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In Medieval manuscript images from 1200 to 1400, mermaids appear as supernatural female archetypes performing a variety of acts like standing idle, playing musical instruments, embodying sirens to lure sailors, and using weaponry.  These early images show mermaids with short or partially concealed hair and sagging breasts.  Medieval manuscript images begin depicting mermen in the 1400s, with the mermen performing acts like wielding weaponry, playing musical instruments, and raising phallic objects over their heads.  These mermen appear primarily clothed in cloth garments or metal armor with head coverings and weaponry.  As images of mermen appear, mermaids embrace a more decorative role with depictions of them primarily combing their hair and looking into mirrors while neglecting most of their previous actions.  Medieval mermen act as heroic entities of the Medieval merfolk species, consequently forcing Medieval mermaids to forfeit their agency and serve as sexual entities of the Medieval merfolk species.

Drawing on the author's sustained research on Jersey over the last forty years, this article surveys Channel Islands' folklore concerning mermaids and related figures. In particular it examines the absence of interactions between Channel Islands' mermaids and landsmen and the possibility of residual traces of mermaid folklore in local tales and legends. In light of this, the sources of Jersey folktales, legends and superstitions are reviewed, with the likely impact of the nature of these sources on the authenticity of surviving material and any likely loss of folktales before they could be recorded, that might explain this absence. The effects on the Islands' indigenous languages (Norman-French dialects) of immigration from the United Kingdom and the introduction of English over the course of the 19th century is also considered. A brief review is made of the religious disdain in Jersey towards superstitions, which nevertheless persisted. The rise of vernacular literature from the mid-i9th century provided a medium for recording some traditions, that by then were already starting to fade away. The focus here is on Jersey, with reference to examples from Guernsey, in support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the merman has been a minor figure in modern popular culture -- in marked contrast to his gender counterpart, the mermaid -- the figure has begun to enjoy a resurgence in several cultural niches in recent decades. One of the most notable of these has occurred with regard to the branding and marketing of types of beer and, in particularly, with the burgeoning 'craft beer' movement that has taken off in North America, Europe and Australasia (in particular) since the early 2000s. After an introduction to the merman in popular culture, this article analyses the use of mermen and related fish-tailed mythological males in brewery names and symbols, on beer bottle labels and in related marketing material. The article considers the product image created by such symbolism and the manner in which it might be modifying the role and perception of the merman and related figures in contemporary popular culture. It furthermore aims to illustrate ways that contemporary abstract, naïve, camp and kitsch depictions of mermen are embraced by breweries to situate themselves as culturally engaged, environmentally oriented, or anti-establishment agitators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mermaiding, the act of swimming in a monofin tail costume, is becoming increasingly popular. Although some merfolk (mermaids and mermen) only swim recreationally, many professional merfolk forge careers teaching at mermaid schools or performing at events such as birthday parties, corporate events, and special aquarium events. Many professional merfolk self-identify as ocean activists and/or ocean ambassadors. They use their performed identities and events as platforms for spreading ocean awareness and advocacy. Such exploitation of fantasy has been described within the merfolk community as a means to disseminate important conservation message within a positive outreach framework. This research explores the role of mermaiding and merfolk events in spreading ocean-related conservation messaging. It uses visual methods as part of a qualitative multimethods approach to analyze multiple sources of secondary data, including photographs, podcasts, videos, and blogs to contextualize the appearances of merfolk in performance events. Findings were used to produce a model depicting the creation of conservation-based knowledge sharing platforms through the incorporation of fantasy in and genera reenchantment of events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In late 2017 initial, low-key publicity for a charity calendar featuring a range of bearded Newfoundlanders posing as mermen resulted in international media coverage that discussed and commended the non-stereotypical images produced for the project. This article situates the calendar's imagery within the history of regional folklore concerning mermen and mermaids, the socio-cultural character of the island of Newfoundland and, in particular, the milieu of its port capital, St. John's. Through these perspectives, the article analyses aspects of masculinity present in an island society that has experienced significant transitions in recent decades in relation to the decline of its fishery, the increasing workrelated mobility of former fisherpeople, increasing ethnic diversity and immigration, and the breaking down of once strongly held attitudes of Newfoundland as being isolated, homogenous and tradition-based. In terms of Island Studies discourse, this has involved the island's transition from being a relatively autonomous aquapelagic assemblage to an increasingly post-aquapelagic one firmly incorporated within a nation-state. Long viewed as a quintessential "folk setting", Newfoundland is in a state of change that includes the gradual modification of regional stereotypes of masculinity. The revised images and roles presented in the calendar can be seen to represent new, more fluid definitions of masculinity appropriate for an increasingly more cosmopolitan -- yet proudly unique -- island society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article addresses the representation of the male equivalent of the mermaid - the merman - in contemporary western illustrations found on the Internet. The article relies on a theoretical framework of gender studies, queer theory, masculinity studies and previous studies of the mermaid including those informed by psychoanalysis and folkloric studies. The merman is examined with regard aspects of gender, sexuality, masculinity and the intertextual relation to mermaid mythology, folklore and research. The article concludes that contemporary illustrations of the merman perform a marginalised masculinity due to archetypally feminising components, such as sexual availability, exposing of erotic body parts, exoticisation and excessive beauty. The illustrations are mainly made to please a male homosexual gaze, although this is not always the case. Due to his marginalised position the merman does not oppose hegemonic conceptions of the binary gender system or the beauty ideals for the western man where whiteness, muscularity and youth are prioritised. The article counters earlier phallocentric explanations of the merman's marginalisation and points to other feminising components, like the sensual round form of the fishtail and the merman's close relation to nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of Clara F Guernsey's short novel The Merman and the Figure-head: A Christmas Story is a merman who mistakes a ship's figurehead for a nymph. Alongside this, in sharp and humorous parallel, runs the story of the merchant who commissioned the figurehead, which is based on a local woman whom he admires and then marries. Guernsey specifically refers to a tradition of writings about the mer-world, including Hans Christian Andersen's 'Den lille Havfrue' ('The Little Mermaid'), The Arabian Nights, and Moby Dick. Funny and light-hearted, the story uses the idea of an alternative underwater world to raise questions about human love and values, and challenges 19th Century assumptions about gender and behaviour. When one old mer-professor indignantly challenges the argument that human beings are undeveloped mermen, to staunchly argue that humans are, in fact, undeveloped walruses, Guernsey wittily employs "the world under the water" to satirise its above-water counterpart. Mer-culture enables a critique of human culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1654 Dutch anatomist Thomas Bartholin published an illustration of a skeletal forelimb and a rib from an animal that had been caught off the coast of Brazil. Bartholin identified the specimen as a merman. Subsequent authors have hypothesized that it was a human with sirenomelia (fused legs). However, it is now acknowledged that mer-people are mythical and the drawing of the specimen does not match expected morphology for a human with sirenomelia. Until now, therefore, the correct identity of the specimen has remained unknown. Bartholin gave details on the specimen's size and added that before it was skeletonized the fingers were joined by a common membrane. We therefore compared Bartholin's illustration with the forelimb skeletons of west Atlantic marine animals of appropriate size in which the fingers are embedded in a flipper. The morphology of the specimen matches that of a manatee ( Trichechus sp.) and is significantly different from that of the Caribbean monk seal ( Monachus tropicalis) and from those of whales (Cetacea). The specimen was therefore a manatee, and a three-century-old zoological mystery is solved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]