In the original fairy-tale, The Little mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson, humans have immortal souls and mermaids do not. The little mermaid makes a deal with the sea witch that if she gives up her life as a mermaid and gets a human to marry her, she will gain a human soul. The witch cuts out her tongue as payment and tells her that the day her love marries another, she will die and turn into sea foam. Unfortunately the prince she is in love with marries another and her sisters trade their hair for a way to save her. The sea witch gives them a knife and says that if the little mermaid stabs the prince in the heart then she can continue to live as a human. The little mermaid refuses and is turned to seafoam. This isn’t a particularly empowering storyline for young women. The little mermaid puts her life in the hands of a man and sacrifices her own life and soul for him. I propose a mermaid that simply takes what she wants, cutting the beating heart from men to sustain her human form.
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