…..Unlike bees, which we adore for their honey and
waggle dances, wasps have suffered from a poor public image for millennia.
In the 4th century BC, Aristotle dismissed wasps as “devoid of the extraordinary features that characterise bees”, adding conclusively, “they have nothing divine about them”.
Since then you’d struggle to find a sympathetic cultural portrayal of wasps.
Swarms of wasps smite unbelievers in the Bible. Shakespeare warns of waspish behaviour. We disparage the snobbishness of WASPs.
The Wasp Woman epitomised the nightmarish (and somewhat sexist) association we have with the archetype. Wasps are narrow-waisted huntresses to be feared. Or at the very least, swatted away.
Professor
Seirian Sumner, a behavioural ecologist and entomologist at University College London, believes it is time to draw a line under this sorry history. She has spent the past 25 years studying and advocating for wasps.
Aristotle, Shakespeare,
The Wasp Woman – it’s all part of a vast catalogue of anti-wasp media that she wearily describes in her book
Endless Forms: The Secret World of Wasps….
https://www.theguardian.com/environ...and-advocates-for-them?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other