Why do some men have a foot fetish? I don't understand it

[Heyhelga]

On my Instagram feed some stunning model popped up and I read the comments and the amount of men making comments about her feet. I've seen similar comments before elsewhere aswell so it certainly seems to be fetish thing with some men. Can someone explain it to me please because I just really do not understand what is sexy about feet whatsoever.

This is also an interesting idea

High heels being associated with femininity isn’t an explanation though. The reason that high heels are associated with femininity and sexuality is that they are associated with power imbalances, which is fairly grim. Due to some rabbit holes of my own on TikTok, I have got served some foot-based material, and it’s all about an area of the female body being forced into unnatural and painful positions in a very visual way. I’m actually struggling to write this in a way that’s not going to ‘serve a purpose’ for the fetishists, but that’s very difficult to avoid. There is also the aspect of heels being used as a weapon in some form, so the opposite power balance.

Fetishes all seem to bleed into one another even if they are quite specific. The tights thing is obviously visual as well. I have bunions which has unfortunately turned out to be a specialist interest for another group 🤢

I have big feet (for a woman). I joined a FB group for us bigfoots and I was inundated with DMs from men asking me to send them photos of my feet. How you’d know I had big feet from a photo I have no idea.

There’s also a toe cleavage fetish and shoes specially designed to show a greater than usual amount of toe cleavage.

Any big foot fetishist reading this, don’t even THINK about DMing me.

Formed in young childhood. You see a lot of feet while you're walking/crawling and they enter the brain while you're feeling at your safest and calmest, crawling or learning to walk about holding someone's hand etc etc.

This can expand or deplete in adulthood depending on other things and that person's individual brain make-up.

It is the most common fetish as far as I know likely because many of us have this experience.. it is less common in countries where it is more normal to carry a baby in a sling or baby wearing garments because they do less of it(apparently, I have not read the original research papers but I am a sociologist and this was said to be common knowledge albeit not my field).

Also I am a lesbian. And I like feet. It isn't a 'man thing'.

I wonder if you’d be so happy about it if you knew that the foot fetishist was likely going to use that encounter as wank fodder?

I must be being thick, as I don't actually understand any of that!?!

What do you mean by 'genital representation' - that the feet are near to the actual genitals (when they're actually as far away as they can be in the body) or that some people think they somehow look like genitals (in which case... how?!)... or is it something to do with tickling or stroking and connected nerves?

I just re-read... so it's to do with the department of the brain that deals with the genitals being a neighbour of the department that sorts out the feet? Even so, the human brain is a relatively small area, and surely when there's attraction, it would all work together holistically?

I suppose, if it were really obvious and easy to reconcile, it wouldn't be a fetish in the first place; so probably no point in my thinking about it for too long! All I can think of is that, yes, the feet are parts of the body that easily get sweaty and smelly and aren't especially beautiful to look at per se... but the same is true of actual genitals, surely?

Read Perve by Jesse Bering, he explains it.

My friend's dad had a thing about my feet!

My dh has feet like something from Lord of the Rings. I wouldn't have married him if I knew.
My bff's daughter works for BA. She sells her old shoes on various auction sites!

Some men prize cheesy smelly feet.

I knew a woman who used to work in a shoe shop. There was a man who came in a lot wanting to buy shoes for his "girlfriend". He'd say that a young female assistant had similar sized feet and would get the assistants to try on the shoes. They put up with this grim shit for quite a while before figuring out what he was doing and banning him from the shop.

Some men are just perverts.

How do you see a foot fetish as disgusting, for heaven's sake? Feet are disgusting? The men who love women's feet (I've known many) tend to be polite, well mannered and hopeful.

Came here to say this!

"People" don't get turned on. Just dirty, rotten , pervy blokes 😬

Given that the poster was aware of her friend’s fetish and described their encounters as ‘a glorious interdependency’, I’d say she’s fully aware they were being used as wank fodder.

Feet have lots of nerve sensors on them. Tickling feet feels pleasant. I could see how stroking, touching feet could be incorporated into foreplay.

It doesn't really matter why others like it anyway. It's very common and isn't hurting anyone!

That is impossible to answer as it requires being able to see into the operation of someone else's mind. Just bear in mind that there is seemingly nothing in the world that has not become the object of a man's fetish. When you consider some of the fetishes that exist a foot fetish seems extremely vanilla and pedestrian!

Maybe some men don’t see women as a whole human being, rather a set of body parts to be fetishised.

I hardly think it’s dirty and rotten to like the body parts of a grown woman. Whether it’s a vagina or feet it’s not perverted to fancy a body part of a female adult if you’re a heterosexual man (Or indeed homo/bisexual woman).

I’m the opposite. I can’t really understand why so many (Western) people are so freaked out by feet. All the stuff about them being gross and disgusting. To the extent that liking them is seen as a perversion. Just…why?!

It’s objectification. It’s taking a sentient person and reducing them to pieces for sexual thrills. Disgusting.

And I loathe toe cleavage shoes, they just look like they don’t fit. Like when men’s trousers are hanging down at the back or between their legs. Makes me want to pull them up and strap a belt on them.
It’s the very opposite of attractive, makes me feel like an irritated mother!

Lily Allen does well on OF with her feet.

I remember a colleague (married man older than me, of course) mentioning toe cleavage (ugh!) whenever I wore heels in the office.

I’m old enough to remember the Fergie toe sucking scandal. It was a massive story!

My own feet are no longer attractive, sadly…

This (relatively small if that matters) female who used to model in her younger years and showers twice a day is not a rotten pervy dirty bloke, thank you.

I just like feet. Luckily my (female!) Partner also likes them, so all is fine here.

My boyfriend likes women’s feet. An ex was similar but said he had a foot fetish. Ex colleague/male friend of mine loves strappy shoes.

Lily Allen does OF with her feet?!