malymin

Losing my mind trying to write a HUGE post on the gendering of animal-shapeshifter lovers in european folklore for Reasons and trying to figure out what to quote directly vs paraphrase, how to cite my sources, etc...

In the meantime, the two original paragraphs I have are this:

In popular English-language discussion and re-imaginings, the motif of the animal-wife with the stolen skin is probably best known through the selkie legend of the British isles. In my time on Tumblr, it is the version of the motif I have seen most frequently called upon for queer and feminist retellings and re-interpretations, as well as for transformative fanworks hybridizing copyrighted characters and stories with the bounty of the cultural commons. In my time at the local library, it is the version of the animal-wife I have most often seen in published graphic novels. It is the selkie-story that had an animated adaptation in Cartoon Saloon's Song of the Sea (2014), ten years ago as of writing.

And this:

Male shapeshifters, meanwhile, are not typically trapped into marriage-bondage in European folk stories; within the patriarchal gender roles of these stories, reflecting the cultural norms from which they have been born, the husband is always the master, and the wife the servant. Rather, male shapeshifters tend to be unbound threats, ruining human men's access to human virgins and wives. Whether they be Celtic seals, Slavic dragons, German water-horses, or whatever else - the man-shapeshifter tends to come and go freely of his own will, as lovers and seducers. They are far more a danger to the girls who love them than the other way around, with their untamed animal sexuality: they may drown her, make her sickly, or spirit her away to their own home.

The thing is, the selkie isn't even the main point of the post - I primarily want to talk about swan maidens, but I feel the need to draw comparisons to the selkie because there's more thorough accessible literature written on it in English, and also because I need to hilight the shapeshifter-seducer-man archetype being widespread to point out the absence of such a male counterpart to the swan maiden. (Outside of like, the very singular example of the Zeus and Leda story in Greek mythology.)

Does anyone have advice for how to not get overwhelmed? ^_^;