this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2024
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Asklemmy

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[โ€“] JackDark@lemmy.world 90 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Because people didn't dress up as mermaids and go to cons and express how deep down inside they truly are a mermaid, and have a high likelihood of fucking someone else who also felt the same way.

[โ€“] Zeke@fedia.io 24 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Not all furries believe themselves to be or want to be animals. It's a simple interest in anthropomorphic animal art. You're thinking of therians.

[โ€“] otp@sh.itjust.works 18 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I don't think many people had "a thing" for mermaids though. It was just another human creature with boobs. I don't think most people thought about it any deeper than that

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[โ€“] Drivebyhaiku@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Uh... I hate to tell you this but people absolutely dress as mermaids and do conventions... There's a whole home industry of people who make custom silicon tails.

https://aquamermaid.com/blogs/news/mermaid-convention?srsltid=AfmBOoofN82kC8kQ_774E8rKcE1-Mi9CBZXEfvIqLckEK1cq7bXWHFum

https://www.themernation.com/silicone-tail

[โ€“] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 20 points 1 month ago (1 children)
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[โ€“] multifariace@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

I happened to be staying in Key West at the same time as a convention. There absolutely are people who believe they are mermaids.

[โ€“] mycodesucks@lemmy.world 43 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

To be fair, I think people looked at the folks who were into mermaids as outlandish too. "Been around for a long time" doesn't mean the same thing as "totally accepted socially".

[โ€“] hitmyspot@aussie.zone 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

But weren't mermaids seen as dangerous, irresistible sirens also. So the blame was on the evil mermaid, not the person.

[โ€“] Cataphract@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Shaggy the pirate over here

[โ€“] hitmyspot@aussie.zone 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Picture this, we were both butt naked, banging on the sea bed floor.

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I came to say this. When has being with a mermaid been an acceptable thing. Furries are much more accepted I think than that just in numbers alone.

[โ€“] pjwestin@lemmy.world 34 points 1 month ago

I mean, the point of a mermaid isn't that it's a sexy looking fish, it's that other than its tail, it looks like beautiful human women. In some stories, sailors don't even realize they're taking to mermaids because their tails are underwater. Also, mermaids were generally considered bad omens or malicious entities, and when they did seduce humans, it was usually to kill them, so it's not like the folklore was very pro-mermaid sex.

[โ€“] wewbull@feddit.uk 27 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Somebody saying "I am a mermaid" would be looked at strangely too.

[โ€“] BruceTwarzen@lemm.ee 8 points 1 month ago (3 children)

And dressing as a mermaid and going to mermaid convention to fuck other mermaids.

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[โ€“] intensely_human@lemm.ee 24 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Being with a mermaid is also an outlandish idea

[โ€“] lobut@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

I was gonna make a joke that it's also an idea that's on so many street corners and coffee cups. However after googling I found out that it's a siren on the Starbucks logo and not a mermaid. My joke fails on both humour and fact.

[โ€“] LowtierComputer@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

What is a siren, but a mermaid?

[โ€“] pyre@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago (3 children)

there are different depictions of sirens. most commonly they are depicted as creatures similar to harpies. the mermaid form is second most common i think.

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[โ€“] CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social 24 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Furries aren't as recent as people tend to think either I might point out, the subculture has existed in some form since like the 80s to my understanding, it's just more popular and visible these days.

We had a general fen con in the area that was known for two large groups. furries and klingons. furries grew so big they did their own dedicated con. to bad because we had two dance rooms and the fur one had the ac maxed. was so great. dance in the regular one till you are sweating like a pig then move to the fur one.

[โ€“] Cadeillac@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

A lot longer than that. Let me dig and see if I can find the reply someone sent me a while ago

Edit: Tracked it down

[โ€“] CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Oh I mean, yeah, anthro characters are probably older than civilization, but I meant the furry fandom as a specific subculture rather than specifically the subject it is centered around.

[โ€“] vrek@programming.dev 15 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I went to dragon con one year, people were dressed in all sorts of costumes even though it's not a furry con. And I know the hotels where the con is are incredibly hard to book. That said just once I want some senior executive to accidently book a room in one because he has some meeting with a potential client of something and just so happen to click it at the right time.

He shows up and is completely bewildered by all the people in costumes. "you'll never believe it mark. I rode down the elevator with a robot and I swear to God... Tiny from Bob's burgers"

[โ€“] Chip_Rat@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

My partner went to a convention in another city. He was caught off guard by the number of dudes in leather and fetishwear that he saw around the hotel when he first arrived but just thought the city must have a diverse and adventurous night life.

The next morning on his way out he spotted a poster, it was "The Bear Ball" weekend, some disco themed big gay guy event, and the hotel he was in was the headquarters, which explains why most of the other attendants of his conference were being housed in a different hotel.

He said he had some great people watching for the next couple days.

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[โ€“] kitnaht@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago (4 children)

I mean, the mermaid is missing the part I like the most...

[โ€“] Tolookah@discuss.tchncs.de 24 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You want the other kind of mermaid...

Mermaid

[โ€“] kitnaht@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Those are some nice legs...

[โ€“] superkret@feddit.org 14 points 1 month ago
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[โ€“] nudnyekscentryk@szmer.info 13 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Probably because furries are a fetish and mermaids come from mythology

[โ€“] yetAnotherUser@discuss.tchncs.de 17 points 1 month ago (1 children)

50% of mythology is just fetish, just check out Greek mythology. People most definitely masturbated to mythology in the past based on the amount of fetish oozing out of the stories.

You can't tell me the ancient Greek equivalent to furries didn't think Zeus transforming into animals and fucking was hot.

[โ€“] waka@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 1 month ago

Can confirm. Watching 50 Shades of Greek told me way too many aspects of the Greek mythology. The Intro alone sums it up perfectly.

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[โ€“] BCsven@lemmy.ca 11 points 1 month ago

Probably because old folks know that mermaids are a myth and don't identify as mermaids ( although ai think I saw a docuseries about a 30ish year old thinking he was one) Where as furries bleed the line between what might be fetish realm, and what might be some people actually believing/thinking they are a furry animal--which would be considered a delusion.

[โ€“] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

My brother in Christ, werewolves existed for at least 150 years and shape shifting goes back hundreds more. A beast that becomes a person... What could that possibly be for? A person becoming a beast is easy and the not weird part of folk history that didn't upset any kind of established morals. Violence is a part of life. Hot wolf dick that escapes into the night after making sweaty sheets? More difficult to keep as an oral tradition. Well, in stories at least.

Egyptian and Mesopotamian ruins are full of furry pics, it's literally the oldest fandom in the world.

[โ€“] UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Wouldn't a mermaid be called a scaley?

[โ€“] Drivebyhaiku@lemmy.world 22 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Nope, different nerd culture entirely. Seriously, they have their own conventions, instead of fursuits they do custom silicone tails and train to swim in them, have contests and pagents and things. There's basically no overlap between the two communities. Scaleys are folk in the fursuit community who do dragon and lizard personas.

I have odd connections. Being in the film industry I have friends through props depts who do furry cons and one of my coworkers does underwater photography for people in the Mermaid subculture.

[โ€“] Blackout@fedia.io 7 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Fucking a fish is ok. I come from a long line of fish fuckers. My father fucked fish, his father did too. It's those sheep fuckers you cant trust.

[โ€“] Caligvla@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[โ€“] Blackout@fedia.io 4 points 1 month ago

Aye, right near the beach boy-ee!

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Now ask them about reversed mermaid

[โ€“] angrystego@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Being a furry is not common. What's not common is treated as strange and potentionally harmful.

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[โ€“] tobogganablaze@lemmus.org 4 points 1 month ago

Bist because the idea is older doesn't make it any less weird.

[โ€“] menemen@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I personally don't really care that much, but I guess this is mostly about "living stuff out openly" vs. "keeping your fetish in non-public spaces".

Yes, there are public mermaid events, but I don't think those are perceived as less weird.

[โ€“] makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 month ago

I would say that if anyone is upset about an older furry, then that person is living proof that furry is a sexualised fetish. Why else would it upset them?

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