These women are mysterious creatures of the water that enchant and seduce, they lie in waiting for their next victim. Mermaid are complex creatures of the sea. The Sunday Overseer defines them as a “mythical sea creature with a woman 's trunk and fish 's tail, instead of legs.”(“Do Mermaids really Exist?” 2009). This is a simple definition of a complex creature, but it shows the basic perception of the creature. Mermaids are the lurking idea of a femme fatal and also imposing ideas of femininity for many of people especially females in the United States. These mythical beings are what have and still today define gender roles among many Americans; they do this by portraying what women and girls should act like, how women and girls should look,
…show more content…
Mermaids, especially in American culture, are treated uniquely. They are either innocent or hyper sexualized. An example would be a look at Disney’ movie The Little Mermaid. In this movie Ariel in an innocent young girl, but her body and the clothes she wears says something much differently. She is a young girl in fact and is allowed to act free and wild, until she gets her man (Musker et.al 2006). This sets up the idea that women should be young and free until they meet a man. Once they meet this man, they are to be the dutiful girlfriend or wife. They lose control over themselves and lose much of their freedom much like the modern “housewife” image. The other type of mermaid often seen in American culture is one that is hypersexualized. This women is tempting and luring, but will never get the man (Herlihy 2012). She is seen as a sex symbol, but also as a lost cause because no man wants to marry a woman who is promiscuous or seems promiscuous. This is a solid foundations of what American society expects out of women even if it does seem old fashion. It is grasp of a lot of Christian beliefs as well as others mixed in (Herlihy 2012). This solidifies what American culture represents and reinforces about the behavior and actions of women and …show more content…
Mermaids are more often than not portrayed as women and girls. This seems like it could fit a broad category of people, but there is a certain mold that a lot of mermaids follow. Look into movies like The Little Mermaid or Peter Pan, these movies rarely have men, but also their women all have a similar body type. All of those women and girls hold a particular shape which is almost impossible to achieve for almost any women let alone young girl. They have tiny waists, larger curvy hip,s and have decent sized breasts which fit nicely into a revealing top; this is not something any young girl looks like until she hits puberty, and even after that, it is extremely rare. Also their hair is long and flowing, it is not seen short. Finally most to almost all American mermaids are typically white and dainty (Herlihy 2012). Different colors of mermaids are often only limited to their hair or fin color. Except for the fins, these are what men consider desirable, and this is what is portray to girls of all ages of how they should look. This sets up women and girls to be objects of sexual desire, and for women that isn’t always good because if they don’t live up to these standards, they don’t consider themselves desirable or
Mermaids, especially in American culture, are treated uniquely. They are either innocent or hyper sexualized. An example would be a look at Disney’ movie The Little Mermaid. In this movie Ariel in an innocent young girl, but her body and the clothes she wears says something much differently. She is a young girl in fact and is allowed to act free and wild, until she gets her man (Musker et.al 2006). This sets up the idea that women should be young and free until they meet a man. Once they meet this man, they are to be the dutiful girlfriend or wife. They lose control over themselves and lose much of their freedom much like the modern “housewife” image. The other type of mermaid often seen in American culture is one that is hypersexualized. This women is tempting and luring, but will never get the man (Herlihy 2012). She is seen as a sex symbol, but also as a lost cause because no man wants to marry a woman who is promiscuous or seems promiscuous. This is a solid foundations of what American society expects out of women even if it does seem old fashion. It is grasp of a lot of Christian beliefs as well as others mixed in (Herlihy 2012). This solidifies what American culture represents and reinforces about the behavior and actions of women and …show more content…
Mermaids are more often than not portrayed as women and girls. This seems like it could fit a broad category of people, but there is a certain mold that a lot of mermaids follow. Look into movies like The Little Mermaid or Peter Pan, these movies rarely have men, but also their women all have a similar body type. All of those women and girls hold a particular shape which is almost impossible to achieve for almost any women let alone young girl. They have tiny waists, larger curvy hip,s and have decent sized breasts which fit nicely into a revealing top; this is not something any young girl looks like until she hits puberty, and even after that, it is extremely rare. Also their hair is long and flowing, it is not seen short. Finally most to almost all American mermaids are typically white and dainty (Herlihy 2012). Different colors of mermaids are often only limited to their hair or fin color. Except for the fins, these are what men consider desirable, and this is what is portray to girls of all ages of how they should look. This sets up women and girls to be objects of sexual desire, and for women that isn’t always good because if they don’t live up to these standards, they don’t consider themselves desirable or