"A Phallus out of water": The construction of mer-masculinity in modern day illustrations

Abstract

The article addresses the representation of the male equivalent of the mermaid - the merman - in contemporary western illustrations found on the Internet. The article relies on a theoretical framework of gender studies, queer theory, masculinity studies and previous studies of the mermaid including those informed by psychoanalysis and folkloric studies. The merman is examined with regard aspects of gender, sexuality, masculinity and the intertextual relation to mermaid mythology, folklore and research. The article concludes that contemporary illustrations of the merman perform a marginalised masculinity due to archetypally feminising components, such as sexual availability, exposing of erotic body parts, exoticisation and excessive beauty. The illustrations are mainly made to please a male homosexual gaze, although this is not always the case. Due to his marginalised position the merman does not oppose hegemonic conceptions of the binary gender system or the beauty ideals for the western man where whiteness, muscularity and youth are prioritised. The article counters earlier phallocentric explanations of the merman's marginalisation and points to other feminising components, like the sensual round form of the fishtail and the merman's close relation to nature.