Feet=Sex? What's Behind the Kinky World of Foot Fetishes

I do not have pretty feet.

Maybe cute like a baby duck but not pretty. In fact, since I’m flat-footed, my foot sort of resembles a duck’s especially when I make a foot print fresh from the pool. I don’t take time for pedicures and I walk on hot pavement to the trash can. And he will want to see my feet.

That’s because Stan has a foot fetish.

We meet in his office in downtown Little Rock. It’s funky with a mod rug and an abstract art. Stan is in his early forties, has two kids, attends church regularly and is happily married. Oh, and he’s a Republican.

Before we meet, he tells me via email he wants to be my foot stool. I can honestly say I’ve never once fantasized of being someone’s foot stool. Do my feet stink? I really need a pedicure.

For Stan, it’s not just about attractive feet in fishnets or fuck-me heels. No, it’s also about submissiveness. For years, he has IM’d me asking to be my slave and offered to wash my car, clean my yard, polish my boots. Anything. So far, I’ve always said no.

On this afternoon, he offers me wine. We’ve known each other for many years, and the chit chat turns to mutual friends, work, family. He plays some background music. Some crooner I’m unaware of – maybe Michael Buble?

He gives the Cliff’s Notes version of foot fetishes:

Some men love socks with pungent odors.

Some men get off on nasty flip flops.

Some men really like old shoes that look like they have been through the trenches of war.

He is not joking.

“Seriously, some men really like these things,” he says.

Who knew? But Stan is apparently right. More times than not, feet equal sex. In fact, according to a 2007 study from the University of Bologna, feet and toes were the most popular parts of the body. Forty seven percent of the sampled preferred them to other parts of the body. Researchers also found that, when it came to objects associated with the body, shoes, boots and other footwear scored 64 percent. No wonder Manolo Blahnik is so rich. When you buy a pair of designer shoes, though, stinky gym socks usually don’t come with them.

Face-to-face, rather than on instant messenger, Stan seems slightly shy. I don’t envision him licking the soles of my shoes anytime soon.

“Let me see your feet,” he says out of the blue.

“Huh?”

My biggest fear.

“I want to see them,” he says.

He walks around his desk and I slip my right foot from my black Puma flat. Eew. Do they pass the foot fetish smell test? Does my foot stink? Wait, maybe he likes that.

“You could never be a foot model,” Stan says, tsk-tsking.

“Why?”

Now my feelings are hurt.

“Your toenails are not long enough. You need a pedicure. Bright classic red polish.”

Aye, aye, sir. He tells me he has work to do and I’m dismissed.

* * *

Stan is your stereotypical businessman. He runs his own company, plays hardball in the boardroom and seldom backs down. But in his personal life, he longs to be a submissive – a slave – at someone’s beck and call.

His wife, Leslie, indulges her husband’s kinky desires. While most men bitch and moan about honey-do lists, Stan gets off on them. That is, if Leslie allows it. On Friday night, Stan will ask Leslie about a list. She takes her time, composing it. She might add to it on a whim.

A typical Saturday might go like this:

Get up.

Take out trash.

Sweep the floor.

Wash the dishes.

Wash loads of laundry.

Clean out the car.

Cut the shrubs.

Go to the grocery store.

Cook dinner.

He doesn’t get off the hook easy.

“She checks all my work as I complete it and scratches it off the list if it’s done right,” he explains. “Sometimes I get to shine shoes right before bed, while she just watches TV or reads.”