Will the ORIGINAL Mermaiding Mermaid please stand up??! O.o

[-Annwyn-]

So Kazzie Mahina of Oceanika fame is making claims on the media that she started the whole Mermaiding craze as we know it. I think this is a really far fetched claim (The fish was THIS BIG!!!)

What's you opinion? Who do you think 'started Mermaiding'? Do you think any one person alone gets to claim that title?

Write your responses below!

[Spindrift]

Can you link to those claims made to the media?

[-Annwyn-]

I hope this link works: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=163928203705615&set=pu.144105849021184&type=1&theater

H (http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=163928203705615&set=pu.144105849021184&type=1&theater)ope this helps

[Spindrift]

Hmm in that case I started the craze because I was part of Disney's target market audience when The Little Mermaid came out. :)

...

It's true that the statement in the article is ambiguous (as she flimsily points out), but it's clear enough to give a wrong message. She does an okay job (a little on the weak side) of defending her claim, but it would never hold up among the other mers. I'm sorry if this is frustrating to you, Aela. According to Wolfram Alpha (and I posted this before (http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?790-6376243)) the mer craze peaked in the 1600s and was still much more popular then than it is now.

[Spindrift]

... I suppose it would be more accurate to say she started the craze for her own line of products - not the rising popularity of being a mer in general.

[Spindrift]

Mermaiding is the latest craze to hit the beaches this summer thanks to one very dedicated mermaid at Oceanika. For all those young girls who have ever dreamt of being a mermaid, Mahina is about to bring countless dreams true with her originally designed MerFins.

http://www.facebook.com/OceanikaMerFins?sk=info



Yeah OK lady.

[-Annwyn-]

No, I completely agree with you. She's catering to a market audience, like Foxmoon, Mermagika and the Mertailor are. And kudos to her, but like with all outrageous claims, I require decent evidence to back it all up.

I noticed how she blamed the media basically for putting that little claim in, and I wanted to tell her how the rest of the mer-community would be quite skeptikal of that claim, but I thought I would have been a bit mean so I said nothing.

[happyguava]

I also think that because mermaiding is so uncommon in Australia (or at least seems that way - now Hannah's in the US there's kind of no one... except LPL ;) ), she can kind of claim that and people will believe her. But whatever, it's kind of ridiculous to claim anyone "started" mermaiding. I do it, you do it, Kazzie does it, we're all on the same team :)

[AniaR]

Annette Kellerman was the first person to do it(make wear swim and perform as a mermaid) over 100 years ago. I researched and wrote an article about it for another mermaiding magazine that I was expecting to have been printed by now but I guess not. the next issue of this one I am guessing (http://store.faeriemagazine.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TFMS&Product_Code=Mermaids&Category_Code=B) and PS she was from Australia ;)

I refrain frequently from posting too much about it online because I put a lot of work and research into the article and I want people to actually get copies of the magazine. You can see here (http://www.faeriemagazine.com/MermInfo.htm) Im listed as one of the contributors.

I have been wanting to post about it for a while, there just seems to be some mixed communication going on and I'm not actually sure if my article was printed in this issue or for the next one.

EDIT: Baha! Talked to Carolyn, the issue is delayed until February :) So I wont go into details, haha but you can pick it up and you'll see who started the craze! (At least in terms of acting as making tails and performing go)

[Merman Chris]

WHATEVER!!!! Shell and I were making fabric tails for her back in 1990. And I highly doubt we were the first people to do so. Unbelievable how delusional some people can be. I would expect this of someone like Melissa for sure, but jeez....pull your head out lady.

[AniaR]

Honestly I think it's a mistake on the magazine's end made out of ignorance. It just looks to me like they probably asked "so which one of you started all of this?" I doubt she was thinking in terms of all mermaiding ever. She was probably thinking of in terms of her business or mermaiding in her area or whatever. I just dont see anyone being silly enough to make a claim like that.

[Mermaid Saphira]

I suppose Hannah Fraser started it all, but I'm not sure as I don't follow ALL the mermaids

[AniaR]

Well Hannah was inspired by Splash, and Annette was a seasoned vet before they both existed :P

[Mermaid Saphira]

good point..didn't think of the movie splash

[HBMermaid_Angela]

I'll say the ANCIENT GREEKS!!! Granted their Sirens were part woman, part bird, but that gave rise to the half fish/woman...I know there was yet another ancient culture even before that... =)

[Artisankatie]

I find Mahina's claims incredibly frustrating - perhaps made all the more so because there's nothing anybody can do, really. She does say she's been in the game a long time, I guess it takes a few years to get something like that up and running, but I don't think anybody can claim to be the bringer of mermaiding. I mean, I thought of sewing a lycra tail and wearing flippers in it all by myself, I wasn't inspired by youtube mermaids or forums, they came later as I was googling mermaids for ideas - but I certainly wasn't the first person to do so, whether I had the idea myself or not.
I was furious when I saw her first small piece in a Melbourne newspaper when she went for a swim in our aquarium, which claimed she was 'bringing mermaiding to Victoria'. Lilypad Lagoon has been operating in Melbourne for over a year, and been in planning longer than that, and I strongly doubt we are the only ones.
I'm sure it's just the media sensationalising things, but it's still annoying >.<

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/tale-of-finishing-first-in-fashion/story-fn7x8me2-1226162096598

[AniaR]

aww I can see how that would be really upsetting :(
There seem to be 2 groups of mers
The community: for the community, sharing ideas, friendly, thoughtful etc
The Community users: people who take from the community without ever giving, are arrogant, dont want anyone to know they ever got anything from the community, but still claim to know exactly what the community wants while representing them at the same time :p

[Mermaid Photine]

Seeing how far memaiding foes back, she's have to be pretty old for that to be true.

Still, if it is what sells her product, great for her. I just think that it might annoy/alienate mers who know better.

By the way, the fish was actually THIS BIG. :-P

[Spindrift]

Honestly I think it's a mistake on the magazine's end made out of ignorance.

While possible, the fact that she supports those claims on her Facebook page (in the Info section) and in her comments speak otherwise. I'm assuming you mean ignorance on the media's part.

[Artisankatie]

I think it's brilliant that she's managed to get a business up and running, but the stuff about starting the craze has really alienated LPL :( though I suppose we've now had that kick up the butt we needed to get ourselves into a more professional gear - for fear people will think we're part of Oceanika :P

[-Annwyn-]

I love Annette Kellerman! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKZCIFI8gbk

[New York Mermaid]

i always think back to the ladies of (i believe- correct me if im wrong) of the south pacific who would dive to either hunt or look for pearls. those to me were the real mermaids.

[Mermaid Photine]

There's a theory that female divers began the myth of mermaids, instead of drunk sailors seeing manatees.

[-Annwyn-]

Just went back to the article she put up on Facebook ( the fist link I put up in reference here) and I can see that she's removed my questioning comments, which I thought was a bit rude considering the time, effort and research I did to make my responses and especially considering I was not mean to her. How bloody endearing. -.-'

I guess she's aware of the truth as much as we are. Maybe instead of Kazzie her mermaid name should be "Crazy Mahina" hehehe ;).

[Spindrift]

Pity that it didn't occur to anyone to grab screenshots. Sorry.

[thelocalmermaid]

we don't need drama in this community. let the claim go, I say!! :) peace, love, and friendliness... isn't this what our community stands for, something apart from the violent and overly prideful human ideas!!!?

I would have to say that the ORIGINAL mermaid idea came from years and years and years ago.. no one person at one specific time said, hmm, i'm going to make a mermaid tail and be the first ever to do it. probably multiple people did it (without recognition) from multiple different corners of the earth... :)

love everyone!! <><

[happyguava]

we don't need drama in this community. let the claim go, I say!! :) peace, love, and friendliness... isn't this what our community stands for, something apart from the violent and overly prideful human ideas!!!?

I would have to say that the ORIGINAL mermaid idea came from years and years and years ago.. no one person at one specific time said, hmm, i'm going to make a mermaid tail and be the first ever to do it. probably multiple people did it (without recognition) from multiple different corners of the earth... :)

love everyone!! <><

Exactly! I really don't think it's important who started it. I guess it's like any hobby... No one really gets their knickers in a knot over who started stamp collecting or... I don't know, pottery :P It's just cool that someone somewhere did, because now we get to collect stamps and make clay things and swim around in fishy tails!

[Gem Stone]

I only started liking mermaods when I saw the Weeki Wachee girls

[mermaidsammi]

I think mermaid Melissa started it all and if not her then the movie little mermaid or aquamarine (at least that's what started it for me)

[AniaR]

Womp womp. I was a mermaid before melissa and so was raven we helped her get started. Anette kellerman was the first on record over 100 years ago. Hannah was around before Melissa. So was linden.

[Raayvhen]

Also, way to revive a thread over 2 years old.

[SeaGlass Siren]

well, while we're here...

WOULD THE REAL SLIM SHADY PLEASE STAND UP! PLEASE STAND UP!

[Theta]

I'd say the Weeki Wachee mermaids probably did it for a lot of people, and then Splash, and then Foxmoon and Mertailor, honestly. Not a lot of people outside the community really know Melissa, but if you ask them about mermaids you're likely to hear about Weeki Wachee and Splash. Foxmoon and Mertailor have been around the longest as tail makers, by my rough estimation. And Thom Shouse, of course, but his tails were never marketed to average consumers, like FM and MT.

[Ondine]

I think that she deserves the benefit of the doubt over that article. Journalists want to write the most exciting story, and "LOOK THIS PERSON STARTED A WHOLE NEW THING" makes a better story than "LOOK THIS PERSON IS DOING A THING THAT LOTS OF OTHER PEOPLE ARE DOING BUT YOU MAY NOT HAVE HEARD OF IT BEFORE". Even more so when it's a magazine for kids and you have to keep things simple.

I tend to deal with the press stuff for Merlesque, and when I started I was just amazed when I was reading through one of our first press stories (fortunately we got copy approval) at the difference between what we thought we had said and how it had been written up in the article. We had to make a number of changes before I was happy for it to go out. It's just the nature of the beast when you're dealing with the media. The journalists aren't trying to be dishonest or anything, they just want to ensure that the story is as exciting as possible, and often they won't know anything about mermaiding so it's completely new to them.

Moral of the story: always try to get full copy approval if at all possible.