Foot Fetish Vs. Tickle Fetish Is there a difference?

[Deleted member 66627]

Foot Fetish Vs. Tickle Fetish

Is there a difference?

I had to look up information online about what exactly a foot fetish is because I didn't want to walk into this discussion completely blind.. But it immensely intrigues me, and many others in the community so I wanted to try my hand at basically writing a mixture of opinions on the two subjects for whomever is interested.

When it came to Foot Fetishism I found out that there is more then one way to describe a foot fetishist.. there is the natural Podophilia, but what I didn't know was that there is another term which is called Aretifism, which is a sexual attraction to people who are barefoot rather then to just feet in general.

Foot Fetishism is considered the most preferred sexual preference for non-sexual body parts.

But why?

There has been opinions that it could be a psychological effect; I.e) A mother does not pick up or hold her child enough, thus causing the only main interaction between child and mother to be her feet.. this apparently causing a chance of developing a fetish for feet.

But what about 'hardwired' foot fetishists? Tickling can't be the ONLY fetish that is hardwired at birth, can it?

In my opinion there is a chance that people are just born with it.. and as they get older and delve deeper into their fetish, learning more about what they like and don't they can pick and choose other interests that happen to be considered Paraphilias or also partialisms/fetishes.

Due to this being a Tickling Community site, I don't feel the need to really explain the inner workings of a ticklephile's mind, since most if not all of us have a basic idea. The reason I am focusing more on the mindset of a foot fetishist is due to the ever occurring question as to WHY the two are so commonly united. And IS there REALLY a difference?

After much searching and reading on the topic of Feet and people with an interest in feet, I was rather disappointed to not be able to find any information linking the two together.

So, now what does that mean? Well, honestly I do not know, But I have no issues sharing my opinion..

Basically, I look at it as.. feet really have a graceful, unique element to them. Look at Ballerinas.. Watch them dance.. Being able to form and turn your feet to perform articulate moves?

How about in Karate and many other forms of self-defense.. Feet have the potential to be a very deadly weapon if used correctly. And watching some of the kicks they execute they prove that point easily.

I guess what I am getting at here is that Feet really have the possibility to be a great tool when applied correctly, and as far as tickling goes..many of us are blessed/cursed(?) with sensitive feet, which for all those 'evil' Lers out there, and potential lovers/mates this makes for a perfect 'tool' for them..and YOU..because what fun would it be not to be able to laugh?

There are differences in everything that we encounter in life, the best thing to do is embrace it and not let it fester negatively.

 

[cloudgazer2k]

being both a tickle-phile and podophiliac (wow...that word just sounds so wrong), it always seemed just natural for me to target feet for tickling. over time, i realized that it was more than just a target, but an appreciation for well-cared for feet.

i remember looking at an old muscle mag as a kid. there were a few photos of female body builders in the off-season, which means they weren't HUGE, just very toned. they were in various bikinis and, naturally, barefoot. i remember thinking to myself "it'd be fun to tickle them there.". since then, that thought still rings in my mind.

you also forgot to mention that a woman's foot has long been a symbol of sex and eroticism. before "relations", in the Renaissance days (and even before/after), a wife would have her feet gently tickled to have her reach maximum arousal.

a damn fine thread, Crystal.

 

[Deleted member 66627]

I forgot quite a bit, I just wanted to throw my opinion(s) out there. I appreciate the post. Thanks.

Anyone else feel free to add more to it, Annie told me an interesting tidbit as well..But that's for her to share.

 

[C.K. Storyteller]

While I haven't done much introspection or research into this, I do think that there is a difference between the two fetishes, though they are very easily combined.

In much the same way that someone might have a thing for bondage and spankings, or something like that, feet and tickling go . . .Well, they go hand and foot, I guess.

I have always found the female foot to be remarkably attractive, and have always loved tickling. Thus, the two are married, though can be separated.

Contrarily, we all know there are those who enjoy one and not the other.


What's my point? I guess I don't have one. Besides the fact that Crystal posting about this is damn hot. 🙂

 

[meangry]

My belief centers that feet are attractive items, but because much of early stimulus involves the tickling of the feet, they are placed in a certain context where they become considered one in the same. For many, this line of thinking is all so similar, yet not, as they are left intact. These people are unable to sublate foot fetishism and tickling fetishism.

But there are inherent differences. From personal experience, I found feet extremely attractive because of my own construct of feet being tickled as giving myself pleasure. This ideal was one formulated during a time period of sexual ambivalence due to young age, where the unknown "feel good" arousal was fostered as a more known entity. Through experience and exploration, my attraction to feet changes to fit the needs of my partner.

While tickling is hardwired, it can be overcome. But for some, who have little experience with sexual adventures...they become transfixed on feet. Feet are an appendage that avails itself for comfort more readily than other conventionally covered areas of the body. They hold a sense of mysticism because they hold an unknown provocative effect because they are only availed in moments where comfort is desired. This may also explain why there is so much out there in art, story, picture, and video form featuring unconventional women barefoot when their cultural stereotype is to hide their feet within boots, or high heeled shoes. To see a naked foot is to glimpse a comfort, which intimates an outsider to someone who shows their foot.

There are differences between tickling and foot fetishism however. Tickling involves a particular form of contact. It is a subcategory of a subcategory of a subcategory, highly segregated and finite. Foot fetishism can take different forms, but tickling contains the same properties it inherently has. The difference lies in foot fetishism is wider in range. It is also a fetish of the body, where glancing at a foot can give the onlooker pleasure.

 

[chicago]

I actually watched a tv show that said the nerve center in the brain for feet is right next to the nerve center for genitalia. I would guess this is why it makes sense for a lot of people to have foot fetishes. Perhaps there is some cross-over.

More on this tonight at 11pmEST on AnnieHall and CrystalLight's "Broad" Cast

 

[meangry]

Also...sorry if my post is a little obtruse. I've been on a paper writing binge for my literary studies courses, and it is difficult to not type in that fashion.

 

[TinyTickler]

i think there is a differnce there are some people who just like having there feet tickled and some who enjoy being tickled all over it depends on the persons preference

 

[Chaneda]

This article might interest you...

Excerpt:

Brushing the skin of the penis as well as of the big toe and the lower abdominal wall evoked significant focal activations in the contralateral primary somatosensory cortex (Fig. 1, Table 1). In addition, distributed bilateral activation clusters were found in opercular secondary somatosensory cortices (Fig. 2, Table 1). No other brain regions showed significant activations. The fMRI responses to toe stimulation were located in the contralateral postcentral gyrus at the medial edge of the convexity but did not descend along the mesial wall. The primary sensory representation of the penile tip and the proximal penile shaft colocalized to an area ~1 cm lateral of the toe representation. The overall robustness of this localization in terms of normalized stereotactic coordinates (and thus brain shape) could be confirmed in a random effects analysis (Fig. 2, Table 1). With a probability of 60%, it can be assumed that the activations lay entirely within either Brodmann area 1 or Brodmann area 3b. The primary penile representation overlapped with that of the lower abdominal wall, which had a slightly more lateral center of gravity. Although the exact location of sensory foci in the primary sensory cortex varied among individuals, the sequential somatotopic representation of the lower half of the body was found in each and every subject (Fig. 1, Table 1).

In the secondary somatosensory cortex, the stimulation of the toe resulted in a bilateral activation of two cortical areas within the parietal operculum, located on the surface of the upper bank of the lateral sulcus. The rostral activation lay in the vicinity of the lateral margin of the postcentral gyrus, whereas the caudal activation was situated in the caudal parietal operculum neighboring the supramarginal gyrus (Fig. 2). Stimulation of the penis gave rise to a more lateralized pattern of opercular activation with contralateral emphasis. Interestingly, in the secondary somatosensory cortex, the hemodynamic responses that followed penile stimulation did not overlap exactly with the toe representation but lay slightly more anterolaterally.

THE LINK TO THE FULL ARTICLE: http://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/content/full/25/25/5984

 

[chicago]

Excerpt:

Brushing the skin of the penis as well as of the big toe and the lower abdominal wall evoked significant focal activations in the contralateral primary somatosensory cortex (Fig. 1, Table 1). In addition, distributed bilateral activation clusters were found in opercular secondary somatosensory cortices (Fig. 2, Table 1). No other brain regions showed significant activations. The fMRI responses to toe stimulation were located in the contralateral postcentral gyrus at the medial edge of the convexity but did not descend along the mesial wall. The primary sensory representation of the penile tip and the proximal penile shaft colocalized to an area ~1 cm lateral of the toe representation. The overall robustness of this localization in terms of normalized stereotactic coordinates (and thus brain shape) could be confirmed in a random effects analysis (Fig. 2, Table 1). With a probability of 60%, it can be assumed that the activations lay entirely within either Brodmann area 1 or Brodmann area 3b. The primary penile representation overlapped with that of the lower abdominal wall, which had a slightly more lateral center of gravity. Although the exact location of sensory foci in the primary sensory cortex varied among individuals, the sequential somatotopic representation of the lower half of the body was found in each and every subject (Fig. 1, Table 1).

In the secondary somatosensory cortex, the stimulation of the toe resulted in a bilateral activation of two cortical areas within the parietal operculum, located on the surface of the upper bank of the lateral sulcus. The rostral activation lay in the vicinity of the lateral margin of the postcentral gyrus, whereas the caudal activation was situated in the caudal parietal operculum neighboring the supramarginal gyrus (Fig. 2). Stimulation of the penis gave rise to a more lateralized pattern of opercular activation with contralateral emphasis. Interestingly, in the secondary somatosensory cortex, the hemodynamic responses that followed penile stimulation did not overlap exactly with the toe representation but lay slightly more anterolaterally.

THE LINK TO THE FULL ARTICLE: http://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/content/full/25/25/5984

Very interesting indeed. Although I had to use freetranslation.com to translate it from the Mandarin you posted.

 

[EBunbury]

For me, there is a difference. Tickling is both sexual and fun for me, but I would venture to say that feet are one of my least favorite body parts. I don't find them to be erotic, or even especially pleasant, and although I can enjoy tickling them, it's definitely the tickling I'm enjoying. I prefer to tickle tummies or ribs, and losed interest in tickling videos if the focus is on feet.

🙂 E. Bunbury

 

[Deleted member 66627]

Thanks, Chan. Could you understand any of that? Cus I didn't.. But I will check out the article later..


This Site Aided Me As Well..

 

[Soda Bobinski]

Not sure if I'll be effectively answering any questions you may have , CrystalLight , on the differences and/or similarities of foot-fetishes & tickling-fetishes , but I'll just try my best to explain what they mean to me ... as I am someone who considers himself to have a most ravenous foot-fetish & an insatiable tickle-fetish.

Now having said that , I'm not sure why these two fetishes are so commonly intertwined. I think like a lot of us on this forum , I thought I was the only one who felt "that way" about feet & tickling while growing up. I don't know if one fetish came first & then the other , or if they both started at the same time ... but for whatever reason , those two things are joined at the hip for me. Even so , I feel there are differences between the two.

Each fetish has its own myriad of sub-categories ( obviously ). Someone having a foot-fetish doesn't necessarily like/enjoy everything that goes along w/feet. For me ... I like to look at feet ... I like to "play" w/feet ... I enjoy giving foot-massages ... I like kissing them ... I , well , the list goes on. But there are also other foot-fetishists who like the smell of feet ... dirty feet ... trampling ... bastinado & other foot-torture ... foot-jobs ... & then there's those nylon-guys. You get the idea. Most of that stuff doesn't appeal to me.

I don't need to go into detail about the different things about tickling that people are into 'round here ... but at some point , the tickle-thing & the foot-thing do cross paths. I think the difference between a ticklephile who also has a foot-fetish & a ticklephile who doesn't , is that the ticklephile-who-doesn't doesn't NEED their LEE to have ticklish feet ... whereas the ticklephile with a foot-fetish almost certainly NEEDS his/her LEE to be ticklish there.

For both my foot-fetish & my tickling-fetish , I consider them both to be "hardwired". As I said before , I'm not sure if I "realized" one before the other or if I became aware of them both at ( roughly ) the same time ... but both of those fetishes are extremely healthy within me. Meaning ... I can enjoy feet w/o tickling & I can enjoy tickling w/o feet. At some point , though ... it's just natural to combine the two & each fetish makes the other one stronger/better!

Anyway , like I said ... not sure if any of what I just wrote makes sense/has anything to do with the thread/answers any questions for ya. I just felt that as someone who is crazy for both feet & tickling that I , too , would throw my two cents in.




+ = 😀

 

[Coda]

Crystal,

This is one of my favourite realms to think and discuss within.

About linking tickling and feet: an obvious thing (to me) is that to people with a foot fetish are particularly turned on by seeing feet move in certain ways-- some ways more than others; I think that's worthy of investigation too-- and tickling feet usually makes them have to move.

Feet are really fairly amazing just because of the sheer variety of links to the emotional and physical depths of the afflicted. Sexual power and beauty. Tickling. Massage. Other stimulation. Sociological implications.

About feet being graceful, strong, etc.: That's true, but... all of that can also be said about hands, so... I don't think those merits are enough to create a fetish around a body part unless there are a lot of shy feet-and-hand fetishists out there.

On hard-wired fetishes: I sort of abandoned any suspicion that they existed at all. There's just so much that could have happened shortly after people were born that could explain everything. If there's evidence for that aside from testimony, I'd be interested...

 

[LD_Tickler]

1 Foot fetishes & tickle fetishes

I have a tickling fetish, but I have absolutely no interest in feet, not even tickling them. Foot fetishes are really common (I read somewhere that 1 in 10 men have foot fetishes), plus they tend to be ticklish, which explains why feet are a focal point here.

I once read, aside from that weird brain thing, that the image of a foot also resembles, in some subconsciously recognized way, the curvature of a woman's body. So, that's another theory for why so many people like feet, and also why it seems to be a male-dominated fetish.


2 On "hard-wired" fetishes

On hard-wired fetishes: I sort of abandoned any suspicion that they existed at all. There's just so much that could have happened shortly after people were born that could explain everything. If there's evidence for that aside from testimony, I'd be interested...

I'm glad you mentioned that, because I was going to. The vast, vast body of scientific research into sexual deviances indicates that they're all acquired in early development of life. They're psychological warps, like traumas and phobias - they tend to be constructed, rather than biologically determined. In fact, I don't think there's any research at all to support the "hardwired" theory. In my case, I'm pretty sure I know what event traumatized me into having a tickling fetish.

Remind me to kick my sister's ass for doing this to me...

 

[Spenser]

Crystal, very thoughtful...

> When it came to Foot Fetishism I found out that there is more then one way to describe a foot fetishist.. there is the natural
> Podophilia, but what I didn't know was that there is another term which is called Aretifism, which is a sexual attraction to
> people who are barefoot rather then to just feet in general.

There are some of us for whom the psychologists have not yet been able to come up with a single-defining term. Then there are others of us for whom foot fetishism per se, is not an all consuming or singular passion, but rather one of many “partialisms” to which we are drawn.

> Foot Fetishism is considered the most preferred sexual preference for non-sexual body parts. But why?

That’s the craziest thing about the psych-community; they seem really bent on trying to self evaluate the rationale for a particular fondness. For many of us into the various kinks we’ve accepted in ourselves, we’ve gone pretty much way beyond the “why’s” of it all to merely and simply ‘enjoying’. It-is-what-it-is, so to speak.

> But what about 'hardwired' foot fetishists? Tickling can't be the ONLY fetish that is hardwired at birth, can it?

No, neither for feet, nor for tickling. I think for both my missus Melinda and m’self, we each harbor probably about 7 to 12 “kinks/fetishes” each, and our lists are still growing after all these years. Did either of us have particular defining moments, or timeframes during which our kinks might have begun to reveal themselves? Yes, perhaps.

> In my opinion there is a chance that people are just born with it.. and as they get older and delve deeper into their fetish,
> learning more about what they like and don't they can pick and choose other interests that happen to be considered
> Paraphilias or also partialisms/fetishes.

Yeah, you’re right here I think. It’s likely a sort of mix of internal emotions and instincts, plus external impressions and stimuli which get it all spun up in the mix.

> … … WHY the two are so commonly united. And IS there REALLY a difference?

Here it’s kinda harder for me even to figure. And we tend to come to our special interests at different times perhaps. Both M and I have been interested in foot stuff since our teens, even tho’ she’s younger than I. (also we were both into leather-sm kinkiness even before we met in 1991). But, curiously, I sorta had to drag her a bit semi-reluctantly into this funky world of tickling delight, and she’s clung to it just like all the other stuff we enjoy.

> After much searching and reading on the topic of Feet and people with an interest in feet, I was rather disappointed to not be
> able to find any information linking the two together.

Now that you’ve discovered a term for it, I suppose I’m mostly one of those “Aretifists” (!). But I don’t think that the joy of seeing ladies walking around barefoot is the ‘only’ kind of foot fetishism/fancy that I appreciate. Melinda and I did do presentations of Foot Fun in the middle and late 1990’s to kink-support groups around the NE US. While M and I have our own brands of foot appreciation and fun, we have certainly become aware of the universe of variations of the ‘interest’.

Sometimes I hate to ‘date’ myself, … then again sometimes I love to do so (if it fits the moment or my purpose). I’m old enough to be one of the ‘original’ hippie people that folks read about in the history books today. I suppose for me, part of the drive came from my youth then, and the moment in time which provided the mix of internal instinct and the external stimulus. As a college age kid (dovetails into the other ‘thread’ here of barefoot college girls), I was probably very impressionable. Also at that very moment in history was the height of when high school and college age girls were frequently if not predominantly barefoot (circa 1968 to 1974), yes my own gfs as well as most others.

A personal friend of mine and M’s, (D. McLean as well as his wife too), drew and authored a series of comic graphic art novels for about 10 years called “Mara – Celtic Shamaness”, available, but now out of print from Eros comics. From about 1994 through 2004 Dennis drew the perpetually barefoot heroine, from the same curious and undefinable motivations that drove my own particular brand of the fetish. Alas, there was such a small niche market for the material that he’s given up attempting to create and market the books, though lovingly and lavishly drawn. They still have a Yahoo group devoted to wiitwd, and he grudgingly hates it when I mention tales of ancient times, when I can recall “being there”, as he wishes he could have been there then too… such as: (a post I made to their Yahoo group in July ’06)

It was mid-summer 1969. There was a large outdoor ampitheater near Columbia, Maryland; halfway between Washington, DC and Baltimore. They held outdoor rock concerts on their open stage. There were about 1500 seats in the ampitheater, with space for about 4,000 or so more on the cut-out and graded hillside that faced the stage. A girlfriend and I had been to a few of these concerts that summer. One of them was the "Who" from UK.

Being an ampitheater, the promoters didn't limit advance ticket sales, and tickets could be purchased at the gate at the time of the show as well. Evidently about 10,000 folks showed up hoping to see the band. At some point the management just opened the fence and began to let folks in for free, as the show was about to start, and they'd rather allow that than have some impromptu riot on their hands.

There were also no "rules" about having to wear shoes inside the concert area then. Assuming people coming in approximate two by twos, I figure there were roughly half girls. And of that number, somewhat more than half showed up barefoot. Sure enough, walking down the asphalt walks through the woods (from the 'graveled' parking lot no less), somewhat more than half the girls strode along unshod, not even evidently carrying shoes or sandals with them. So that amounted to about 2,500 barefoot girls in one small wooded amphitheater in suburban Maryland, all at once, one Saturday night.

Yeah, and another thing of that day that will never really repeat itself. Once the sun set, and shadows grew, you could not avoid the heavy scent of clouds of 'illegal herb' that floated over the whole area. Joints were being freely passed from person to person to person, throughout the crowd until the roaches were too tiny to suck on anymore. What little 'authority' was there was just so completely overwhelmed by the numbers of folks lighting up in the dark, that they simply could not do anything about it (smile).

And another post more recently;
I’ve been hoping to resurrect and finish a novel about two barefoot hippie girls in the turbulent times of ‘69-‘70 at University of California Santa Barbara. A business trip out there in ‘06 re-ignited my dream. I saw in this very spot of Eden not the UCSB of today; no, I saw the polarization, the craziness, the hip frenzy and the drumbeats and guitar chords, but mostly I saw the innocents, adorned in their skimpy bits of Indian cotton and tan suede and beads, and all the rest including their brave and tough bare soles showing out bare and proud to sun and moon, friend and foe, and lover. And whiffs of “patchouli” wafting in the air for whole minutes after they dance past.

And so, as you say, very aptly,
> … I look at it as.. feet really have a graceful, unique element to them. Look at Ballerinas.. Watch them dance.. Being able to
> form and turn your feet to perform articulate moves?

I used to say, ‘seeing a leg with a shoe on looks sort of –cut off– , but seeing a leg with a bare foot at the end, seems to just ‘keep on going’”.

And thus, look at the movements of the great Oriental Dancers; Suhaila Salimpour and Rachel Brice.
Indeed, feet are perfect for a massage, a tickle, or a kiss.

 

[ShadowTklr]

To answer your initial question, there is a difference.

A fetish is a fixation on an inanimate object or body part from which sexual gratification or obsession is derived.

A Paraphilia is a fixation on behavior from which sexual gratification or obsession is derived.

 

[LD_Tickler]

To answer your initial question, there is a difference.

A fetish is a fixation on an inanimate object or body part from which sexual gratification or obsession is derived.

A Paraphilia is a fixation on behavior from which sexual gratification or obsession is derived.

Let's not quibble about semantics and the technical meaning of words, fetish is used all the time to mean any kind of strong/necessary sexual kink.

 

[Darkknight]

1 Foot fetishes & tickle fetishes

I once read, aside from that weird brain thing, that the image of a foot also resembles, in some subconsciously recognized way, the curvature of a woman's body. So, that's another theory for why so many people like feet, and also why it seems to be a male-dominated fetish.


2 On "hard-wired" fetishes...

Yup, I think that's why my favorite part on a woman to tickle is her feet, the soles remind me of the curvature of a woman's body subconsciously. If their feet aren't ticklish, I do lose most of the interest in them unless they rub their feet on me, it's like having them rub their body on me. Which would I rather have? Her body rubbing on me. I like licking on a woman's stomach or breasts so hence the licking of her soles feels the same but only if she has ticklish feet. I get bored just licking a foot that brings no reaction to a girl (my ex). Hence I'm not a true foot guy. Same with licking toes, if they aren't ticklish, I don't want to do it. Exceot if it really turns her on... yet to meet a girl like that.

On the hard-wired fetish... well I am hard-coded/wired. I can not remember why, I could say my incredibly beautiful childhood babysitter may have started it but I don't ever remember her tickling me or visa versa as a little tiny tot. I do remember as early as Kindergarden I liked seeing women's feet tickled. Being a child in the 70's, I saw a lot of women in nylons but I hate tickling feet in nylons, I have to rip them off. I just don't get alot of things with my tickling fetish. I have a huge tickling fetish with a small order of foot fetish.

Funny thing is, I hated feet in general most of my life. I was in a conversation with a girl and she brought up a guy she dated that was into feet, she thought it was gross and asked me if I liked feet. I told her, I don't smell feet (I do find that gross) and I don't suck toes but if you have ticklish feet... you're dead meat. She laughed and that seemed to be easier to accept. Girls that I've dated accepted tickling over foot fetish, granted, all but 1 or 2 werent ticklish.

Ok I'm done rambling...

DK

 

[LD_Tickler]

On the hard-wired fetish... well I am hard-coded/wired. I can not remember why, I could say my incredibly beautiful childhood babysitter may have started it but I don't ever remember her tickling me or visa versa as a little tiny tot.

That's what I mean by not hardwired. I thought by hardwired was meant born with it. I'm saying, like you seem to be, that fetishes develop because of experience, in your case the babysitter, not because of being born pre-determined like that.

 

[Mitchell]

Very interesting subject, Crystal. Being someone who has both a foot and tickle fetish, I''ll chime in here.

In my view, while there is certainly some crossover between foot fetish and tickle fetish, and while myself and some other forum members have both fetishes, I also think that the two fetishes can be, and are at times, seperate.

Some forum members, as well as other people who enjoy tickling, aren't particularly into feet. Their main fetish is just tickling, to enjoy tickling, of any body part they can tickle, or get tickled on. They dont focus on feet.

Conversely, true foot fetishists alone, who aren't into tickling, can feel completely satisfied by seeing feet, touching feet, kissing feet, licking feet, and sucking on toes. They dont need to tickle feet, to feel sexual or personal satisfaction. Their fetish is just that, feet. There are some foot fetishists, both male and female, who hate to be tickled, or hate tickling, as a whole.

So, while the crossover effect is certainly there, I dont believe this is always the case.

Mitch

 

[LindyHopper]

I actually watched a tv show that said the nerve center in the brain for feet is right next to the nerve center for genitalia.

Excerpt:

Brushing the skin of the penis as well as of the big toe and the lower abdominal wall evoked significant focal activations in the contralateral primary somatosensory cortex

That's interesting, and would explain why people might find stimulation of their own feet arousing. However, since foot fetishism involves someone else's feet, and not necessarily even touching them, I'm not sure that genital proximity in the somatosensory cortex should matter. People don't find typically find noses sexy, even though their nerve center is adjacent to the very sexy eyes and lips.


Anyway... I've posed this question to a lot of foot fetishists, and every person had a different answer. I think this fetish, like most of them, simply means different things to different people. While it's interesting to ponder where it comes from, I suspect there won't be generalizations that apply to foot fetishists overall.

 

[Diego]

Absolutely agree with Mitchell

Very interesting subject, Crystal. Being someone who has both a foot and tickle fetish, I''ll chime in here.

In my view, while there is certainly some crossover between foot fetish and tickle fetish, and while myself and some other forum members have both fetishes, I also think that the two fetishes can be, and are at times, seperate.

Some forum members, as well as other people who enjoy tickling, aren't particularly into feet. Their main fetish is just tickling, to enjoy tickling, of any body part they can tickle, or get tickled on. They dont focus on feet.

Conversely, true foot fetishists alone, who aren't into tickling, can feel completely satisfied by seeing feet, touching feet, kissing feet, licking feet, and sucking on toes. They dont need to tickle feet, to feel sexual or personal satisfaction. Their fetish is just that, feet. There are some foot fetishists, both male and female, who hate to be tickled, or hate tickling, as a whole.

So, while the crossover effect is certainly there, I dont believe this is always the case.

Mitch

I agree with Mitchell

I love female feet, I love tickling and caressing and even bitting them. I am absolutely turned on by this, and also, my feet are extremely ticklish and sensitive and I love when a woman give me the treatment! It seems that in my case I love feet and tickling as a ler, as a lee and as an observer as well.

However, I know many women who think feet are very sexy, they like to walk barefoot, they like to wear very open sandals and flip flops but think that tickling is nonsense, either they are not ticklish at all (in their feet) or they think tickling is something weird and not attractive at all.

I remember a vey sexy woman I dated in College,with fantastic feet who liked to go barefoot and she felt very sexy while doing it, and once I caressed or tried to tickle her sole she said UH? what are you doing? She enjoyed to show her feet but they were not a really erogenous zone (as her back and neck).


I know a couple of women (my wife and an ex-girlfriend) who started enjoying feet because I was very interested, so they somehow "learned about it". In these cases they even started to like to see and touch (and kiss, lick, tickle) MY feet.

I definetly know women who think feet are sexy and tickling is not. I know others who think tickling is either sexy or too torturous or interresting who are not into feet.

So, I think its difficult to establish a pattern, anyway it seems that there are a significant number of people who find feet very attractive and tickling them a good excuse to be in contact with this desired body part
Just my view
Diego

 

[badreligion]

idk if theres a connection between a foot fetish and a tickle fetish but i think the reason tickling and feet go hand in hand is mostly cause * at least for me * when growing up i would watch the Ninja Turtles and one of the bad guys on there used tickling as torture and it would always be on the feet so i think maybe seeing it at a young age imprinted into me as well as otheres maybe

 

[Darkknight]

That's what I mean by not hardwired. I thought by hardwired was meant born with it. I'm saying, like you seem to be, that fetishes develop because of experience, in your case the babysitter, not because of being born pre-determined like that.

I was guessing the babysitter but I'm actually saying that I am hardwired with this fetish. Sorry for the confustion, it was late night.

DK