Forgive the length of this post in advance. I tend to be long-winded and critical about my writing.
My stance on foot-fetishism has changed in the past several years. In middle and high-school it was a private indulgence I shunned. As evidenced by my friends and classmates, young black males had little concern for a woman's beauty below the ankle. I couldn't understand why I (unlike my peers) had affections for a woman's feet, and I was too embarrassed to learn more about foot-fetishism beyond the media I consumed during my free time. I gained some understanding from reading various threads on The Mousepad and Wu's as an adolescent. But if you asked me to talk about my fetish back then, I would have been too choked up and reticent to give a good response.
Since then I've become comfortable with my fetish, and I take it seriously. Now that I understand my motivations and I have more self-control over my urges. However I view it as more than a means of pleasure. I regard it as an academic subject worth exploring, having the same merit as my studies in undergrad. The only difference being there isn't a large body of existing literature about foot-fetishism that is peer-reviewed and published like the information in my textbooks. Nor is such information easy to find through Google scholar and the like. Given the intimacy of the subject, it's understandable why there are few academic studies dealing with this specific partialism. With that said, I feel having a lot of knowledge to draw from researching different aspects of foot-fetishism can make it easier to convey it's significance to women, and convince them there's nothing weird about liking feet.
I was wondering if any members here feel similarly about their fetish as I do. In terms of it being a topic worthy of intellectual discussion. Additionally, in my online searches I've stumbled upon quite a few informative articles about foot-fetishism that are academic in nature. Here are some interesting links below, with bibliographies for those wanting to read the texts referenced. The first few links deal with foot-odor since some fetishists don't "get" how men can be attracted to feet with an [unpleasant] scent. Several links overlap with the same concepts. There's also information about what factors into these odors for those who are curious.
I'm curious if any members have additional links they'd like to share that has helped them better understand the mechanisms behind their fetish. Perhaps this thread can be a fetish knowledge base of sorts.
If anyone has posted a similar thread before, please forgive me for beating a dead horse.
Posted by hyperion (Member # 39397) on :
Scholarly work on this phenomenon is definitely lacking, and it seems to exist exclusively in pop culture. More than anything, I would attribute this to low interest--there's a small "n."
Also, I think that people feel they would be taken less seriously by their peers. And no researcher wants to spend the rest of his life as "that foot guy."
Probably impossible to get a grant for such a study, especially in a time of anti-intellectual scrutiny. Funds keep drying up.
Some brave ethnographer would have to take this on for cheap.
Posted by dougiezerts (Member # 6829) on :
I also was embarrassed of my attraction to feet, when I was a teen. In fact, I had a fantasy of checking into a mental hospital. They'd perform an operation on my head, and I'd be "cured!" Now, I'm quite comfortable with it, and my girlfriend is very understanding. I often think about why I'm attracted to women's feet--and I can come up with no reason for it! I guess it's just something I was born with.
Posted by longhitter04 (Member # 2391) on :
I've never really been consumed with the why's and how's behind my attraction to a girl with pretty feet. Truth be told, I never really cared about the psychology behind it. Maybe it's because it's just one aspect of my sexual preferences. Then again, I've never been one to over analyze things.
I have it and I enjoy it. That's all I really care about. The rest is white noise to me.
Posted by 5thgear (Member # 46148) on :
quote:Originally posted by dougiezerts: In fact, I had a fantasy of checking into a mental hospital. They'd perform an operation on my head, and I'd be "cured!"
I had and still do sometimes fantasize about visiting a sexy librarian type shrink for sexual addiction and frustration from not getting feet. It all ends with me leaving happy and can't wait to return to her, lol.
I don't worry too much about the topic of this thread. I do get curious as to why I enjoy intercourse as well as feet, but can have intercourse with just glancing at feet while others can only involve feet.
Posted by 6Inch4Ever (Member # 5457) on :
Well... I was asking myself about my foot-fetish, too. However, I found (for myself) out, that it is 'normal' to have a certain kind of preference. There are men, who are into big boobs. I think, this is the major fetish in our society. I'm not into big tits, but I'm into high arched (clean!) feet. Tastes are different, so are the sexual preferences. Beside of that, it's a fact, that most men are 'somehow' into feet. Pretty feet are attractive for most men, but only a smaller part will be really turned on by feet. At the end I realized, that a foot-fetish has advantages! It's much less a problem to stare at womens feet than their boobs. Foot-Fetishism is now accepted in the society... it's nothing special anymore and there is no reason to hide it. It's true, that there are women, who don't like to be reduced to their feet, but it's OUR duty to show them, that their feet are only one of their best parts besides many others! Just see it from the other side... what would you think, if your wife/GF would reduce YOU to your cock? So... just enjoy your personal fetish and be happy!
Posted by PhantomWalker (Member # 43545) on :
I appreciate the input from members who shared their feelings in this thread, and I hope others read these posts and contribute as well.
quote:Originally posted by dougiezerts: I often think about why I'm attracted to women's feet--and I can come up with no reason for it! I guess it's just something I was born with.
I was befuddled about my fetish in adolescence. I couldn't figure out why I had such strong feelings for [attractive] female feet, and I was annoyed I couldn't come up with a decent explanation to make sense of my likes. I wasn't satisfied with concluding I liked feet just because "I did." I thought that reasoning was too tenuous, and did a poor job "justifying" my attraction. Because I wanted to be able to give a well thought-out response about why I had a foot-fetish to a woman I liked when the time came for it. So she would completely understand why I relished in the gems attached to her ankles.
quote:Originally posted by longhitter04: Truth be told, I never really cared about the psychology behind it...Then again, I've never been one to over analyze things.
I'm very critical of myself in general, and I tend to live in my own head when I'm not around others. I tend to over-analyze things on the regular. So not being able to demystify my foot-fetish irritated me for quite some time. At the same time I ambivalent about researching it.
Since I was a science fan in high-school (Bio specifically), a neural basis for my fetish appealed to me. Yet, as I grew older I questioned if Ramachandran's notion of "cross-talk" in the brain. If this was true, you would think foot-fetishes would be even more prevalent than they already are, among both sexes. Then again...the internet reveals truths folks won't admit publicly; there's definitely "something" going on if every time you Google search a female celebrity "feet" pops up by her name under the automatic search function.
I bought Rossi's "The Sex Life of the Foot & Shoe" in undergrad and that filled in the cultural and historical holes in the cross-talk theory. I continued with my own independent reading about feet and fetishism from there. Not just developing a deeper appreciation of aesthetics, but the mechanics of the foot as well.
quote:Originally posted by 6Inch4Ever: Foot-Fetishism is now accepted in the society... it's nothing special anymore and there is no reason to hide it.
I agree. Amope commercials are proof it's more acceptable to find feet an attractive body part. The fact that all of them feature women definitely gets a point across.
Posted by dougiezerts (Member # 6829) on :