# If you get off with a mermaid, is it bestiality? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 8, 2012, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-off-with-a-mermaid-is-it-bestiality/627645 "2012-07-08T22:57:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-off-with-a-mermaid-is-it-bestiality/627645/21 "2012-07-09T05:55:06Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > it’s like having sex with an alien. So it’s basically [rishathra](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rishathra)? ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-off-with-a-mermaid-is-it-bestiality/627645/22 "2012-07-09T06:04:59Z")
This picture is relevant to this topic. [![](https://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y109/fez_/mermaidoj2.jpg) ](https://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y109/fez_/mermaidoj2.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-off-with-a-mermaid-is-it-bestiality/627645/23 "2012-07-09T06:38:02Z")
I’m game. ---
**Author:** ![core\_dump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dec6dc/32.png) [@core\_dump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/core_dump)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-off-with-a-mermaid-is-it-bestiality/627645/24 "2012-07-09T06:48:59Z")
If you’re a seafood lover, eatin’ ain’t cheatin’. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-off-with-a-mermaid-is-it-bestiality/627645/25 "2012-07-09T06:51:11Z")
No, it is not bestiality. A mermaid is not human, but she is a person. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-off-with-a-mermaid-is-it-bestiality/627645/26 "2012-07-09T06:53:27Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > Yeah. It’s murky enough that no one could predict which way the scales of justice would fall. > > I’ll bet a fin on bestiality. I call trolling… ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-off-with-a-mermaid-is-it-bestiality/627645/27 "2012-07-09T07:31:41Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > She’s a person not an animal; at least no more than a human is an animal. I’d call it xenophilia, not bestiality. It’s not like have sex with a fish; it’s like having sex with an alien. /\ This Though consent might still be hard to establish from sapient aliens/mermaids/dolphins as their psycology and values are likely to be radically different from ours. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-off-with-a-mermaid-is-it-bestiality/627645/28 "2012-07-09T07:59:58Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > So it’s basically [rishathra](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rishathra)? Rishathra is sex outside your species but with an intelligent hominid; mermaids aren’t hominids by all appearances. They’re some type of chimera. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-off-with-a-mermaid-is-it-bestiality/627645/29 "2012-07-09T09:21:47Z")
What would the children be like? “My father was the keeper of the Eddystone Light. He married a mermaid one fine night. From this union there came three: A porpoise, a porgy, and the other was me.” – Eddystone Light ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-off-with-a-mermaid-is-it-bestiality/627645/30 "2012-07-09T11:21:26Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > and then got down to business (as far as anatomy allows, that is), Don’t know if this is real or imagined, but a fellow indicates that anatomy does allow. NSFW:[NSFW delphinophilia](http://www.sexwork.com/family/dolphins1.html) ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-off-with-a-mermaid-is-it-bestiality/627645/31 "2012-07-09T11:24:20Z")
> [@heathen\_earthling](#): > > Perhaps it depends on the evolutionary origin of mermaids. Are they are species of human that evolved fish tails, or a species of fish that evolved human-like upper bodies? It’s easily explained by Intelligent Design. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-off-with-a-mermaid-is-it-bestiality/627645/32 "2012-07-09T11:32:51Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > She’s a person not an animal; at least no more than a human is an animal. I’d call it xenophilia, not bestiality. It’s not like have sex with a fish; it’s like having sex with an alien. I would tend to agree with this, except that they are terrestrial beings but the concept of interspecies sex with basically beings of the same ‘level’ as humans is not bestiality. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-off-with-a-mermaid-is-it-bestiality/627645/33 "2012-07-09T11:40:21Z")
How’s about Bigfoot?:eek: ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-off-with-a-mermaid-is-it-bestiality/627645/34 "2012-07-09T11:57:05Z")
I voted “no”, but how exactly that would be accomplished is beyond me. And I’ll take a mermaid with a brain over an ugly, brainless reverse-mermaid anytime, regardless of how much I like pussy and feet. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-off-with-a-mermaid-is-it-bestiality/627645/35 "2012-07-09T13:38:09Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > She’s a person not an animal; at least no more than a human is an animal. I’d call it xenophilia, not bestiality. It’s not like have sex with a fish; it’s like having sex with an alien. This is the correct answer. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-off-with-a-mermaid-is-it-bestiality/627645/36 "2012-07-09T15:02:09Z")
Strange that **Troy McClure** hasn’t posted in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-off-with-a-mermaid-is-it-bestiality/627645/37 "2012-07-09T15:11:35Z")
Does she have a blow-hole? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-off-with-a-mermaid-is-it-bestiality/627645/38 "2012-07-09T15:24:15Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > Strange that **Troy McClure** hasn’t posted in this thread. He can’t: he sleeps with the fishes. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-off-with-a-mermaid-is-it-bestiality/627645/39 "2012-07-09T19:48:08Z")
I went with yes, although that’s not strictly correct. It’s not because she’s a monstrocity. It’s because she has the sexual organs of a fish, and, if you enjoy that, then I can’t imagine you not enjoying it with an actual fish. Getting a blow job or hand job wouldn’t be bestiality, though. Some people define bestiality more like pedophilia, having more to do with capability for consent than the actual preference for animal genetalia, but I do not. For those people, it would depend on whether the mermaid was fully sapient. And not just the sapience of children, either. She’d have to be the equivalent of an adult human, or it’s bestiality. I personally would just call that rape. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-off-with-a-mermaid-is-it-bestiality/627645/40 "2012-07-09T21:56:20Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I personally would just call that rape. Râpé? Non, poisson. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-off-with-a-mermaid-is-it-bestiality/627645.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-off-with-a-mermaid-is-it-bestiality/627645.md?page=3)