Foot Notes

[penpusher]

I had long considered doing a post on this topic. And what inspired it today was a comment made by crissy who apparently has been grossed out by people on another site in dealing with this. So, let's get down to it.

Just what is it about feet, anyway? There are a lot of people that don't understand. What could the attraction possibly be? Truthfully, there is no answer for this. No ONE answer. There are guys that think that feet are disgusting and think that other guys that like feet are twisted.

Then, there's also no consensus on the subject from the people that collectively do have a liking. Some only want to see the soles and don't care about the toenails. Some prefer unpolished nails or French pedicure, not some unnatural color polish. Still others like a longer second toe to the more typical "stairstep" phlanges. Some like long slender toes while others prefer short and stubby. Complicated.

How does a guy figure out he likes feet? It apparently happens pretty early in life for many. Some say that it's imprinting... when a child is learning to walk and he sees the bare feet or flip flops or sandals of his mom, or other women around when crawling at that time, an association is made in the brain that seeing feet means pleasure, fun, freedom! (We could do an unofficial study to determine if guys born in winter months or colder climates have less of an attraction!)

Then there is the question of the word, "fetish." Strictly speaking, a "fetish," in terms of what we're talking about here, is, according to Webster's: an object or bodily part whose real or fantasied presence is psychologically necessary for sexual gratification and that is an object of fixation to the extent that it may interfere with complete sexual expression.

This proper definition of "fetish" is what helps to make men who like feet seem weirder than they are. Because everyone throws around the alliterative term "foot fetish" all the time. In fact, there aren't that many true "foot fetishists" out there. However, there are a good number of men with a "foot interest."

As you can see, this isn't an easy topic to grasp. Add in the fact that it's still carries that stigma of being "weird," and this topic doesn't get discussed much at all, at least not in the mainstream.

The other day, Hollywood honcho Quentin Tarantino made an appearance on the Tyra Banks talk show. And they did a discussion of his attraction to women's feet, which gets showcased in most of his films, notably in "Pulp Fiction," where he had Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta chatting for a few minutes about foot massages before they go in for a hit and he gets a shot or two of Uma Thurman's bare peds.

Tyra's had a segment titled "America's Next Top Foot Model," and Quentin judged three women who walked in high heels, and demonstrated some amusing talents with their feet. Surprisingly, no one treated this as bizarre. I have to say, I think that's one small step for feet!

But the whole concept of feet can still be offputting to some. And in the media, you'll sometimes hear stories about guys who steal shoes (like that lawyer who liked Marla Maples, Donald Trump's now most recent ex-wife), or guys that try to tickle an unsuspecting girl's feet on a college campus or something. News reports definitely help to associate an interest in feet with bizarre behavior, and that makes it less comfortable for those guys who are normal to discuss it and talk about it as a normal part of dating and relationships.

I think there needs to be a dialogue about stuff like this. No one should feel creepy in talking about it or in admitting an interest in it. In fact a interest in feet is probably the most common of all of such body part interests. It's really ok.

I'm kicking off Foot Friday! There's really nothing wrong with that. Feet are beautiful things!

Any questions? Any answers?