Foot fetishism

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This article is about a paraphilia. For the music album, see Foot Fetish.

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

1 Scope
2 Prevalence
3 Proposed explanations
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Scope

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, state of dress (i.e., barefoot or clad in socks or nylons) and odor. Foot lovers may enjoy sniffing, touching, kissing, licking, sucking, and/or lovemaking with the objects of their affections.^[1]

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 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, feet being pushed into mud or food, 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

As fetishist behavior is unlikely to be reported; its true prevalence is unknown.^[2] However, it is the most common fetish in males.^[3]

In order to determine the relative prevalences of different fetishes, scientists obtained a sample of at least 5000 individuals worldwide from 381 Internet discussion groups. The relative prevalences were estimated based on (a) the number of groups devoted to a particular fetish, (b) the number of individuals participating in the groups and (c) the number of messages exchanged. Using these measures, feet and shoes were found to be the most common target of preferences. Forty-seven (47) percent of the sampled population had a preference for feet and toes.^[4]^[5]

[edit] Proposed explanations

See also: Sexual fetishism#Psychological origins and development

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.^[6]

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. ^[7] Increased interest in feet as sexual objects has also been observed during the syphilis epidemics of the 16th and 19th centuries in Europe.^[8]

Another theory believes foot fetishism starts from infancy. If a mother doesn't pick up and hold a child very often, the child's main physical contact with her will be with her feet; thus, he is more likely to develop a foot fetish. ^[9]

In their book, "The Only Living Witness", authors Stephen G. Michaud and Hugh Aynesworth noted that serial killer Ted Bundy used stolen credit cards to purchase more than thirty pairs of socks after he had escaped from a Colorado jail and attacked five females, including murdering two Florida State University co-eds. According to the authors, Bundy willingly conceded to being a foot fetishist, believing it to be, "...funny, an amusing little quirk."

The authors noted that psychiatrists recognized that such fetishism was common among people suffering from severe sexual disorientation, and that a morbid fascination with female genitalia was also observed when the condition became pathological, as was Bundy's case.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ Kippen, Cameron (2006). The History of Footwear - Foot Sex. http://podiatry.curtin.edu.au/fetish.html, last accessed July 2006.
^ Kippen, Cameron (2006). The History of Footwear - Foot Sex. http://podiatry.curtin.edu.au/fetish.html, last accessed July 2006.
^ 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.
^ Scorolli C, Ghirlanda S, Enquist M, Zattoni S, Jannini E A (2007). Relative prevalence of different fetishes. International Journal of Impotence Researchadvance online publication 15 February 2007; doi: 10.1038/sj.ijir.3901547. http://www.nature.com/ijir/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/3901547a.html retrieved March 2007.
^ Dobson, Roger (2007). Heels are the world's No 1 fetish. The Independent Online Edition, http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article2303022.ece, accessed February 2007.
^ Kringelbach, Morten. Bodily Illusions. http://www.kringelbach.dk/Preprint_Beagle_BodilyIllusions.html, last accessed Sept 2006.
^ 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
^ Kippen, Cameron. The History of Footwear - The Sexy Foot. http://podiatry.curtin.edu.au/sexy.html#vd, last accessed September 2006.
^ Femdomale.com Causes of Foot Fetish http://www.femdomale.com/foot-fetish.html, last accessed December 2006.