--- In b_phobia@yahoogroups.com, "twisted_blacksun"
<twisted_blacksun@y...> wrote:
>
> Hi, I've just joined

Hi! Sorry you have button phobia, but glad you have joined us.

> For years I thought that I was the only one. For years I considered
> myself a freak. I am astonished to find that there are other
suffers
> of this rather bizarre alfiction.
>
> I really did think that I was alone--a freak of nature.

Me too. But here we all are :-)

> When wearing them (which I never do), they make me feel ugly and a
> freak to all. I also think they smell.

There was someone else on here who was disgusted at the smell of
buttons. Have at look at the past messages.

> As I am writing, I am getting strong impuslsions to go and smell
the
> hideous ones on my husband's trench coat, which is just behind me.
Any
> body else get impuslsions to touch or smell buttons?

EEeuuughh! No. Wouldn't like to get my nose that close.

> I hate every kind of button, but find the round, shiny ones the
> worst--especially the flat ones without a rim of any kind. Loose
ones
> are the Devil, followed by ones with bits of thread dangling from
> them. Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!

Yes, because they might fall off and touch you.

> The smaller, smoother and flatter the button is, the more it makes
me
> cringe.
>
> Metal ones on jeans don't bother me and neither do wood ones all
that
> much. It seems to be only plastic ones.

Yes, I'm the same, not at all bothered by the metal ones, or by
poppers or toggles. My daughter however is repulsed by anything
button-like. She even dislikes pearls because they seem somehow
button-like to her.

> As a child, it branched out into snap-fasters and toggles, but I
am ok
> with wearing them now.
>
> Of course, my mother never understood, and still dressed me in
clothes
> with the yucky, horrid things on, until I cried so much that she
> finally got the message. School uniform required that I wore a
white
> shirt, so my parents went to the school and spoke to them, and I
was
> exempt from the torture.
>
> Alas, the other kids wanted to know why I was wearing a T-shirt,
and
> being as stupidly, naively open as I was, I told them. Big mistake.

Oh dear. I know how cruel kids can be. I always kept this completely
to myself.

> Why is it so darn difficult to find clothes without buttons?
> --especially coats. Zips are far superior...

Have recently been shopping with my daughter, (also a button phobe)
she wanted new trousers. We could not find any (apart from sports
gear) that did not fasten with a button. Even if there was a clip on
the outside, there was often an extra button FOR NO REASON AT ALL on
the inside! Tried to tell daughter that I could replace that with a
popper or velcro but she wouldn't even try such things on.

> AND WHAT IS THE NEED FOR BUTTONS JUST FOR DECORATIVE PURPOSES?
PLEASE
> EXPLAIN THIS TO ME...

Yes, looking for new sweaters recently - so many seem to have BIG
non-fastening buttons across the collar. YUK! Buttons as decoration
seem to be the in thing at the moment.

Best wishes
Barbara