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First, let’s get this obvious fact and statement out of the way: spiders are scary and gross-looking. There’s a reason it’s such a common fear, especially with the female species (it’s much more common with us women — apparently four times as much).
“From an evolutionary perspective, this makes sense, as women would have encountered such creepy crawlies regularly while gathering food…the cringe factor could keep both moms and their infants safe,” Jeanna Bryner quotes David Rakison in her article on arachophobia in Live Science.
“Macho men, on the other hand, would have needed to take frequent risks when hunting and so evolutionary pressure to jump at the sight of a spider would be less than beneficial.”
As much as it irks the feminist in me, it makes sense.
So how does arachnophobia relate to life? And, why am I writing about such a random correlation?
I’ve been traveling a lot around Southeast Asia the past few months. I’ve lived in a lot of ‘open-air’ environments. Yep, this means a lot of nature and often, lots of spiders.
I initially overcame my fear of spiders, at least to a small degree, in India. I was living in an open-air ashram in rural Rishikesh.
