Which of these would make you think something like, "ewwwww, gross"? Why do you think you react this way? Is thinking "ewwwww" a valid reaction, or something to be overcome?

Bad smells are the worst.

I picked mostly the 'excrement' things. I don't want to hear it or deal with it if I don't have to. and (having grown up in VT) the cow thing probably wouldn't happen to me, but it is still disgusting. the smell is repellant for a reason, this is all stuff that the body can't use/needs to get rid of. I think this is a valid reaction, then again most anyone would think that their beliefs are valid.

Few things gross me out. Television has shielded me against violence and grossness. I have become yet another callous American. Viva cable.

adults only!

this is about the most disgusting thing i've ever seen

I feel so sick right now its not even funny....

Ever notice that all grossness involves living things? Disgust for unsanitary behavior has strong survival characteristics, whether it's a gene or a meme.

It's funny, poop and sex and injuries don't bother me. I deal with them as normal events. But eating bugs does!! For the longest time I couldn't even pick up a dead wasp. I've gotten past that, but I still could never eat little dried maggot larvae or the "Cricket Pops" and other things. I know people in parts of the world happily eat these things. Why does it bother me? It bothers me that it *does* bother me!

Hmmmm, I wonder how many people voted down on the survey because it was an "icky topic" :) I didn't ask to be 'a 12 yr old with a frog'. I asked because I sincerely don't get upset by things like diapers or unisex bathrooms, and am trying to figure out why some people are!

The tick is the only one that gives me that emotional "ewww" reaction. I like the word "squick" for that feeling, as in "It was a good movie, but the scene where the woman had bugs crawling out of the zit on her face really squicked me." Watching people shoot heroin really bothers me, although needles in general and even people giving themselves insulin shots doesn't bother me. Excrement is not my kink, but dealing with it when necessary isn't a problem. Watching people have sex I mostly find kind of boring, unless I'm more than an innocent bystander. Overall, however, I don't think gross topics are appropriate dinner conversation, on the whole.

Joe, that really squicks me! (though I was compelled to view the whole page, nonetheless)

...chewing tobbacco and its chewers!

Just the cowpie. It's not really "ewwwww, gross", it's more "Damn! Now my boot's gonna stink"
**milktree: I insisted on a local when I had my knee operation. It was neat to watch...

Thanks Joe, curiosity just made the cat want to hurl. I couldn't stand to scroll all the way down. ...I've recently started discovering that scenes of human suffering bother me a lot, I've been having trouble watch horror-related stuff with Jen recently.

Joe, it is 10 in the morning and you have ruined my day. Ack.

Knee surgery, or any kind of knee injury, that just squicks me. *** Joe, that is way too gross to .... ugh, yuk.

I'm pretty logical about my grossouts, but certain things really, really squick me, often unexpectedly. (ie, the famed "Phlegm Puppets" incident) I marked myself down for excrement stuff, coprophagia being the biggest of squicks I can think of.

I am not easily grossed out... And I think that reacting by saying ewwww is a fine reaction to something that you find unpleasant, just like some people cringe when nails run down the black board.

I actually have been walking in a field and stepped in a fresh cow pie, wearing sandals :þ

I'm mostly grossed out by "vomit" things - my two favorites being: Getting up in the middle of the night and stepping in cat vomit. Or, cleaning up cat vomit that contains chunks of partially digested birds and mice. I don't feel any need to overcome my "ewwwwww" because it's not so bad that it stops me from doing what has to be done.

I'm not really easily grossed out, although our dear friend Iain Banks has managed to do it more than once. ("The Wasp Factory," the end bit.) Eating weird things gets me a little. Poop and medical stuff doesn't. Gratuitous violence and gut-ripping I find disturbing. Cowpies tend to be nice and warm and feel smooth and soft between the toes. Plus, feet wash. Get over it! 8)

*** van: "Phlegm Puppets?" Do tell!

Medical things make me sick, like if someone just came back from having an operation... I wouldn't be able to go near them.. Makes me absolutely queasy. The strange thing is, though, is that I am fascinated with dead people and death in general. Not obsessed, mind you, but interested in what it looks like and everythng else. Strange and kind of creepy interest but what can you do?

Thank you so much, joe. I now can't eat lunch. I may not be able to eat dinner either... *** lelle: um, you are a female, right? Blood's an awful thing to be grossed out by if you are a female.

things "excermental" don't tend to gross me out anyore. eating bizarre things definitely can (maggots, bleah!). medical things are more often fascinating in their oogyness. *****joe - i stand corrected, i can still be grossed out by excrement

I do not deal well with anything involving blood. EEEWWWWW.
***elijahblue: yes I am female and it's pretty obnoxious...

I checked many, but identified distinct types of "ewww, gross." The cricket and magots are "just gross," ,I've eaten the BBQ magots, and thought it was gross, but was amused by its grossness. The stepping in the warm cowpie and having it ooze between my toes is another kind of gross that I somehow can be bugged by on one level, but still enjoy the sensation of on another, the medical stuff almost always grosses me out, but it's a kind of grossing me out based in fear and empathy- I know I would deal up a big fat old storm, and help the person, but I would also instantly feel empathically the sensation in my own nerves- in fact I do just reading any of the medical ones. ***mostly, joe, that was strange and surreal to me, but the ones further down, in the "mouthful" catagory really did bug me vicerally. Interesting point about sanitation and survival, though obviously it's not a universal reaction.

I am mostly grossed out by gorey things and excesses - excessive violence, sex, eating, adornment, etc.

There were several emathy reactions, but nothing triggered the squick button. I've eaten bugs - it's a saticfying revenge on mosquitoes. On the other hand, food that's "bad" (i.e. rancid or rotten) can get me out of a room quickly. That's part of why I'm so bad with leftovers...

Basically, the only thing that squicks me is seeing people suffer. I work with maggots, and after the 100th time you've stared at a writhing mass of maggots under high magnification, that dog doo on the sidewalk just doesn't seem so disgusting any more. ***I've been thinking about this, and the fact is that the exposed arm bone, in and of itself, would probably be really, really cool. What would freak me out is the look on the face of the person with the exposed arm bone and ESPECIALLY the noises they were making. The *sound* of someone suffering just freaks me all the way out.

Well, if it grosses me out, then it's icky to me. In general, though, I don't deal well with medical things. I don't mind my own blood (though I could never watch someone cutting into me) but I hate to see others' blood. The whole empathy thing, I suppose.

I didn't check the "Conan" option as I assume you mean "in a movie"... I'm usually pretty good about not letting media fudge with my head quite so blatantly. Watching it in real life would be a whole nother thing. Other than that, the standard run. Not sex, though, and surprisingly not urine.

WRT: why, is it valid, et al: being averse to your own waste products makes reasonable evolutionary sense, as does being averse to eating things you haven't grown up with as food. Many animals do this, including humans. Being averse to sex seems a bit odd. Being averse to "medical" things strikes me as a failure-mode of empathy -- that is, it's being overwhelmed by the "what would it feel like to be doing that" reaction we normally have to things in our environment. They are all "valid", I guess (what does that mean?), but often ya just have to go ahead and deal despite your aversion. (eg, I checked the "poop-filled diapers" option but would change them anyway if it came to that).