In this blog post, we will examine the psychological and social background behind why small, fragile insects have become objects of fear and disgust for humans.
Ever since I was a child, I have hated insects. My peers could easily catch a dragonfly, but I couldn’t. My parents always had to do my insect collection homework for me. Nowadays, however, it is rare to find elementary schools that assign insect collection as homework. This is probably because it is difficult to find insects around us and because children are afraid of them. Franz Kafka’s novel The Metamorphosis tells the story of a man who turns into a bug one day and is rejected by his family. While reading this novel, I suddenly wondered if the protagonist would have been rejected by his family if he had turned into a cute puppy. After reading this book, I wondered why humans are afraid of insects. Or, to be more precise, why are modern city dwellers afraid of insects? It is quite ironic that humans are afraid of insects.
Humans are currently the most powerful predators on Earth. Even wild animals with sharp teeth and claws can be easily subdued with a single gun, yet humans are afraid of insects that are only 1-2 cm in size. Think about it. What wild animal would be terrified of a bug and run away? There must be a reason why humans are afraid of insects.
The first reason is that insects look very different from humans. This is quite understandable and relatable. Humans do not feel fear toward mammals that look similar to humans, such as dogs, cats, and monkeys. However, we feel considerable fear toward creatures that look different, such as frogs, salamanders, snakes, and earthworms. We look at insects and say they are disgusting, and we say we are afraid of them because of their appearance. However, appearance alone cannot fully explain why we are afraid of insects. If we are afraid of insects because of their appearance, then we should also be afraid of all non-mammalian creatures, such as octopuses, crabs, fish, and chickens. Furthermore, just because something looks different from humans does not mean it is disgusting. The concept of “creepiness” itself is subjective, and it is difficult to define what is creepy and what is not. Therefore, there are other reasons why humans are afraid of insects.
One of the reasons humans are afraid of insects is because they have a dirty image. In fact, when an insect touches my body, it feels like something dirty has touched me, and I am immediately overcome with an intense urge to wash that area. However, there is no evidence that insects carry germs, nor is there any reason to consider them dirty. So why do we perceive insects as dirty creatures?
The reason insects have a dirty image is mainly due to the influence of pests. The history of pests dates back to the Middle Ages. In medieval European cities, there was no proper separation between water supply and sewage systems, so garbage and sewage flowed directly into rivers. As a result, sanitary conditions were terrible, and rats were rampant everywhere. Rats spread various diseases and caused great damage to humans, the most notable of which was the plague, or Black Death. At that time, the plague reduced the population of Europe by one-third, and rats became more feared than wild animals. If rats were the object of fear in the Middle Ages, mosquitoes are representative of the modern era. Malaria mosquitoes kill about 2 million people every year, and damage caused by mosquitoes, such as Japanese encephalitis and dengue fever, continues to this day. In addition, various pests such as killer mites, cockroaches, and flies threaten human lives and have been perceived as dirty creatures that must be eliminated.
So how did the dirty image of pests come to be applied to all insects? I believe that pesticides are the main culprit in making insects dirty. Since 1939, with the advancement of science, pesticides such as DDT have appeared in large numbers, and the war between humans and pests has effectively ended in victory for humans. However, these new chemicals did not distinguish between pests and other insects, killing all insects indiscriminately. Due to this indiscriminate use of pesticides, insects have come to be regarded as unwelcome and unnecessary creatures in human homes. As a result, even insects that are not pests have come to be perceived as dirty creatures no different from pests.
In the end, pesticides created to eliminate pests have caused even innocent insects to be treated as pests. However, it will not be easy to clear the name of these innocent insects in the future.
The ground is gradually being covered with asphalt, and concrete buildings are replacing trees. The number of customers for pest control companies is increasing every year, and stronger pesticides are being produced. Children’s education about insects is only available on monitors, and now even parents have become a generation that is afraid of insects. However, insects are not dirty. There is no need to be afraid of insects. On the contrary, I have heard that indiscriminate use of pesticides has reduced the population of insects that feed on pests, leading to an increase in mosquitoes and flies. In our attempt to drive insects away, we may end up driving ourselves away from the earth. It is time to seek coexistence with insects. I look forward to the day, decades from now, when my son and daughter will go out to collect insects for their school vacation homework.
