I've been reading these posts with great interest.

As a person with a phobia that absolutely NO ONE else has either heard of or has - I completely understand your amazement that no one else thinks what
you're afraid of is scary or strange.

My phobia is of pool lights.  I am so petrified of them, and cannot understand how everyone else can be so blazè about them. They don't bother anyone at all,
although I have roused a comment or two about how pretty they look when they're on *Grr*

I'm not afraid to tell anyone anymore.  Stuff it - I'm strange and unique and if they don't like me for who I am, then too bad.  I personally find your button phobia
quite fascinating and admit that I would probably have trouble relating to it if I wasn't so petrified of an inanimate object also.

Can you tell me what it is about buttons that scares you?  Because I can tell you it's the "whole deal" about pool lights that scare me.  Their shape (like an eye, or
a washing machine front YUK), their colour when they're turned off (normally a clear plastic and you can see into it YUK YUK YUK, and the coloured ones
are worse because they're darker normally), and the ONLY thing I like about pool lights is how they make water look when they're turned on - but I won't go in
the pool.  It's got nothing to do with electricity whatsoever, it's the actual light on the wall, the fixture and anything which may resemble a pool light at first glance -
eg drains or circular marks on the wall.

So can you tell me anything about what properties of buttons scare you?  Texture? Shape?  Position?

Interested,
Julie

john_a_e2001 wrote:

   I have had a phobia of buttons ever since I can remember (I'm 33
  now). I didn't actually realise it was a phobia until I was maybe 16
  or 17. I had grown up being very afraid of buttons, & couldn't
  understand why no one else seemed to be. It seemed to me to be
  something which everyone should obviously be afraid of. Can't
  explain it at all.
  It's the smaller, shirt-type buttons that are the worst. I would
  never voluntarily wear any clothing with buttons - that to me is
  just unthinkable. If I'm in a room with clothes lying around, or
  even hanging up, I will always re-arrange everything so that no
  buttons are showing anywhere.
  I too was amazed to find out recently that there are actually other
  people with this phobia. I have only ever told one person about this
  ever (an ex-girlfriend), as I would find it too embarrasing to tell
  friends etc., & I'm scared people will think it's just too weird.
  Which it probably is, I suppose.

  --- In unusualphobias@yahoogroups.com, "Jen" <clemie44@y...> wrote:
  > i could not believe it when i searched the internet looking to see
  > if anyone else shared my fear of buttons. i was surprised to find
  > that there are other people like me, and im pretty much the exact
  > same as what u described. ever since i was little i have hated
  > buttons, i hated even looking at them, and touching them was by
  far
  > the worst! i remember if i was eating my breakfast in the morning
  > and my mom or dad were wearing buttons, i would put the cereal box
  > in front of me so i wouldn't have to look at them and be grossed
  > out. i could never touch them, and if i did, i would wash my hands
  > before i had something to eat. i remember one time too, in grade 3
  > when we had to play a game in class involving buttons, and they
  were
  > large ugly ones, and i had to touch them cause i didn't want
  people
  > knowing about my weird phobia. my family could not understand why
  i
  > didnt like them, my mom would always say that i would wake up one
  > morning and she would have buttons all over my bed just to freak
  me
  > out, and it would for sure! fortunately she never did, lol. im 19
  > now, and im better than i was when i was little, i'll wear buttons
  > if i absolutely have to, but it still bothers me.