Post by Brad-LaSpirits on Jan 6, 2008 21:33:14 GMT -5
ARETIFISM
Foot fetishism or podophilia is a pronounced sexual interest in feet.
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, tickling, kissing, licking, sucking, and/or lovemaking with the objects of their affections.
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: women walking barefoot in the street with dirty soles or on uncomfortable surfaces such as hot pavement, feet pushing down on gas or brake pedals, feet crushing objects like balloons or toy cars, feet being pushed into mud or food, female foot torture (i.e. having the soles of their feet tortured or punished by whippings, hot wax, burnt with cigarettes, etc. see bastinado and falaka), feet being bound and tickled, and feet sexually stimulating the male or female sex organs through direct contact such as rubbing.
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).
Prevalence
As fetishist behavior is unlikely to be reported; its true prevalence is unknown. However, it is the most common fetish in males.
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.
The notion that foot-fetishism is more prevalent than any other Paraphilia is consistent with an analysis of millions of search queries that were accidentally released by the AOL internet service.
Proposed explanations
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.
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. Increased interest in feet as sexual objects has also been observed during the syphilis epidemics of the 16th and 19th centuries in Europe.
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.
Foot fetishism or podophilia is a pronounced sexual interest in feet.
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, tickling, kissing, licking, sucking, and/or lovemaking with the objects of their affections.
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: women walking barefoot in the street with dirty soles or on uncomfortable surfaces such as hot pavement, feet pushing down on gas or brake pedals, feet crushing objects like balloons or toy cars, feet being pushed into mud or food, female foot torture (i.e. having the soles of their feet tortured or punished by whippings, hot wax, burnt with cigarettes, etc. see bastinado and falaka), feet being bound and tickled, and feet sexually stimulating the male or female sex organs through direct contact such as rubbing.
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).
Prevalence
As fetishist behavior is unlikely to be reported; its true prevalence is unknown. However, it is the most common fetish in males.
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.
The notion that foot-fetishism is more prevalent than any other Paraphilia is consistent with an analysis of millions of search queries that were accidentally released by the AOL internet service.
Proposed explanations
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.
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. Increased interest in feet as sexual objects has also been observed during the syphilis epidemics of the 16th and 19th centuries in Europe.
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.