“Mermaiding” Is A Thing, And It’s As Weird As You Think It Is

I saw this post on Twitter as I was scrolling through my feed this morning about a community of mermaids in St. Pete Beach in Florida.

I thought, “That’s weird, I need to know more.”  So I started looking into it.  It got even weirder and more hilarious the more I looked into it. 

Apparently there is a group in the LGBT+ community that put on mermaid tails and swim around in open water.  WHAT!?  Yeah, I liked to pretend I was a mermaid too…when I was five!

Supposedly this isn’t new either.  Mermaiding started back in the 80s with something called the Mermaid Parade.  Since then, Mermaiding has begun gathering steam and becoming more popular.  Now there is something called MerMagic Con held in DC every year, and also the World Mermaid Championship.  You guys, you can’t make this stuff up.

The mermaids create “pods,” or groups that swim together.  So basically, it’s a weird freakazoid cult of people that wear tails and swim around.  What it really boils down to is another gender thing.  The community is all about not conforming to gender norms. *insert all the eye rolls here* It almost seems like it’s the new drag.  So, next time you’re at the beach and you see a group of people in mermaid tails swimming around, just know it is a totally, completely normal thing, and if you don’t think so, you are homophobic, racist, and rudely assuming everyone’s gender.