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Lifestyle
Bradley J. Irish, Associate Professor of English, Arizona State University

Why are so many people delighted by disgusting things?

Shakespeare
In what's called 'benign masochism,' some people find the feeling of disgust pleasurable. Ocskaymark/iStock via Getty Images.

Halloween is a time to embrace all that is disgusting, from bloody slasher films to haunted houses full of fake guts and gore.

But the attraction to stuff that grosses us out goes beyond this annual holiday.

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