Foot fetishism
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Foot fetishism is a pronounced fetishistic sexual interest in human feet. This paraphilia is also called podophilia. It is also one of the most common fetishes and is male-dominant. Template:Ref
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Scope of foot fetishism
A foot fetishist can be sexually aroused by viewing, handling, licking, tickling, sucking, sniffing or kissing the feet and/or toes of another person, or by having another person doing the same to their own feet. The fetishist response to the foot is the same or very similar to arousal at seeing genitals (or the sex-specific features like female breasts).
Like other paraphilias, foot fetishism varies widely and can be highly specialized, therefore one fetishist may be aroused by elements another might find repulsive. Some foot fetishists prefer to concentrate on feet that are arched, others concentrate on relaxed feet. Most prefer bare feet, while others may prefer feet dressed in certain types of shoes, socks or hosiery. Some even concentrate on specialized scenarios, such as bare feet resting on a car dashboard.
A foot fetishist can be male or female. Some fetishists like smooth soft and clean female or male feet. While others may like them rough or dirty.
Some foot-fetishists enjoy seeing toes and soles and heels. The soles are the bottoms of the feet and can represent very unique patterns and lines that can produce incredibly sensational feelings. The heel is also the bottom of the foot. Others enjoy the top of the foot. Some fetishists compare the rush of having a foot-fetish to the rush produced from doing cocaine.
Proposed explanations for foot fetishism
One explanation, advanced by neurologist Prof. Daniel Griffiths, highlights the fact that the feet and the genitals occupy adjacent areas of the sensory cortex, possibly entailing some neural crosstalk between the two. Similarly, Reflexology is the practice of stimulating points on the feet to process this crosstalk.
A somewhat more Freudian hypothesis is that in many cultures, an infant's experience of its mother may involve crawling around her feet. If sexual/behavioral imprinting occurs during this time, this might lead to the feet becoming the primary object of sexual arousal. Freud considered foot binding as practised in China as a form of fetishism.
Another theory is that the shape of the human foot is visually similar to that of the curves found on the human body, particularly the female hips (again explaining the tendency of foot fetishists to be primarily heterosexual men).
Yet another theory proposes that visually, the feet and genitals occupy the same space within the sexual visual field that someone sees of a person, when the legs are raised for sex, and that some males are genetically brain imprinted to find parts of the body within that field as erotic.
Another possible theory behind foot-fetishism could be rooted in the idea that a persons feet are usually hidden, much in the same manner as genitalia or a woman's breasts. Exposed feet could hypothetically produce a feeling of pleasure in the same way that exposed breasts could.
Another possible theory is that it is a part of the body that has an odor. Genitalia tends to have an odor and so do feet, therefore they both produce sexual stimulation in an animal attraction type way.
Still another theory is that a person who adores feet is submissive.
Another angle is that many people consider curves in general to be sexy or arousing, and the average foot is composed almost entirely of curves; the top of the foot, the tips and bottoms of the toes, balls of the toes, instep, heel, ankle, soles, and toenails are often all curved, making the foot one of the curviest parts of the human body. In much the same way that breasts, buttocks, or hips are often considered attractive because of their curves, so too can the foot be regarded as an object of sexual desire.
Foot fetishism in popular culture
In the television cartoon Family Guy the character Glen Quagmire is said to be a foot fetishist, and in one episode Peter Griffin gets him a foot from the Statue of Liberty.
In the film version of Big Trouble, Stanley Tucci's character tries to seduce his maid by praising and licking her feet.
The Vietnamese-French director Tran Hung Anh has used foot fetishism nicely. In Xichlo [aka Cyclo] (1995), set in Saigon, the gangster pimp character, known in the movie as the poet, recruits the cyclo's elder sister into prostitution. But he wants to preserve her virginity for his own love interest. So he hires her out to fetishists who will not violate her. One client has her don stockings, then carefully cuts them off with scissors, however he acidenatally cuts off his own penis. While she sits in a chair he works at her feet. He then proceeds to carefully and adoringly wash her feet in a bowl of water he has fetched for the purpose.
Miss Ann Elke had earlier made The Scent of the Green Papaya (1993). In this there is a momentary piece of Wellesian-like cinematography, where the female protagonist walks towards a camera placed on or near the floor, and we get a nice, if brief, capture of her bare feet.
References
- Giannini, A J; Colapietro, G; Slaby, A E; Melemis, S M; Bowman, R K (October 1998). Sexualization of the female foot as a response to sexually transmitted epidemics: A preliminary study. Psychological Reports. Volume 83(2): 491–498.
See also
- Sexual fetishism
- Shoe fetishism
- Trampling fetishism
- Foot worship
- Elmer Batters
- Lissa Noble
- Tickling fetishism
- Shoe dangling
- Shoeplay
- Toe sucking
- Perversion
External links
fr:Fétichisme du pied ja:脚フェチ nl:Voetfetisjisme pt:Podolatria zh:恋足