Koumpounophobia

Koumpounophobia (from Modern Greek κουμπώνω (koumpóno), meaning "to button", and Ancient Greek φόβος (phóbos), meaning "fear") is the term used to describe the phobia of clothes' buttons.^[1] This phobia regularly leads to feelings of fear and disgust when sufferers are exposed to buttons either visually or physically.^[2] It is estimated that less than one percent of the U.S. suffers from this phobia.^[3]

Koumpounophobia
Specialty	Psychiatry

Notable koumpounophobes

Steve Jobs, wearing a shirt with no buttons, holds up an iPad, which is a touchscreen tablet.

Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple Inc., had an aversion to buttons, which manifested in a dislike for buttons on computer hardware and his choice to wear a turtleneck shirts instead of shirts with buttons. Some have speculated that this influenced the trend towards touchscreens and virtual keyboards in the design of Apple devices.^[4][5]

Koumpounophobia in popular culture

In 2009, popular author Neil Gaiman released a promotional teaser trailer for the film Coraline, based on his novella.^[6] The trailer featured Gaiman addressing the nature of koumpounophobia and warning sufferers about the content of the film, which features characters with buttons in place of eyes.