One idea in the reading this week that I found most intriguing was the idea that mermaids are sexualized, whereas mermen are seen as ugly creatures. When describing the Christian Church’s use of merpeople as symbolism, it is stated: “…authors and illustrators represented mermen either as ugly creatures intended to oppose the mermaid’s striking femininity and sexuality, or as a symbol of Christian piety” (p. 14). I found this idea particularly interesting because it reminded me of an essay I read a few years back on the sexualization of Asian people in the United States. I can’t quite remember the name, but there are many essays on this topic–the hyper-sexualization of Asian women and the ‘yellow fever’, which is sharply juxtaposed to the desexualization of Asian men. I wonder if there is a connection between the idea of the ‘foreign’ and this chosen hyper-sexualization versus desexualization of mermaids. It is mentioned in the introduction that the hope of finding mermaids was reserved for the uncharted territories on the maps–to the east and to the west–making these sea creatures of foreign lands. Particularly, mermaids were often depicted in the seas of the lands in the ‘Far East’. 

https://www.csusm.edu/apidafsa/documents/hypersexualization_asianwomen_april2021_readonly.pdf

For further comparison of the similarities between Asian women and mermaids, I found these slides from CSUSM. On the 20th slide, there are two types of Asian women stereotypes shown: the Dragon Lady stereotype and the Lotus Blossom/War Bride stereotype. The Dragon Lady is seen as “licentious, immoral, diseased, cunning, wicked, dehumanized, a threat who should be extinguished”. On the other hand, the Lotus Blossom is “poor, obedient, passive, exotic, helpless, submissive, objectified, dispensable”. These two contrasts are similar to how the Christian Church saw mermaids, as both a symbol of wonder and danger. On page 41: “Hence the repeating image of mermaids as dangerous, passionate, sexual beings…” And comparatively, Asian women are seen as that as well–the Dragon lady is dangerous and cunning (also similar to depictions of sirens), but the Lotus Blossom is seen as sexual, passionate, exotic. Perhaps we can bring this beyond Asian women, to women in general, how they are depicted in the media and stereotyped. Some are seen as cunning, wicked, and dehumanized–like politicians. On the other hand, others are objectified and sexualized–like actresses.