Likening people to bugs as a political weapon is dangerous

In the American colonies during the 18th century, one’s social standing became increasingly linked with a bug-free body and environment. A teenage George Washington, for example, dutifully copied the maxim, “Kill no Vermin, as Fleas, lice, ticks, etc. in the sight of others.” As people with resources worked to rid themselves of these creatures, they became markers of class. The expectation grew that these creatures would only inhabit enslaved people and members of the lower classes. At almost the same time, the world’s first professional exterminator set up shop in London, an entrepreneur capitalizing not only on new norms around hygiene but on clients’ concerns about the threat of social and racial embarrassment.