Enthusiasm for feet is not something new. The Chinese have had a long fascination with tiny feet (reportedly 2 inches wide and 4 inches long) and practiced foot binding from the Sung Dynasty (960 - 976 BC) until 1911, when the new Chinese Republic abolished the practice. The reason for this particular form of body modification/fetish is said to have begun not unlike fashion trends today. In order to emulate cherished Imperial Concubines, who were required to dance with their feet bound in silk, foot binding became increasingly widespread among aristocratic women. However, it also became much more severe as time progressed and yet, by the 12th century, it was as common among the peasants as it was among the wealthy. The sight of a woman moving as "gracefully as a lotus floating on a pond" is believed to have had an erotic effect on men, writes Dawnelle Loiselle in an online paper titled Foot Binding: Lotus Papers. [1]

Foot binding may have gone the way of Pompeii, but like that great city, foot worship and fetishism have endured and you can see remnants of this Chinese practice among those enthusiasts who enjoy foot bondage, for example. However, the Chinese are not the only culture where we can find examples of the fascination for feet. Even looking toward Hebrew foot washing ceremonies or simply reading the New Testament where during the last supper Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, we find evidence of the significance of feet through time and across cultures.

Symbolically, feet have an inherent dimension of dominance and submission. Specifically, it is the servant who kneels at one's feet, kisses them or washes them and similarly it is the dominant that stomps, treads and tramples. Yet, despite the dichotomy, foot fetishism and fetishists are diverse, and while foot worship often consists of an element of submission for the worshipper, it does not necessarily encompass power relationships for all enthusiasts.

The acts of foot connoisseurs are diverse. Fondling and massaging, smelling feet, smooshing, trampling, tickling, bondage, foot jobs, licking and toe fellatio are just some of the acts enjoyed along the colorful spectrum of foot fetishism, although erotic and/or emotional gratification from being in contact with feet is something that the majority of fetishists have in common. Foot enthusiasm can be a sensory and aesthetic aphrodisiac similar in sensation for the fetishist as foreplay or sex is for a majority of people in vanilla relationships, but it also comprises many different interests.

"I would term foot fetishism partly, perhaps primarily, a love of intimate geometry," posts fetishist JayArr to an online forum as he attempts to describe his personal podophile interest. "Feet are inherently geometrically complex, with asymmetric curves, discrete extensions, topographical variations, elaborate contours and so on. But this geometry is 'intimate' because (speaking as a sole-lover, which I'm sure goes for many) it's contained underneath - literally and metaphorically. Literally, soles are the bottom, and the natural end-point of the body, with many neural connections; metaphorically, they are below the social line (i.e. foot fetishism is not seen as socially acceptable). This intimate geometry is a potent cocktail."

Where one enthusiast might be exclusively interested in a particular point on the foot or the geometry of the whole foot, another's interest might extend up the leg to the buttocks and still others might prefer the olfactory sensations of cleanliness or foulness or perhaps even the power dynamics that are associated with various rituals or acts in foot worship.

Foot fetishism, or podophilia, is considered to be among a number of paraphilias, meaning that the clinically diagnosed fetishist is characterized by the inability to attain orgasm by traditional foreplay or intercourse, and relies on or needs the feet to attain one. Moreover, as a paraphilia, the term implies extreme behaviour according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) and the International Statistical Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (ICD-10) that interferes with social and disrupts other aspects of an individuals life. [2] One possible example of a clinical paraphilia involving foot fetishism might be the 'foot fetish hold-up man' reported on NBC 10 in Philadelphia in January 2007 where one victim recounted, "He made me take off my boots, he sucked my feet..." when he allegedly robbed her. However, according to Dr. Guy Brannon on emedicine.com, such cases of paraphilia are rare and affects only a very small portion of the population in both the United States and internationally.

Speaking in broader terms to encompasses fetish from a cultural and sexual rather than clinical perspective, a fetishist's fervour for feet does not occupy his thoughts to a point where he cannot function in daily life, where it interferes with the whole of his sex life or to an extent where he can't attain an orgasm without engaging with feet.

Behind the obvious societal occupation with breasts, foot fetishism is one of the more prevalent and certainly more accepted of the various fetishes that abound. After all, who wouldn't want to indulge a lover who had a fetish for tending to your feet on a regular basis? Not surprisingly, foot fetishism has been a subject featured by writers, filmmakers and photographers. Most notably in my memory, Annie Leibovitz shot a portrait featuring foot fetishism for the mainstream Vanity Fair Hollywood Issue in 2006 and the fetish has also been a featured subject in a novel by Ann Rule and the ever-quirky John Waters in his 1981 film, Polyester.

The majority of fetishists (though not all) are said to be white males between 15 and 25 years of age. There are also many female fetishists, but it seems that women are less aware of the connection between a fetish item and their sexual arousal. According to Brame, Brame and Jacobs (1993) this is probably due to the fact that females aren't encouraged to act on sexual impulses like men are, although they might also more easily hide their fetishes under the guise of pedicures or enormous shoe collections without raising so much as an eyebrow.

While no conclusive statistics exist, according to Cameron Kippen from the Curtin University of Technology in Perth, Australia, one to three-quarters of one percent of the male population over the age of 17 has a foot fetish, and Mr. Kippen recounts that literary figures like George du Maurier, Thomas Hardy and F. Scott Fitzgerald were among those with a fetish for feet.[3]

Of course, like all questions pertaining to fetish, one wonders when the fetish arose in a particular individual and why certain fetishes are more accepted by society than others. Some researchers suggest that there is an increase in foot fetishism during periods when there is a spike in sexually transmitted diseases like AIDS or syphilis. However, the more typical consensus is that foot fetishism, like many fetishes, arises from early childhood experiences.

According to interviews with fetishists listing feet as their special interest, Brame, Brame and Jacobs (1993) discovered that most of their interviewees had had an early erotic experience when crawling around adult feet, playing with shoes, being tickled or trodden on by adults and that sexual interest usually accorded to erogenous zones were translocated to the foot. [4]

In speaking with a friend and admitted fetishist, O, he states, "My first conscious recollection of my foot fetish was when I accidentally found my dad's stash of Hustler Magazines when I was very young. The models' feet just popped out at me. Their shape, curve, the veins on top of the foot, the toes, the arches, the ankles, I just wanted to reach out and smell, touch, feel and caress them through the thick glossy paper."

According to Brame, Brame and Jacobs, enthusiasts more often than not prefer voluptuous encounters that engage all of the senses and many tend to thrill over tender and erotic scenes focussing on worship, caressing and kissing. [5] Also, they are often exhilarated by ritual in order to fulfil their aesthetic, spiritual and emotional desires.

In my own life, a former lover obsessed over my feet. He didn't really care about my legs. Sure, he loved them, but he reserved his adoration for my feet, doting on them ritualistically: first, bathing them with scrubs, cleaning under the nails, massaging them with oils, and always indulging in the feel of them against his face and lips or the scent of them whether fresh or not. He was my podiatrist, my pedicurist and my worshipper. In fact, he continues to write emails about how much he misses my feet, and sometimes, I think, more than he misses me.

Some might equate foot fetishism with leg fetishism, or as an extension of it, since the leg is the direct conduit between the foot and libido, but on this point I would disagree based on my own personal experience. My former lover enjoyed my feet and not my legs, and while I would say that I have a fetish for legs, I would not suggest that I feel the same way about feet.

So what is it about feet that fascinates so many people? While I earlier quoted JayArr's eloquently stated opinion about possible geometry for his fetish, many others enthusiasts might be more inclined to agree with something he later says in the same post, but with much more bluntness: "They are just more darn interesting than those blobs of fat we call breasts."

References
[1] Loiselle, Dawnelle. Footbinding: Lotus petals. Towson University, Women's Studies, 1998. Accessed: 28. Jan 2007.

[2] Brannon, Dr. Guy. Paraphilias. eMedicine from WebMD. 20, Jan 2006.

[3] Kippen, Cameron. The history of foot wear - Foot fetish and shoe retifism. Curtin Health Sciences, Department of Podiatry. Dec. 2004. Accessed: 28, Jan 2007.

[4] Brame, Gloria G., Brame, William D., Jacobs, Jon. Different Loving: The world of sexual dominance and submission. Villard, New York, 1993. p. 374.

[5] Brame, Gloria G., Brame, William D., Jacobs, Jon. Different Loving: The world of sexual dominance and submission. Villard, New York, 1993. p. 378.