Foot fetishism

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Foot fetishism or podophilia is a pronounced sexual interest in feet.

1 Scope of foot fetishism
2 Prevalence of Foot Fetishism
3 Proposed explanations for foot fetishism
4 Foot fetishism in popular culture
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Scope of foot fetishism

In clinical terms, a fetish is a stimulus that is a requirement for sexual arousal to occur (also called an "exclusive paraphilia"). Therefore, a person who can derive sexual arousal from the human foot along with other more conventional stimuli (i.e. kissing, petting, etc) would not necessarily meet the clinical definition of having a fetish. This article focuses on arousal by feet in general (i.e., the popular use definition of fetish), and not on the clinical definition of foot fetishism.

For a foot fetishist, points of attraction include the shape and size of the foot and toes, the texture of the skin, cleanliness (or lack thereof), state of dress (i.e., barefoot or clad in socks or nylons) and odor. Foot lovers may enjoy sniffing, touching, kissing, licking, and/or lovemaking with the objects of their affections.<ref>Kippen, Cameron (2006). The History of Footwear - Foot Sex. http://podiatry.curtin.edu.au/fetish.html, last accessed July 2006.</ref>

Like other paraphilias, foot fetishism encompasses a wide range of predilections; one foot fetishist may be aroused by scenarios that another fetishist finds unerotic or even repulsive. Websites exist that cater to a number of specialized scenarios, including: feet resting on car dashboards, feet pushing down on gas or brake pedals, feet crushing objects like balloons or toy cars, women walking barefoot on uncomfortable surfaces such as hot pavement, sharp gravel, rocks, snow, etc., feet being pushed into mud or food, feet dipped in honey, feet that smell after having been encased in particular shoes, socks, and/or hosiery, foot torture (i.e. having the soles of their feet tortured or punished by whippings, hot wax, or burnt with cigarettes), and feet being bound and tickled.

Aretifism, a sexual attraction to people who are without footwear, is a synonym to podophilia, although the connotation is slightly different (attraction to the unclad foot vs. attraction to the foot itself).

[edit] Prevalence of Foot Fetishism

Fetishist behavior is unlikely to be reported; its prevalence is unknown.<ref>Kippen, Cameron (2006). The History of Footwear - Foot Sex. http://podiatry.curtin.edu.au/fetish.html, last accessed July 2006.</ref> However, it is one of the most common fetishes in males.<ref>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.</ref>

An informal study was conducted in 2001 to determine the prevalence of certain fetishes. More than 72,000 Adult-oriented Yahoo! Clubs (now Yahoo! Groups) were identified, of which 741 were found to be foot-related. By assuming that the people who used Yahoo! Clubs represented a balanced cross-section of the world's sexual preferences, it was estimated that 1.14% of people had foot fetishes.<ref>Anonymous. Fetish Psychology http://www.geocities.com/gungesurvey/psychology.html, last accessed September 2006.</ref>

[edit] Proposed explanations for foot fetishism

See also Modern Theories of Fetishism

Neurologist Vilayanur S. Ramachandran proposed that foot fetishism is caused by the feet and the genitals occupying adjacent areas of the somatosensory cortex, possibly entailing some neural crosstalk between the two.<ref>Kringelbach, Morten. Bodily Illusions. http://www.kringelbach.dk/Preprint_Beagle_BodilyIllusions.html, last accessed Sept 2006.</ref>

Researchers have hypothesized that foot fetishism increases during epidemics of sexually transmitted diseases. In one study, the frequency of foot-fetish depictions in the mass-circulation pornographic literature was measured over a 30-yr. interval. An exponential increase was noted during the period of the current AIDS epidemic. <ref>Giannini AJ, Colapietro G, Slaby AE, Melemis SM, Bowman, RK (1998). Sexualization of the female foot as a response to sexually transmitted epidemics: a preliminary study. Psychological Reports, Vol. 83, No. 2, 1998, pp. 491-498</ref> Increased interest in feet as sexual objects has also been observed during the syphilis epidemics of the 16th and 19th centuries in Europe.<ref>Kippen, Cameron. The History of Footwear - The Sexy Foot. http://podiatry.curtin.edu.au/sexy.html#vd, last accessed September 2006.</ref>

[edit] Foot fetishism in popular culture

The prevelance of references to Foot Fetishes in recent popular culture may be showing that this is becoming a more open topic of discussion, and is slowly losing some of its "taboo" feel.

Britney Spears revealed that her fantasy and biggest turn-on is "for a guy to kiss my feet".[1] She also has a tattoo on the big toe of her right foot. [2]

Pulp Fiction director Quentin Tarantino is widely believed to have a foot fetish. Female feet feature prominently in many of his films, and he is reported to have offered Uma Thurman a foot massage when meeting with her to discuss Pulp Fiction.[3]

In the television cartoon Family Guy the character Glen Quagmire is said to be a foot fetishist (among other things), and in one episode Peter Griffin gets him a foot from the Statue of Liberty. In another episode he is bowling with Chris and smells a woman's shoe. And later when Chris says to him that he doesn't like feet as much as he does, to which Quagmire replies that everybody likes feet.

In an episode of the series King of the Hill, character Peggy Hill, who has unusually large feet, gets tricked into posing her feet for a foot fetish website.

In the animated television series (and graphic novel) Æon Flux, the title character models for a foot fetish magazine. She also has her feet licked by a monster in the afterlife in the pilot episode.

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. 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.

In the movie Road Trip (2000), Beth Wagner (played by Amy Smart) has her foot licked, and is asked if she wants a foot rub by a man (a foot fetishist) on the same bus as her. She says no and attempts to embarrass the man. The man was actually the movie's director Todd Phillips, a real life foot fetishist.

In Sex and the City, Charlotte is given free pairs of shoes by a shoe salesman who has a foot and shoe fetish in order to watch her try them on.

In a scene in the movie Reefer Madness (2005), during the wild piano playing scene a couple can be seen in the background engaging in acts of foot fetishism. The man removes both the girl's socks and proceeds to suck her toes.

Professional Wrestler Gene Snitsky has a gimmick which involves him having a fetish with the feet of either gender, male or female.

In the movie Mr. Deeds (2002), Longfellow Deeds' butler, Emilio, openly states that he likes feet and enjoys changing people's socks. Emilio also follows up that he isn't exactly sure why he has such an attraction.

In Friends in the The One With Phoebe's Uterus, when Monica explains to Chandler the seven erogenous zones of the female body, Rachel yells out “OH, TOES! … Yeah, for some people”, after misunderstanding what Monica was saying. Chandler then goes on to glance at Rachel’s feet and give a bewildered look at Rachel after which she looks embarrassed.

Popular latenight television actor Luke Tucker has a foot fetish, as portrayed by his character Mookie Blaylock.

In the movie of Sid Vicious biography, SID AND NANCY (1986) (The Sex Pistols former bassist)Chloe Webb in the role of Nancy Spungen, Sid's girlfriend actually asks Sid (Gary Oldman) to lick her toes, so he proceeds to rip her stocking and do so.