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  3. What is your personal threshold for being grossed out by owning an object that was once part of a living being, and why?

What is your personal threshold for being grossed out by owning an object that was once part of a living being, and why?

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  • arcanepotato@crazypeople.onlineA [email protected]

    I've been browsing antique jewelry a lot lately and wonder about this. With jewelry specifically I think about hair, coral, pearls.

    Then that extends out to animal skins, bones, human relics, etc.

    What makes one thing gross but the other okay?

    D This user is from outside of this forum
    D This user is from outside of this forum
    [email protected]
    wrote last edited by
    #35

    I got a cool looking salt shaker that looks like a crow and is made of buffalo horn. I'm fine with it sitting on my shelf but don't see myself using it for its intended purpose on my dining table.

    1 Reply Last reply
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    • arcanepotato@crazypeople.onlineA [email protected]

      I've been browsing antique jewelry a lot lately and wonder about this. With jewelry specifically I think about hair, coral, pearls.

      Then that extends out to animal skins, bones, human relics, etc.

      What makes one thing gross but the other okay?

      eponymousbosh@awful.systemsE This user is from outside of this forum
      eponymousbosh@awful.systemsE This user is from outside of this forum
      [email protected]
      wrote last edited by
      #36

      I've been pondering this myself. We had to have one of my cats (the one in my profile pic) put down last month, and we got a fur clipping, as well as her ashes. I'd like a piece of memorial jewelry or glass and I'm finding I'm OK with stuff that includes the fur, but not OK with cremation jewelry/cremation glass, and I don't really know how to articulate why. I think part of it is that fur and hair are shed throughout a lifetime anyway, but dividing up someone's bones or ashes almost feels like commodification to me.

      (To be clear: I'm not judging other people who do this with their loved ones' remains, be they human or animal; this is just, like, my opinion, man.)

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      • arcanepotato@crazypeople.onlineA [email protected]

        I've been browsing antique jewelry a lot lately and wonder about this. With jewelry specifically I think about hair, coral, pearls.

        Then that extends out to animal skins, bones, human relics, etc.

        What makes one thing gross but the other okay?

        eponymousbosh@awful.systemsE This user is from outside of this forum
        eponymousbosh@awful.systemsE This user is from outside of this forum
        [email protected]
        wrote last edited by
        #37

        Also: you might like Caitlin Doughty/Ask A Mortician's videos and/or books. A lot of discussion about different cultures' approaches to death and how people's attitudes have evolved over time.

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        • A [email protected]

          I think human parts are a hard no for me, but I'm general good with anything, though usually much less so if the product isn't being produced incidentally.

          This means cow leather is generally a okay, but crocodile is something I'll shy away from.

          paraplu@piefed.socialP This user is from outside of this forum
          paraplu@piefed.socialP This user is from outside of this forum
          [email protected]
          wrote last edited by
          #38

          Same for human parts for me.

          Weirdly enough, I still think my preferred way to dispose of my eventual cadaver is being made into a book.

          I wouldn't want to own book me, but I love the idea of being a book. Not like a gruesome one where someone could tell right off, something more boring than that.

          G 1 Reply Last reply
          1
          • arcanepotato@crazypeople.onlineA [email protected]

            I've been browsing antique jewelry a lot lately and wonder about this. With jewelry specifically I think about hair, coral, pearls.

            Then that extends out to animal skins, bones, human relics, etc.

            What makes one thing gross but the other okay?

            fizz@lemmy.nzF This user is from outside of this forum
            fizz@lemmy.nzF This user is from outside of this forum
            [email protected]
            wrote last edited by
            #39

            If I look at an object and I'm reminded that it comes from a dead human or creature i probably wont keep it.

            An old jacket is ok because i just see a cool jacked but a tiger skin rug would always remind me of a dead tiger.

            notyou@sopuli.xyzN 1 Reply Last reply
            3
            • arcanepotato@crazypeople.onlineA [email protected]

              I've been browsing antique jewelry a lot lately and wonder about this. With jewelry specifically I think about hair, coral, pearls.

              Then that extends out to animal skins, bones, human relics, etc.

              What makes one thing gross but the other okay?

              knight_alva@lemmy.worldK This user is from outside of this forum
              knight_alva@lemmy.worldK This user is from outside of this forum
              [email protected]
              wrote last edited by
              #40

              What we find gross is mostly arbitrary and emotional. It’s loosely based on the perception of filth but most people who find something gross will continue to find that thing gross even if they know it’s clean. If someone feels like snakes are gross, they watch you take a snake and scrub it clean with soap and water (don’t actually do this obviously) and you try to hand them the scrubbed snake, most people would continue to call it gross. Furthermore, if you ask most people why they find something gross, they won’t be able to give you a real answer. (Food seems to be an exception but we mean something entirely different and much more specific when calling food gross unless we are saying that the food is somehow foul or unclean)

              In most cases, when someone calls something gross, they are doing so as a reaction to a feeling it gives them. Whatever they say after that tends to be some form of post-hoc justification to legitimize that feeling.

              M witchfire@lemmy.worldW 2 Replies Last reply
              6
              • arcanepotato@crazypeople.onlineA [email protected]

                I've been browsing antique jewelry a lot lately and wonder about this. With jewelry specifically I think about hair, coral, pearls.

                Then that extends out to animal skins, bones, human relics, etc.

                What makes one thing gross but the other okay?

                L This user is from outside of this forum
                L This user is from outside of this forum
                [email protected]
                wrote last edited by
                #41

                I don't mind it as long as it wasn't part of their body, like their skull. That does freak me out.

                1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • arcanepotato@crazypeople.onlineA [email protected]

                  I've been browsing antique jewelry a lot lately and wonder about this. With jewelry specifically I think about hair, coral, pearls.

                  Then that extends out to animal skins, bones, human relics, etc.

                  What makes one thing gross but the other okay?

                  stopspazzing@lemmy.worldS This user is from outside of this forum
                  stopspazzing@lemmy.worldS This user is from outside of this forum
                  [email protected]
                  wrote last edited by
                  #42

                  Wait till you think about where your water's been.

                  notyou@sopuli.xyzN V arcanepotato@crazypeople.onlineA S 4 Replies Last reply
                  8
                  • arcanepotato@crazypeople.onlineA [email protected]

                    I've been browsing antique jewelry a lot lately and wonder about this. With jewelry specifically I think about hair, coral, pearls.

                    Then that extends out to animal skins, bones, human relics, etc.

                    What makes one thing gross but the other okay?

                    T This user is from outside of this forum
                    T This user is from outside of this forum
                    [email protected]
                    wrote last edited by
                    #43

                    Heck I don't even eat food that was part of animals

                    arcanepotato@crazypeople.onlineA 1 Reply Last reply
                    4
                    • paraplu@piefed.socialP [email protected]

                      Same for human parts for me.

                      Weirdly enough, I still think my preferred way to dispose of my eventual cadaver is being made into a book.

                      I wouldn't want to own book me, but I love the idea of being a book. Not like a gruesome one where someone could tell right off, something more boring than that.

                      G This user is from outside of this forum
                      G This user is from outside of this forum
                      [email protected]
                      wrote last edited by
                      #44

                      You would have to check the legality of that in your jurisdiction. Aaaand find someone willing to do it. It would be dope tho.... As for me, I would prefer a sky burial... Return to nature man, also metal as fuck.

                      paraplu@piefed.socialP 1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • arcanepotato@crazypeople.onlineA [email protected]

                        I've been browsing antique jewelry a lot lately and wonder about this. With jewelry specifically I think about hair, coral, pearls.

                        Then that extends out to animal skins, bones, human relics, etc.

                        What makes one thing gross but the other okay?

                        H This user is from outside of this forum
                        H This user is from outside of this forum
                        [email protected]
                        wrote last edited by [email protected]
                        #45

                        Insertable sex toys and nothing else I can think of

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        2
                        • arcanepotato@crazypeople.onlineA [email protected]

                          I've been browsing antique jewelry a lot lately and wonder about this. With jewelry specifically I think about hair, coral, pearls.

                          Then that extends out to animal skins, bones, human relics, etc.

                          What makes one thing gross but the other okay?

                          mrsdoyle@sh.itjust.worksM This user is from outside of this forum
                          mrsdoyle@sh.itjust.worksM This user is from outside of this forum
                          [email protected]
                          wrote last edited by
                          #46

                          I bought a pretty shell necklace in Samoa, and then asked the seller what shells it was made from.

                          He said... "Dolphin's teeth."

                          When I reeled back in horror, he chuckled and said, "Yum yum."

                          I have various bits of jewellery made from beef bone, I happily wear leather, but there was something intimate about teeth that made it gross, plus eating dolphins, argh.

                          1 Reply Last reply
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                          • stopspazzing@lemmy.worldS [email protected]

                            Wait till you think about where your water's been.

                            notyou@sopuli.xyzN This user is from outside of this forum
                            notyou@sopuli.xyzN This user is from outside of this forum
                            [email protected]
                            wrote last edited by
                            #47

                            The water that I shoot at my butt or the water I put in my mouth?

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • fizz@lemmy.nzF [email protected]

                              If I look at an object and I'm reminded that it comes from a dead human or creature i probably wont keep it.

                              An old jacket is ok because i just see a cool jacked but a tiger skin rug would always remind me of a dead tiger.

                              notyou@sopuli.xyzN This user is from outside of this forum
                              notyou@sopuli.xyzN This user is from outside of this forum
                              [email protected]
                              wrote last edited by
                              #48

                              What about a tiger skin jacket with the head as a hood?

                              fizz@lemmy.nzF 1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • F [email protected]

                                If it's human

                                notyou@sopuli.xyzN This user is from outside of this forum
                                notyou@sopuli.xyzN This user is from outside of this forum
                                [email protected]
                                wrote last edited by
                                #49

                                Does that include the ashes of people in urns?

                                F 1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • notyou@sopuli.xyzN [email protected]

                                  Does that include the ashes of people in urns?

                                  F This user is from outside of this forum
                                  F This user is from outside of this forum
                                  [email protected]
                                  wrote last edited by [email protected]
                                  #50

                                  Mostly, yes. I saw someone say something about wearing a deceased loved-one. That's understandable. But if you somehow obtained the remains of some random person, that's... Eugh

                                  Although in my culture we don't really cremate but I understand that others do

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                                  • stopspazzing@lemmy.worldS [email protected]

                                    Wait till you think about where your water's been.

                                    V This user is from outside of this forum
                                    V This user is from outside of this forum
                                    [email protected]
                                    wrote last edited by
                                    #51

                                    Running through Belgians like cheap beer!

                                    1 Reply Last reply
                                    3
                                    • N [email protected]

                                      If it still looks like it did when it was alive: Shrimp with tails on, whole fish, that sort of thing is too far.

                                      V This user is from outside of this forum
                                      V This user is from outside of this forum
                                      [email protected]
                                      wrote last edited by
                                      #52

                                      What about a death mask?

                                      N 1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • notyou@sopuli.xyzN [email protected]

                                        What about a tiger skin jacket with the head as a hood?

                                        fizz@lemmy.nzF This user is from outside of this forum
                                        fizz@lemmy.nzF This user is from outside of this forum
                                        [email protected]
                                        wrote last edited by
                                        #53

                                        Yeah i'll pass on wearing a corpse around.

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                                        • stopspazzing@lemmy.worldS [email protected]

                                          Wait till you think about where your water's been.

                                          arcanepotato@crazypeople.onlineA This user is from outside of this forum
                                          arcanepotato@crazypeople.onlineA This user is from outside of this forum
                                          [email protected]
                                          wrote last edited by
                                          #54

                                          I have no issues with drinking recycled water. I've even had beer made from treated wastewater. Never again! (Because I'm gluten intolerant.)

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