BlogHer - fear of bugs - Comments

Just Not Bees

A Elliot — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 20:42:15 -0600

Bugs don't "bug" me at all. Honestly, I don't have a problem with them. I do have a problem of bees though because I have bad reactions to them. Until I started blowing up from them, though I never minded them either. Don't get me wrong, I don't seek them out, but I also don't freak out if I find one in my house.
Alex Elliot, Formula Fed and Flexible Parenting

Things that sting

Suzanne Reisman — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 19:20:15 -0600

I am completely terrified of bees. I've never been stung, but any time a bee gets near me, I can feel the panic rising in my like a big wave that will drown me.

Suzanne Reisman, Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS)& Other Rants

They probably thought

biggirlblue — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 00:25:30 -0600

They probably thought someone had a gun. Sometimes I scream and sometimes I just go spastic.

Moe
BigGirlBlue
Large & Lovely

"Women are going to form a chain, a greater sisterhood than the world has ever known." ~Nellie McClung, 1916

"The only good bug is a dead bug"

biggirlblue — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 00:23:39 -0600

Bugs and spiders, have a purpose in nature... just not in my house. When they are in the house (or my vehicle) I freak. Freak. More so spiders or those creepy centipede things. I've been known to have panic attacks if I feel cornered. I know it's irrational (afterward). I have been known to wake my husband up at 2 am if I find a spider lurking. I couldn't sleep otherwise. I could be in a dark room and sense a spider in the far corner. This sometimes freaks out my husband.

I got excited about your bunny comment until I realized you were fibbing. I honestly think I would go into heart failure if I saw a cockroach. Seriously.

There are certain bugs in nature that I've come to accept. Ladybugs for instance, dragonflies, bees (although the fright radar comes on if they get too close. I once demolished a hot dog in the car because one flew in while we were parked and eating), butterflies.

I'm feeling anxious just thinking about it. Oh, and I am a gardener. :) We all try to stay clear of one another. Sometimes it works and sometimes I need to run into the house for a break.

Moe
BigGirlBlue
Large & Lovely

"Women are going to form a chain, a greater sisterhood than the world has ever known." ~Nellie McClung, 1916

Bugs...just not on me

suebob — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 21:23:07 -0600

I am pretty brave when it comes to critters. Maybe it comes from having to take entomology and the whole bug collection thing (you have to find like 100 species and KILL them in a cyanide jar, then pin and label them, all very gruesome). I just kill and move on.

But if one runs across me, I still shriek like a little girl. I did this at work at the cube farm the other day. A spider ran across my hand and I YELLED into the quiet, hearing 100 keyboards quit clacking simultaneously.

Buggy stuff

Mata H — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 16:53:27 -0600

I really don't mind insects -- they annoy me, but do not frighten me. I'll squish 'em or spray 'em in a heartbeat. I have a dear friend doing some contractor work for me, someone I have known over 30 years, and his wife took me aside to explain that if any spiders appeared I would have to kill them for him. I never knew he had this fear. I plan to be very respectful, however, and have asked his wife to just tell him to tell me "spider alert" and I will be there.

I am afraid of mice, bats and rats. Terrified. Bloody, bone-chilling, howling with fear, frightened. They make my skin crawl and they scare me. So I "get" irrational fears. My parents even tried creating a mythological mouse buddy named "EEKY" to no avail. EEKY was fine, real mice sucked.

What I do not get are people who taunt others with fears -- like putting a fake rat on my computer one day -- it just scared me almost to tears, but why did people find that funny? I asked them -- "why is my fear so funny? It felt very bad to me." They had no answer and apologized -- but what is up with that?? I have a male friend who is terrified of birds. He also has been taunted. He is 6'4" and burley, but terrified of birds -- what is amusing about his fear? Another male friend is scared of snakes, even if he knows they are plastic or not real. Yet people have continued through the years to taunt him.

These taunters are not your standard bully types either -- just regular folks...I do not get it.

~~ Contributing Editor, Mata H. also blogs relentlessly at Time's Fool

Like Charlotte!

Suzanne Reisman — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 08:51:27 -0600

I never really liked spiders either, although I cried my eyes out when I read Charlotte's Web when I was nine. I think you are on to something here. Personifying insects can help children overcome fears of them, and hopefully lead them to a healthy respect for bugs rather than developing crippling fears. Great idea, Alyssa!

On a separate note, I decided to write about women and bugs yesterday. This morning, I roach appeared in my dining room. I decided that on Thursday I will be writing about how women sometimes love it when money comes out of their shower heads instead of water.

Suzanne Reisman, Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS)& Other Rants

name them

alyssaroyse — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 08:43:19 -0600

I've always loved bugs, dont' know why. My daughter, however, seems to have arrived with a crippling fear of spiders, something that puzzles both my husband and I. Until this fall, anyway, when a particularly large one built a particularly large web outside our front door. Our daughter freaked out, and I said, "Oh, don't worry honey, that's just Scooter, i invited him to stay with us for a while." She looked at me like I was crazy (but then, she's 9, so i get that look all the time) and then she said, "Hi Scooter" and walked in the door. Scooter was with us for a couple months, and seems to have moved on now. But he seems to have cured our daughter of her spider issue - in fact, she has now named all the spiders in our yard and designated them as Scooters aunts, uncles, cousins, sisters, brothers etc.... Not a relevant story, but cute.
___________
Alyssa Royse
JUST CAUSE
make some good news!
www.JustCauseIt.com

not me

super des — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 08:38:11 -0600

I'm not afraid of bugs (cockroaches don't count here) but I don't like killing them. Most of the time I leave them, or let my cat get them, but I do have to kill mosquitoes and some spiders. I don't think I still actually kill the spiders. They are grabbed with a tissue and released outside or washed down the sink. My boyfriend, however, smashes them on the spot and leaves the ex-bug to ruin the paint job. This grosses me out more than the original bug.