Hello! Saxey here, standing in.

I want to introduce two of my weekly sources of delight to one another: FeministFriday, meet #FolkloreThursday! Once a week, when Twitter gets too fighty, I turn to this hashtag. It's full of engaging snippets and vivid images, many of them relating to gender. 

This week, #FolkloreThursday drew my attention to medieval penis trees (it didn't take much drawing). (Be warned that this link contains scholarly discussion, but is lushly illustrated.)

It is worth noting that Kramer put some serious theological work into how a penis could feasibly be stolen. He concluded that the theft was not physical, but actually an illusion created by the witch – presumably small comfort to the men afflicted.

https://www.culturised.co.uk/2017/04/cant-see-the-wood-for-the-trees-the-mysterious-meaning-of-medieval-penis-trees/ 

I also ended up in a deep dive on mermaids and their meanings.​Here’s a quick report on the Victorian Mermaid craze: 

In it, she describes how, while out walking with her cousin along the shore, her attention was caught by three people on a rock “shewing signs of terror and astonishment at something they saw in the water.”

http://folklorethursday.com/folktales/mermaids-in-19th-century-history/  

For significantly earlier fishwomen (before the 16th-century), I’m looking forward to the Mermaid Map project, by Professor Sarah Peverley. Some brilliant images are already on the site, and the map will follow.

…mermaids were often inseparable from the Homeric sirens, branded as allegories of temporal pleasures that lead men to their doom. Yet this ongoing link with the classical sirens also connected mermaids with man’s eternal quest for knowledge.

https://mermaidisles.com/about-2/

Whether you're having a swim, or doing some gardening, have a great weekend,

Saxey