 80s you had not espoused some of the heinous attitudes you had heard. That is GREAT! Maybe in the next generation even more of the alienation and bigotry will be eradicated. Also, maybe in the next generations people of all colors will be more equally represented in all facets of society. I have read that black actresses have a notoriously difficult time being cast in any roles. For some reason, the black males seem to be catered to more. Perhaps due to some sort of fetish of the day or something. So I do hope that there will be more equal representation across the board in the future generations. The sad thing is I will be dead or nearly dead by then having been born in the 60s. By there is always hope :mermaid kiss:

[Echidna]

Eh, prejudices and racism is not something "white people" do to "people of colour".
It's prevalent among any group of humans who differ from each other.
I took quite my bit of share when I was living in China.
Asian people used to be very prejudiced toward European looking people, they regarded them as ugly, unintelligent lesser beings.
Nowadays, with all the globalisation and the younger generation trying to emulate the western lifestyle, that has thankfully changed, but I bet I'd get the same old treatment in more rural regions and from older people.


There was also this weird stereotype that lighter skinned black people were more attractive than darker skinned black people, which had NEVER crossed my mind (I find AAs to be VERY attractive in general) but which everyone in that family seemed to believe! My fiancé was jealous of his lighter skinned brother when my fiancé was a billion times hotter!

This is not a weird stereotype so much as something evolution has ingrained in humans.
Back when genes mattered, one of the things most needed for survival was good health.
A pristine skin (just as nice long hair) was an indicator of that.
The lighter the skin tone, the easier it is to spot any irregularities, therefore our ancestors tended to choose partners with the lightest possible skin to ensure they weren't fooled about its healthy look.

I could easily see that for myself when I had a picture of me which had been taken in bad light, it looked fantabulous.
Then I made it brighter to look more natural, and bam, bad skin, wrinkles and lines in the face, and other things I'd rather have stay hidden :p
So having a lighter skin can be a biiig disadvantage.

[Mermaid Oshun]

Caltuna I lived in Thailand for over a month. When I say lived I mean I was not in a tourist area, I lived with the locals. I did everything the locals did. I must say I felt nothing but love while I was there. It was a harsh reality like a slap in the face to come back to the US and hear the snarls and hateful energy exuded at the airport. It was like WOooo! I had not seen that snarkiness and mean spiritedness in going on 2 months! Seeing it again as I arrived back in the US was HARSH!
I also lived in Mexico for a while on several occassions. I was treated like family and embraced with nothing but love. Coming back to the US after each of my stays in Mexico felt like a similar slap in the face of uncalled for harsh hatred and anger.
So I am SO SO SORRY that you had a bad experience in China. I visited The Peoples Republic of China and Taiwan Taipei too. All of them were like spiritual experiences everything was so positive. I also saw the Asians bending over backwards to be nice to Europeans. In fact there is a LARGE population of expats from Denmark and other European countries in Thailand because they are so nice to Europeans. In fact ALL the Europeans I met while in Asia told me that the Asians were the sweetest and gentlest people they had ever met in their entire life!! They claimed this was a big part of the reason they moved there. In agreement with what you said though, I did hear from a Black woman who LOOKS Black that when she was in Asia they treated her like a circus freak because they were not used to seeing that look before. So I guess everyone's experience will always be different. But for me I must thank GOD and the Goddesses that my experiences abroad have always felt like nothing less than spiritual retreats

[Echidna]

Oh, I didn't mean to say everyone was like that.
There's always nice people and less nice people everywhere :)

I agree that many cultures feel more welcoming than the "white" ones- Mexico and Thailand are good examples-,
in fact, I never felt quite at home in Europe.
My experiences in China might have been different though because I'm partly chinese myself but don't look it.
Meaning that even when people smiled to my face and appeared respectful, I understood what they said to each other about me :p

I quickly developed the habit to tell everyone I met at once that I speak their dialect, just so I wouldn't have to listen to the terms Europeans are usually given (ugly white devil from overseas is one of the nicest phrasings I've come across).

Back then, I was still young and trying to cope with my scrambled heritage.
I was in behaviour and speech more chinese than many locals and wanted nothing more than to fit in, but it was impossible due to the way I look.
And then there's also the fact that people with mixed origins are always regarded lowly because everyone assumes they must be illegitimate somehow :rolleyes:

Oh, one more thing!
Taiwanese people usually aren't stuck-up like that, but very friendly and open.
I think that's because they're more modern and deal with all kind of peoples from all over the world.

At any rate, if humans as a whole ever wish to pass to the next, truly global stage, all sorts of intolerance and racism has to go first.
Maybe we'll even see it, but I wouldn't hold my breath ;)

[Mermaid Oshun]

I could not possibly agree more with everything you said . Very insightful. And you are right mixed folk are not embraced well by either of their parts. It's kind of sad :rolleyes:
But I have confidence we as a human species will pass to our next plateau of spiritual development ...eventually.

[Fun123joker]

In the Disney series of the little mermaid there was a colored mermaid with a pink tail and she was deaf. She had an Octopus that translated her deaf talk. Is this the one you meant Psychic Tideborn ? http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/12/29/ezu7arah.jpg


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i remeber the little mermaid series. the only strange thing i find about it is that that is the only episode i remember

[Mermaid Jaffa]

I'm Chinese. Does that make me a colored mermaid?

[empressmone]

Your the best. You are a hero :)

[Mermaid Galene]

This is a great thread! As mers we represent the harmonious blending of two very different beings - human and fish. We embrace and celebrate those differences, and also the way they come together. If only the human species as a whole could behave the same way. To me diversity is what makes life on earth interesting! I think we as a community can help shape the public's perception of what a mer is and does and looks like. Just as our tails are all unique and colorful and beautiful in their diversity, all the different shapes, skin colors, gender preferences, and even ages of merpeople in this community are unique and beautiful and valuable. Getting out there in public, and being strong, confident mers - whatever we look like - will help change the stereotypical image of "mermaid = young, white, long-haired, sex toy" to something more enlightened, accepting, and evolved. And maybe give just a little nudge to help people take a more enlightened, accepting, and evolved view of their fellow humans, too.

[SeaMansa]

Don't know if this was counts or not, but in Once Upon A Time (season 3, episode "Ariel") *spoiler alert* the REAL Ursula was portrayed by a black woman.. And Regina (the evil queen from snow white) tricked Ariel into believing she was Ursula, and she was Latina, so there's that :) Also, Cicily Daniels understudied as Ursula in the Broadway production of the little mermaid.
As a black male, I too wish to see more people of color in the merworld :)

[crazyauthor]

I do think there should be more colored mermfolk in media, but I just want to point out one reason why there probably isn't a whole lot:
*PLEASE DON'T HARPOON ME, JUST POSING A THOUGHT*
Merfolk are naturally underwater creatures, and when you think about them you picture a castle on the ocean floor. But everything that can reach that far down is colorless due to the fact that there isn't any sunlight available to provide any sort of pigmentation. So, just an idea, but maybe merfolk in general weren't always portrayed as much other than "Caucasian" because of their location and how genetics would have played out for them. Honestly, even white people have more color than what an actual merperson would have been, according to lore and geography, that is. I honestly think true merfolk would be albino and completely devoid of any pigmentation whatsoever since they would be dwelling mostly underwater where the sunlight doesn't penetrate very deep (think of it, when water gets deep enough, light starts to fade). Plus, from what I gather the popular merfolk lore mainly starts with Greek Sirens, and based on geography they were Caucasian, so naturally they'd post their mystical beings as looking just like them (especially since they were seen as beautiful temptresses, and *no offense* what they probably saw as beautiful back then were the staple white blonde woman).
I did just find out, though (I literally just did a quick google search just for you guys), that the earliest documented mermaid was from Assyria, when an Assyrian goddess (Atargatis) accidentally killed a shepherd she fell in love with and she became so upset about it that she threw herself into a lake and became a fish. However, she eventually became half human half fish since the "waters could not hide her devine beauty". So, in respect, the first documented mermaid was actually of color, since she was Assyrian. More specifically, she was middle eastern (I'm guessing that's right. I googled where Assyria was and saw it was near Egypt, so..). Hope you guys found this as interesting as I did. :)
But my thoughts aside and possible explanation done, I think there should definitely be more colored merfolk in media! :) I never thought of it before, but that would totally be a cool thing. :)
Sorry if this was covered before, I'm getting tired and I didn't feel like reading every single post to make sure.
(P.S. here's the link to where I found the "first documented mermaid" lore, if you were wondering: https://sites.google.com/site/quarterdeckgazette/home/articles/merfolk-a-history-of-mythology

[Echidna]

^^yep, we discussed that somewhere, ages ago.
Pigmentation in humans (or in the upper body of half-humans, if you will) occurs due to UV radiation, so in a water-dwelling human hybrid, would most likely be absent.

However, every country has their own mermaid image, realistic or not.
As these images vary so widely, I doubt they share an origin.

Classical European waterspirits, for example, are ghostly pale, sometimes with a greenish or blueish hue, and have long, floating/kelp-like hair that's mostly blonde, white, green, or black.
Most of the time, they don't have a fish tail.
If they do, the tail is that of a snake more often than a caudal fin.

I'd really like to see more variety in merfolk depictions, as there are so many kinds.
It's boring when everyone goes with the Disney approach.

[Fun123joker]

actually im suprised that we see more white mermaids. because water reflects the sun light so you would thing that mermaids closer to the surface would be more darker.

[Mermaid Galene]

I think you only have to look at the amazing range of colors and patterns in fish and cetaceans to discount the "everything underwater is pale" theory.

[Meilyn]

I think you only have to look at the amazing range of colors and patterns in fish and cetaceans to discount the "everything underwater is pale" theory.

I second this. And it's more so genetics than uv radiation I assume. For us "colored" people hehe. Some (Asians) people from Thailand, and it's super hot and sunny there all the dam time, are translucent white. Take my little sister for example. She was hailed as a mini Goddess when she was younger due to her skin color and bright eyes. I used to be 7 shades darker says family myths, and I wasn't very loved due to my birth color LOL. I laugh at it now.

[Mermaid Momo]

This is not a weird stereotype so much as something evolution has ingrained in humans.
Back when genes mattered, one of the things most needed for survival was good health.
A pristine skin (just as nice long hair) was an indicator of that.
The lighter the skin tone, the easier it is to spot any irregularities, therefore our ancestors tended to choose partners with the lightest possible skin to ensure they weren't fooled about its healthy look.

I could easily see that for myself when I had a picture of me which had been taken in bad light, it looked fantabulous.
Then I made it brighter to look more natural, and bam, bad skin, wrinkles and lines in the face, and other things I'd rather have stay hidden :p
So having a lighter skin can be a biiig disadvantage.

I know this is old, but I'm just going to revive this since I didn't see it before, but this is totally wrong haha. The reason why light skinned black people are seen as more attractive than darker skinned black people is because of something called the paper bag test. The paper bag test is used to see if your skin is desirable. If you're lighter than or equal to the bag, you're good if not, then well, I'm sure you can guess.
The whole light skin vs. dark skin thing is from the slave era when light skinned africans were considered good enough to be house slaves and weren't put in the fields because they were considered closer to being white.
Systematic oppression and prejudice and colorism is to blame for light skinned black people being more attractive, not evolution.

[Echidna]

well, I got my info from an anthropologist study, and it seemed conclusive.

The preference of whiter vs darker skin is prevalent among many cultures, in Asia and India, for example, probably also Near & Middle East.
In India, the lighter the skin, the higher the caste.

In Asia, lighter skin is considered beautiful since the ancient times until today, which is why you can buy "whiteners" in every store down there.
There is hardly a connection between ancient asian customs and the US slave era :p

and just as a side note, light skin was also valued in Europe in earlier times, called "noble pallor", because it indicated a higher social status to not be sunburned.
It was not about ethnicity, if you so will, but about social status; those chilling inside were the rich and those working in the fields the poor.

[girlprince]

well, I got my info from an anthropologist study, and it seemed conclusive.

The preference of whiter vs darker skin is prevalent among many cultures, in Asia and India, for example, probably also Near & Middle East.
In India, the lighter the skin, the higher the caste.

In Asia, lighter skin is considered beautiful since the ancient times until today, which is why you can buy "whiteners" in every store down there.
There is hardly a connection between ancient asian customs and the US slave era :p

and just as a side note, light skin was also valued in Europe in earlier times, called "noble pallor", because it indicated a higher social status to not be sunburned.
It was not about ethnicity, if you so will, but about social status; those chilling inside were the rich and those working in the fields the poor.


No offense or anything, but anthropology is rife with racism. Like calling Asians mongoloids, etc. It isn't that way now, but either way, I'd love to see your source.

And it was 100% about racism, not social status.

Idk, as far as I know, skin whitening creams are conditioned in Asia because of Western ideals. I'm speaking as a personal source because it's what I've seen and grow up around.

Then again, I dunno what kind experiences you have had. I have never seen a lighter skinned person valued for being a higher social status. Rich PoC aren't really valued nearly as much as white people because people are just generally uncomfortable with minorities.

I don't know of it's right to erase hundreds of years of racism by disguising it as a matter of social status.

[SeaGlass Siren]

actually way back when they had milk/rice baths to whiten skin. in vietnam (and going back to meilyn's comment about lighter skin being more favourable to "asians") a lighter skinned person WAS valued for being a higher social status because they "never worked in the fields and got a tan from the sun like the rest of the peasants". this is if we're not mentioning "white people" imposing "lighter skin ideals."

now if we're talking about RACISM, that's a different story :| in no way shape or form is that acceptable.
"Systematic oppression and prejudice and colorism is to blame for light skinned black people being more attractive" < and this i agree with.



...now what about us "yellow people"? are we coloured? light skinned? because technically we're fair skinned like "white people". or are we still coloured because we're oriental? lol... :confused:

[girlprince]

I have seen that, but I personally don't want to attribute it to social class. I mean, it might be that way in other countries, but I've never really heard of that in the Philippines.
"yellow people" are indeed colored. In America, we're still a minority, but instead it's a "model minority" situation. Which isn't a good thing.
I'm Asian but I'm not particularly light-skinned. But in terms of the aforementioned paper bag test, I'd say I'm a paper bag.

EDIT: Like, yeah, it probably has something to do with social class, but I still hold that there's an element of racism to it.

[Echidna]

this is if we're not mentioning "white people" imposing "lighter skin ideals."

funnily enough, today's caucasians favor dark skin and apply artificial tans.
western tourists are very perplexed when they see asian people striving for lighter skin.

I wasn't talking about racism btw.
there is hardly racism involved if all the people of one and the same ethnicity vie for a certain beauty ideal.

which is what that study sought to explain.
It was from a scientific magazine, btw, so I can't give an internet source.

But you can readily find enough data for yourself if you don't believe that light skin was a beauty ideal all around the world for thousands of years.

[girlprince]

Racism can definitely still exist within your own race. It's internalized at that point.

EDIT: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internalized_racism

[AniaR]

I had never considered before that anthropology could be racist- but you know I think I instantly confused it with archaeology. And I was all confused, how can digging up bones and old pots be racist?! LOL so I googled it and was like ohhhh.

I know one of the themes prevalent in Manga is how darker skinned girls are considered to be beach bums and more sexual kinda thing. I do believe light skin was valued as beauty all around, but I also do believe racism fueled (sp) that too. I dont think we can use racism to excuse all of it... but it certainly plays a role.

I like being paler, but that is because I have learned so much about skin cancer etc. I'm in the elements constantly so I am always applying sunscreen. it's not so much a choice for beauty for me (cuz I think I actually look healthier with a bit of colour and freckles) but one for my health.

Though it's interesting paler skin has often come to signify beauty in many cultures, we also see darker skin as a sign of health. It's interesting anyway.

Back to th eoriginal point of this thread- Im so happy to see more and more Mers of colors (MOC lol). We are auditioning a girl who is Mi'kmaq and she's a super awesome mermaid. I would love to have more colours in my group and a guy. And I'd love to have someone who is genderless. We have a principle in education that kids need to see themselves in their education- see people just like them represented. And I want that to be the way with my mermaid company. I want kids to see someone just like them with a mermaid tail. Boy, girl, genderless/genderfluid (I've worked with a few kids who either portray them self as androgens or their parents raise them very gender fluid) young, older , different sizes etc. I figure mermaids should be every bit as varied as people. :)

[SeaGlass Siren]

... ok so I am clearly an internal racist LOL... x')

[Mermaid Momo]

funnily enough, today's caucasians favor dark skin and apply artificial tans.
western tourists are very perplexed when they see asian people striving for lighter skin.

I wasn't talking about racism btw.
there is hardly racism involved if all the people of one and the same ethnicity vie for a certain beauty ideal.

which is what that study sought to explain.
It was from a scientific magazine, btw, so I can't give an internet source.

But you can readily find enough data for yourself if you don't believe that light skin was a beauty ideal all around the world for thousands of years.

Not exactly all around the world. In places were dark skin was natural (that you were born dark) the darker your skin was the more beautiful. (like in parts of africa, or south America) And at first, white people were seen as ugly because they were so pale until the whole colonization thing and now africans with beautiful dark skin are bleaching themselves even though they know it's dangerous because they are told by society and the media that their dark skin is undesirable. It's mostly only where people are born pale that being pale was a standard of beauty and social class.

[Melamermaid_Kendra]

The only Mermaid of 'colour' that I saw in a movie was an African American woman in a very small shot of PotC: On Stranger Tides.


<img>http://www.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_content_width/hash/f1/16/f1160d3fa8903a8e190cbc4ae324ff53.jpg</img>

The one all the way to the left. She's so beautiful.
I was lurking and I saw this. That mermaid is Sanya Hughes. She is a Jamaican model and very good friends with my sister's best friend who is also a model. I was obsessed with hwr as she was tbe only black mermaid I had ever seen.

[AptaMer]

People of the Western world are mostly unaware that in West Africa there is a whole mermaid culture and mythology.

In Africa, mermaids are demi-goddesses, and there is an order of priestesses who mediate between them and the people (as well as other river spirits)

41534

Where I lived as a kid, the mermaids are called Maame Wata in both Twi and English. In Nigeria they are called Mami Water in English and Yemaja in Yoruba. I know that they were revered in other countries too, under other names.

In Ghana they usually had a companion who was a snake, but I don't know what its role was. All I know was, lots of people would go to the priestesses, and they would get advice.

Also, sometimes they would seduce and enslave a man, who would bring them food and gifts. One sign that a woman is a Maame Wata is if she wants to eat fish all the time.

Mermaids are very popular movie subjects in West African movies. Nigeria in particular churns out new ones every year. Just in the last year Beautiful Mermaid, Fish Mermaid and Ebube the Mermaid have come out.

Here's the trailer for the movie Maame Wata 3&4 from Ghana.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdGb1XF2LMM

[The Harlem Mermaid]

Beautiful artwork photo thank you for sharing I lo e reading and discovering new mystical need of colors there are so many amazing mermaids of all colors and shapes and sizes and genders I love us all

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[Melamermaid_Kendra]

Update, the new freeform show "Siren" has a new mermaid named Donna, who is indeed black and I'm actually so excited for some representation.

[BlueCorvidae]

I imagine that as the percentage of non-white people in the United States grows as well as the eventuality that the United States will put out more mermaid media, that there will be more diversity among mermaids in fiction. As far as countries putting out media goes, the U.S. is probably the most diverse and countries put out media that reflects their population. Anime mermaids are Japanese, mermaids from Europe are usually white, I'm not sure if Egypt or India put out any mermaid films but if they did you'd more than likely have Middle Eastern and Indian mermaids respectively.

I personally don't stick to the idea of mermaids having human ethnicities. I drew Yemaja (my avatar) as black because she's a goddess of human religion so she gets a pass. And since she's supposed to be the mother of all women, I made her African because that's where humans originated. Though generally when I design mermaids in art, their skin tends to reflect the colors of whichever fish I based them on.

[AniaR]

The Water Phoenix features the main character as a black mer of color! http://afropunk.com/2017/08/mermaid-anya-must-find-way-captivity-fantasy-drama-trailer/

[merman caspian]

I'm mixed race (Indonesian and a mix of European) and honestly, it'll be awesome if more MOC were willing to be seen. I'll be more than happy to join hands with Native American, Black, Asian, or whatever and know that all mermaids and mermen are unique and make up a kaleidoscope of colors, not just in skin tones but also in everyone's tail scheme

Merman Caspian

[AniaR]

I have a question for you all,
Canadians are taught to use terms like "minorities" and "diversity". I would normally only say POC when talking about issues specific to POC.
Recently I made a post on my FB expressing my frustration about what is going on in the US and also how we see things like that in Canada. I found a great link about what to do and what not to do as a White ally. In the post I used the term minorities as I was making an expression to all my friends who are currently being victimized under these hate groups. (POC, LGBQTA etc) For us, "minorities" is taught as an all-inclusive umbrella term.
A friend messaged me to say it's different in the US and that people were likely to get offended by my use of the term (they meant it as a friendly warning) and that I should just stick to saying POC. Of note: this friend is a white male, also trying their best to be an ally.

So I'm sorta wondering if I can ask my mer friends here what you think and if I should change my language use and how! I've been looking around online and haven't found much in the means of direction. Thanks!

[lotusauriel]

If talking with Americans, I would just use the specific terms in question. "Minorities" sounds a bit too much like "victims", and we aren't.

[Mermaid Momo]

Minorities is the correct term when discussing things like this as it includes not only racial minorities but those on lgbtq spectrum and the intersections of those.

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[AniaR]

I'm curious why it's associated with victimhood. Here you even self identify as someone with a visual minority, disability minority, or LGBQTA minority on job applications etc. You don't *have* to but many jobs actually are active in trying to hire more minority groups so they'll make it optional that you can self identify if you like.

Just one of those country differences I suppose!

[Mermaid Momo]

POC is a term used just for non white people and while it does incompass those who are queer or lgbt, a lot of people forget that they're included also. (And some POC get really mad when they're told they're people of color )

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[AniaR]

Minorities is the correct term when discussing things like this as it includes not only racial minorities but those on lgbtq spectrum and the intersections of those.

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haha was literally gonna PM you to get your thoughts on it

[lotusauriel]

I'm bi/pan, and have never heard or been associated with the term POC. Never even heard it til recently, actually. Maybe it's just me, but I feel that constantly being labelled just puts a target on us. It's time for none of that to matter, to anyone. We are all just human, and equal.

[AniaR]

I'm bi/pan, and have never heard or been associated with the term POC. Never even heard it til recently, actually. Maybe it's just me, but I feel that constantly being labelled just puts a target on us. It's time for none of that to matter, to anyone. We are all just human, and equal.

that would be nice but I feel like it's the equivalent of putting our heads in the sand. it sadly does still matter, and the only way to make it stop mattering IMO is to hold people accountable. However I feel the same way about sexism as well. Men and women should be equal but on both sides of it we aren't and it'll only change if we keep bringing attention to it.

[lotusauriel]

I agree with you. I have a hard time balancing between trying to make people understand and just wanting it all to just stop. People really don't just stop...

[Mermaid Momo]

I'm bi/pan, and have never heard or been associated with the term POC. Never even heard it til recently, actually. Maybe it's just me, but I feel that constantly being labelled just puts a target on us. It's time for none of that to matter, to anyone. We are all just human, and equal.
Most POC know what it means because we are in a lot of safe spaces where we discuss being POC and what that means. Also it would be nice to not have to worry about labels (tho being black is a large part of my identity and i wouldn't have become the woman i am if it was different and i wouldn't give it up for anything ) but hinestly there are some of us dying, being raped, being stolen and facing so much adversity because we're people of color and ignoring that people of color face different things is like sticking your head in the sand and throwing up a middle finger to them.

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[lotusauriel]

I really do get it. I mostly just try to push kindness and equality on all fronts, while trying not to antagonize anyone. I do fail at this, a lot, as I'm sure many of you already know. LOL I have honestly never heard LGBTQA included in that though. And my safe place is pretty much my home. I am pretty reclusive, but also just do what I want. And yes, I have been assaulted, abused, date raped by someone I trusted... I am very familiar. That said, I still don't want to be seen as a victim, or weak, because that is when it happens again.

[Imbrielle]

Not sure if it’s been mentioned yet, but there IS a movie featuring a beautiful black mermaid. It’s called the Water Phoenix

[MermaidMizu]

Though I haven’t finished reading through the entire thread, this is one of my biggest concerns or missions as a mermaid of color. There should be a lot more representation for mermaids of color with vibrant backstories, and should be given more of a spotlight in certain events I feel.

When I was a kid, show Fairytales for Every Child retold the little mermaid with a more Asian spin and it was beautiful <3


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[Mermaid Delphinidae]

I believe Disney had a little latin mermaid cameo in one of the Little Mermaid episodes, then again the character was based off of a real little girl who had cancer I believe and she loved mermaids... it was like a make a wish kind of thing... so as much as I love the fact that they did this, before and even after there has not been another non-caucasion mermaid on the disney front. As far as merfolk of color, I am SO glad to be a part of the growing community of the color brigade! My best friend and I are both mixed and we both have our other halves, mine is merfolk, His is elves. We are both glad to represent. I can't wait to get my tail so I can help raise awareness of the darker side of the merfolk world lol

That character was also deaf, and was animated with real sign language.

Anyway, mermaids are fictional creatures so I like seeing them with different variations in design, including race.