In humans, females are generally regarded as nicer - though not necessarily to each other. In many mosquitoes there is no pretense at all, males wander around pollinating and eating nectar while female bite you.

A new article claims some nonsense about repelling mosquitoes "without chemicals" - a claim obviously geared toward gullible organic food and supplement buyers. Citronella does not work, though it is a chemical. It smells nice, I put it in Tiki torches and use them when I watch movies in the yard, but I don't kid myself they do anything important, I put on a DEET repellant. And so should you. If you rely on "essential oils" because some dumb hippie claimed it, you deserve to get bit.



The other one thing they advise is true, albeit in a weird insect way. Repair your screens. If you have a hole in your window screen the size of a drop, a bug will find its way into your house. Yet if you open an entire door and chase it toward it, the bug will rarely find its way out. It costs about $20 to do a huge number of replacements. Or you could pay someone $50 each to do it. If you are an organic food shopper, spending more make you feel like you got healthier, so that may be the way to go for some.