Sources
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
Foot fetishism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Foot fetishism, foot partialism, foot worship, or podophilia is a pronounced sexual interest in feet, or in some cases a disorder of sexual preference.[1] It is the most common form of sexual preference for otherwise non-sexual objects or body parts.[2]
Contents |
Foot fetish has been defined as a pronounced sexual interest in the lower limb or anything that covers portions of them. Freud considered foot binding as a form of fetishism.[3] For a foot fetishist, points of attraction include the shape and size of the foot and toes, treatments eg: french pedicure, state of dress (i.e., barefoot or clad in socks or nylons), odor, and any form of sensory interaction.[3]
Aretifism, a sexual attraction to people who are without footwear, rather than a fetish (or partialism) for feet.
In order to estimate the relative frequency of fetishes in a large sample of (at least 5000) individuals, researchers at the University of Bologna examined 381 discussion groups on the Internet. The prevalences shown for different fetishes were estimated based on (a) the number of groups devoted to the category, (b) the number of individuals participating in the groups and (c) the number of messages exchanged. The results from the survey concluded that the sexual preferences for body parts or features, and for objects usually associated with the body were most common (33% and 30% respectively). The "most common target of preferences" for the body parts were feet and toes at 47%. For objects usually associated with the body; shoes, boots and other footwear were recorded at 64% of the subsequent 30%.[4][5]
In August 2006, the ISP AOL released a database of the search terms submitted by their subscribers. In ranking only those phrases that included the word "fetish", it was found that the most common search was for feet.[6]
Researchers have hypothesized that foot fetishism increases as a response to epidemics of sexually transmitted diseases. In one study, the increased interest in feet as sexual objects was observed during the syphilis epidemics of the 16th and 19th centuries in Europe.[7] In another study, the frequency of foot-fetish depictions in pornographic literature was measured over a 30 year interval. An exponential increase was noted during the period of the current AIDS epidemic. [8]
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.[9]
- ^ World Health Organization, International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, (2007), Chapter V, F65 Disorders of sexual preference.
- ^ Dobson, R. "Heels are the world's No 1 fetish." The Independent; February 25, 2007 (retrieved via The Wayback Machine on 17 July 2007).
- ^ a b Cameron Kippen (November 2004). The History of Footwear - Foot Sex. Retrieved on 2007-06-08.
- ^ Scorolli C, Ghirlanda S, Enquist M, Zattoni S, Jannini E A (2007). Relative prevalence of different fetishes. International Journal of Impotence Researchadvance online publication 15 February 2007; doi: 10.1038/sj.ijir.3901547. http://www.nature.com/ijir/journal/v19/n4/abs/3901547a.html retrieved March 2007.
- ^ Dobson, Roger (2007). Heels are the world's No 1 fetish. The Independent Online Edition, http://news.independent.co.uk/sci_tech/article2303022.ece, accessed 29 October 2007.
- ^ AOL's Accidental Release of Search Data - The Sexmind of America. http://aphrodisiology.com/aol-sex-data, accessed June 2007.
- ^ Kippen, Cameron. The History of Footwear - The Sexy Foot. http://podiatry.curtin.edu.au/sexy.html#vd, last accessed September 2006.
- ^ Giannini AJ, Colapietro G, Slaby AE, Melemis SM, Bowman, RK (1998). Sexualization of the female foot as a response to sexually transmitted epidemics: a preliminary study. Psychological Reports, Vol. 83, No. 2, 1998, pp. 491-498
- ^ Kringelbach, Morten. Bodily Illusions. http://www.kringelbach.dk/Preprint_Beagle_BodilyIllusions.html, last accessed Sept 2006.
|
|
|
|---|---|
| Abasiophilia · Amaurophilia · Andromimetophilia · Autogynephilia · Biastophilia · Bondage (BDSM) · Chronophilia · Coprophilia · Dacryphilia · Emetophilia · Ephebophilia · Erotic asphyxiation · Erotic lactation · Exhibitionism · Food play · Frotteurism · Homeovestism · Human animal roleplay · Hybristophilia · Katoptronophilia · Klismaphilia · Macrophilia · Mysophilia · Necrophilia · Olfactophilia · Osmolagnia · Paraphilic infantilism · Pedophilia · Pyrophilia · Sadism and masochism · Salirophila · Sexual fetishism · Somnophilia · Statuephilia · Sthenolagnia · Teratophilia · Tightlacing · Transvestic Fetishism · Trichophilia · Troilism · Urolagnia · Vorarephilia · Voyeurism · Xenophily · Zoophilia | |
| Japanese terms | Chikan · Hadaka · Lolicon · Nyotaimori · Omorashi · Shotacon · Tamakeri · Wakamezake · |
| See also | Human sexual behaviour · Sexology |