My guys, both husband and son, are not "girlie men"...they pick up snakes, will kill roaches, have been known to chase down a fruit rat out of our fruit tree and kill it with a stick, BUT....if there is a spider, anywhere in their vicinity, they tend to freak out. I have averted many a car wreck by reaching over and killing a spider that happened to crawl on my husband while he was driving. I think it must be a genetic thing because they both make the same sort of ungodly sound when a spider crawls on them or near them.
Maybe its because down inside, we know that spiders are not insects, they are animals, arachnids, related to things like crabs. Who knows..
I'm with ya on the spider thing. I usually have a hammer, baseball bat, or Beretta 92F nearby to solve these issues.