My first reaction to the reading is surprise; by the unexpected ubiquity of the presence of mermaids across popular culture and religious texts. I think it’s also interesting to see that The Church attempted to manipulate the perception of mermaids and use it as a sort of symbol for their interests.

I think it’s fascinating that we can use mermaids and merpeople to learn about the hybridization of humans, and how it can be a metaphor for some of our own characteristics. I also think it’s interesting how something that was manipulated to degrade the feminine can be warped and changed over time to hold a completely different message.