I have a hard time imagining someone being so afraid of square dancing that she not only won’t do it herself, but also won’t let her 8-year-old son participate. But here it is:

You see…wow, this is sort of embarrassing, but I have a totally irrational fear of square dancing. I don’t think I could ever adequately explain that to E, which is why I told him it was strictly a transportation and timing issue. I’m also afraid of heights and spiders, but there are names for that. I don’t think squareophobia is in the dictionary. I’m also pretty sure I won’t find any sort of 12-step program to help me deal with my irrational fear.

For the rest, see naturalnitrate’s weblog

Her phobia (and others, judging from the comments) is based on embarrassment and having to dance with someone totally yucky:

Square dancing was the worst. During one spinning partner exchange, I steeled myself to grab Sweaty Eddie’s hand, reached out, and that was the end. Sweaty Eddie’s hand was so sweaty that my hand slipped right out and I ended up flat on my face on the gym floor in front of 2 PE classes. Thus began my deep hatred and fear of square dancing.

From a comment:

As an Army brat, like so many times before, I was the “new kid” in a small school in a small town. Thus everyone else thought it was a hoot to refrain from choosing me as a partner so that the one boy who had a crush on me could pick me. I call him the Nose Picker.