Mermen Are Having a Moment
Grown men are dressing up as the male equivalent of mermaids — mermen — and making some serious waves with their unconventional modes of expression.
Tikva Naim Briggs — also known as Maksim Merman, the Yellowtailed Seawitch — is one such man. The Times of Israel ran a piece about the Topeka, Kansas, native who’s proud to be part of the merman movement. But for Briggs — “the world’s only known professional Jewish merman,” according to the publication — being a merman is more than just cosplay.
“I’ve always been fascinated with merfolk, but I had my mer-awakening in January of 2014 when I realized that it was more than a fascination,” Briggs told the Times of Israel. “I thought, what a great way to be able to teach children and adults about marine life. And at the same time, you get to swim and have lots of fun.” For Briggs, being a mermaid isn’t just a fun fashion statement — it’s a job. He appears in his fine, finned getup at private parties and fundraisers as a “professional mer.”
The most surprising thing about Briggs, though, is that he admits to the publication that he’s not particularly comfortable in the water and didn’t learn to swim until he was 12. “Now that I’ve been swimming in a tail since 2015, it’s been easier,” he told the publication. “But get me out of the tail, and it feels like a fish out of water — literally!” Briggs swims at an aquatic center in nearby Lawrence.
Currently, Briggs wears a mermaid tail he designed himself using spandex and a diver’s monofin, but he’s hoping to purchase a $7,000 professionally designed silicone tail from Florida-based MerNation Inc. — and he’s even set up a GoFundMe page to speed up the process. He completes his costume with a wig, marine-inspired accessories, and two multicolored Star-of-David tattoos on his chest; the ink is “a tribute to his identity as a Jewish gay man, as well as a sign of mer-pride,” according to the Times of Israel. Like many mermen, Briggs’s lifestyle is also tied to his passion for ocean conservation and the preservation of marine life.
Merfolk are a largely female-dominated subculture, which makes mermen all the more elusive. Of the 200 attendees at the 2016 Merfest — the premiere congregation for Merfolk, in Cary, N.C. — “Briggs was one of only six mermen and has been outspoken about the lack of visible male mer-models,” says the Times of Israel.
But Briggs isn’t the only merman in the sea. According to the Gay Star News, Blix, an Atlanta native (real name: Eric) took a shine to the aquatic movement while helping his godmother, Natasha, who creates mermaid tails for both men and women. He tells the publication he’s not just proud to be a merman, but also to be a gay and black merman. “Every mermaid you see has got blonde hair and blue eyes,” he said in a video posted to YouTube, in which he dazzles in a rainbow tail alongside openly gay YouTuber Davey Wavey. “I’ve even had kids tell me, ‘My friends say I can’t be a mermaid because I’m black,’ and I’m like, ‘No, baby doll, that should make you want to be one!'”
On the lighter side, Canadian comedian Rick Mercer recently made his marine metamorphosis under the tutelage of professional mermaid Lori Pappajohn for his show “Rick Mercer Report,” according to the NewWestminster Record. In a two-part segment — one aired on Tuesday and the other is planned for Friday, Oct. 7 — the funnyman donned a gray fin and dove right in, learning how to swim as the mythical creature.
“He’s a natural merman,” Pappajohn, a five-year mermaid, told the publication. “He had fun, we had fun. What’s great about him is he is a comedian, so he’s making it up on the fly. It’s just so funny. We just laughed and laughed.”
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