I don't mind gore or the sight of blood. Hell, I've even tasted my own blood (well, when you cut yourself and need to stop the bleeding, that's just what you do as a little kid, right?). I saw some BBC3 show ages ago, Kill It, Cook It, Eat It, where they take people to a slaughterhouse, teach them all about the art of butchery and how meat actually gets from the wild to your dinner table, then show them he animals being slaughtered in the abattoir and cooked for them to eat at the end. Quite educational, and even though it was graphic (read actually showing the [almost always humane and quick/painless] killings and showing the guts and blood and everything being taken out), it didn't put me off eating a steak pie or chicken and mushroom for my nom-noms xD.
But yeah, I'm not scared of graphic gore and blood. But I am scared of needles. I refuse to give blood because I can't face the thought of a needle in me (it's ironic to think that I hate needles and have low pain tolerance whereas my short stories are full of sadistic violence and graphic brutality...). I'm an organ donor, I have a card so when I die I'll donate my organs. But I absolutely will not give blood. And all because of the needle.
