AIBU to not understand why people dislike seeing feet?

[NewNameW]

Why do people hate looking at feet so much and against people wearing flipflops, sandles with shorts/dresses.

Yes I get not everyone has 'beautiful' feet (i surely do not - and I only show them off when its absolutely needed, spa, remove your shoes in the house kinda deal) but it's more about the constant 'you can't wear that in the office' 'I don't wanna see your bare feet' comments that fly all around mumsnet. I have never seen anyone ever say anything negative irl at people showing their feet.

I'm so curious as to what the 'gross' part is. We all have fingers and finger nails and palms which surely touch worse parts of everything in the world than our feet ever do - am I the weird one for not caring?

If you don't like something, don't look surely?

IABU - You should know why feet are gross (pls explain)
AINBU - Feet are feet and no different to any other part of the body

Yes, but people can cut their toenails, file off massive chunks of gross skin etc. So it is not asking fir anything like being super toned etc. It is just asking for basic levels grooming. Like hair washing etc

I am more baffled by teenagers and young adults who insist on wearing socks at the pool and the beach (saw people swimming in them too!). I would much rather see feet, however manky, than dirty white socks that they can't bring themselves to take off.

There are weever fish about at the moment. I don't want to tread on one again - I wear something on my feet while sea swimming (English Channel beaches.) Though I'm not sure socks would add much protection.

I have colleagues who were shorts all year round. I can't tell you what most of them have on their feet.

I know one guy has steel toe-capped shoes because he rides a motorbike in. And another was planning to buy a new pair of trainers at the weekend. Most of them - no idea.

And worst of all, those celebrities with size 42 feet in 'sexy strappy sandals' - truly scary. Gross.

Good description.Add dirty and stinking to that lot.

I don't get what's so gross either.

Looking at some of the responses on this thread, there seem to be some people who must spend a lot of time going around observing other people's feet in a lot of detail. Which is weird to me.

I wear open sandals (but not flip-flops) whenever the weather permits and I don't have perfect feet. If people don't like my feet then they don't need to look at them.

That's it as far as I am concerned.

I quite like feet. Not in a sex way.

@GoldenGail I noticed you are using hypnosis for phobia. I did the same for fear of flying. I found it remarkable. I did have a very bad experience in a plane which triggered it. The approach taken was along the lines of EMDR from what I have read. I do think foot phobia is a thing. Anyone can be phobic about anything.

Yeah baby feet are literally one of the most precious things on this earth. Idk at what point people stop liking feet. Or maybe it's only strangers feet. But baby feet are nom!! I spent hours and hours and hours loving on my kids feet 😀

Whilst I understand some people find feet ugly, what I don't get is the venom spat about it like they should not ever show their feet, when really you could just not look. It takes 2 seconds to look and look away if you don't like what you see.

Some of these replies have so much detail in that if you hate them that much why would you put yourself through it ?

@PaperPanama

Why should a person be ashamed of having tinea pedis or onychomycosis? Should someone with rosacea hide their face for fear of offending you? I have a skin condition which sometimes makes my elbows gray and scaly. They can look really grubby and uncared-for when I have a flare. Should I cover them for fear that you will think they are dirty?

Its not that anyone should feel ashamed. I don’t find feet offensive and can happily ignore them. I wouldn’t judge a person for the state of their feet: that would be shallow as fuck.

But I suppose I question why people feel the need to have a part of the body on display when it looks awful and it’s totally unnecessary to display it. It just seems odd.

I wouldn’t judge anyone for having any kind of genital disease but I would find it odd if they felt the need to have it on display. Elbows are different because covering them up is a pain in warm weather, as is any kind of facial disfigurement. Nobody needs to wear sandals or flip flops if they have a fungal nail infection, hard skin etc.

Its not about judgement or offence its just questioning why people think its a good idea to display horrible looking feet when it’s so easy to not do so.

I don’t think its a feminist issue either. 90% of the world’s horrible feet belong to men.

I'm not sure on one of your points here - if someone has ingrown toe nails or nail infections, shoes could be really uncomfortable? Socks could stick to blood and such.

Also I guess the same could be said for people with really long toenails, I can't imagine it's nice feeling that inside a pair of pumps.

Whats your opinion on my very jiggly wiggly thighs, they look awful and don't need to be out, I have varicose veins - but I wear dresses and skirts because, well tbf I just love pretty dresses. In the winter I will wear tights but I'm not going to do that in the summer time. It's only gonna offend people who look long enough to pay attention, I guess.

Thighs I have no problem with. In weather like this anything goes. Absolutely no reason to make yourself uncomfortable to play to social norms about weight.

But exposing really ugly, poorly cared for feet is just never necessary or empowering. There are no scenarios where trainers are a less comfortable option than open toed shoes.

I suppose (and I am fully prepared to acknowledge that this is my prejudice), its partly the associations I have of particularly men in open toed sandals from my childhood. Its a hangover from the hippy movement with its “let it all hang out” philosophy. I was exposed to so many blokes like this through my parents’ friends and invariably they were earnest, self important people who loved the sound of their own voices and hated “bourgeois” manners. Having their ugly feet out was a kind of stealth boast about how intellectual they were and how little they cared about the values of mainstream society. Anyone who grew up with people like this will recognise the syndrome.

At some level a decision to let awful looking feet hang out is a tacit statement to the world about how you feel about exposing your body to the world and it’s ultimately grounded in selfishness.

In certain contexts letting it all hang out is empowering and important. People being comfortable in their own bodies in the face of judgement I can completely get behind.

But feet are an odd, unnecessary and exhibitionist hill to die on for this philosophy.

There are no scenarios where trainers are a less comfortable option than open toed shoes.

Except all the scenarios where your feet are too hot in trainers, but not in sandals, which has been the majority of days this summer.

It’s bizarre that it’s considered gross to expose feet, but bare arses are perfectly ok.

I’ve never known a pair of sandals that was more comfortable than trainers.

I am not a fan of bare arses being exposed either. The only mitigating factor here is that it tends to be young women, as opposed to older men, who expose their arses.

I don't mind feet tbh !
But I also don't look at other people's feet lol (most of the time )
But I got stopped the other day walking my puppies and the lady had fungal long toenails in open shoes and it did turn my stomach a little ! I really didn't like that on show I'd be embarrassed if my toenails looked that bad !
I currently creaming my feet throughout the day and overnight I don't want crusty feet lol 😁 x

Or if - like me - you can’t wear trainers (or any closed-back shoes) due to a medical condition.

Growing up we had a GP who had a foot phobia. Dm used to say that 5 doctors in the practice and she could guarantee that if any of us had a foot issue she'd arrive to find it was him doing the surgery.

Every day a school day here. Two things I've learned -
1 - it's gross to not put nail varnish on toenails (Really, since when did that become a thing??)
2 - trainer socks are ick (but don't they help to stop your trainers getting smelly?).
😂

Tinea pedis and onychomycosis are not genital diseases. They are the proper names for athlete’s foot and fungal toenails.

Do you know how difficult it can be to treat onychomycosis? It needs months of oral antifungal medication that can cause liver damage and that some people cannot tolerate. Should a person unable to take the oral treatment have to hide their feet because some other people might not like seeing them? That’s like saying that disabled people should not go out in public because some people might not like seeing or hearing their differences.

I understand this: I know what these diseases are. I don’t think there’s any shame in having them.

But the parallel with disability is misleading. Its impossible to hide a physical disability (nor should anyone have to do this, obviously).

Comparing this with onychomychosis is hyperbolic: its a disease which, while difficult to treat, isn’t debilitating or life limiting. It also just isn’t necessary for someone with onychomychosis to go out with their feet exposed. It brings no material benefit to them to wear sandals as opposed to a closed shoe.

I'd have thought if you had a fungal infection, being exposed to the air would be better for it? Although not pleasant to see.

I think it’s mostly a Mumsnet thing: I’ve never come across so many foot-squeamish people in one place. See all the many, many threads about the horror of feet and shoes belonging to guests, and “shoes off” threads This summer, there haven’t been as many threads about ugly men’s feet as in previous years. Mind you, Roald Dahl told of meeting someone who owned a coffee farm in Africa, and made all her workers wear shoes, because she couldn’t stand the sight of toes.

Yes, there are foot fetishists out there. I’ve had messages from them when I’ve sold shoes on eBay and similar.

My Mumsnet foot sin is that I often wear trainers without socks, because I like it that way. But I feel squeamish about seeing hands with long pointed nails, making someone look like a cat with a human face.

Yes it does bring the very real benefit of not feeling hot wearing trainers in 30+ degree weather. If you personally like wearing trainers, this is your very specific preference and you cannot possibly say that everyone feels exactly the same way and therefore couldn't possibly need to wear sandals. I don't like wearing trainers in summer. I feel uncomfortable just walking 5 minutes to the gym and can't wait to get back home and take them off and wash my feet. While I am required to wear trainers to the gym for safety reasons, I am not required to suffer because someone may be offended by my eczema (which, consequently, gets much worse when my feet are hot!).

I have “normal” feet, i look after them go to podiatry, paint my toes but i still hate feet 😂😂 i find them gross not sure why