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I heard that crossed wires theory and I just don’t believe it. For me the simplest explanation is that there’s an entire industry built around selling sexy wome

I heard that crossed wires theory and I just don’t believe it. For me the simplest explanation is that there’s an entire industry built around selling sexy women’s footwear (heels) that draws attention to the foot, so it really shouldn’t be a surprise.

kevin_thibedeau 6y ago
Why would shoes be considered sexy?
tsimionescu 6y ago
Your theory doesn't explain male foot fetishism at all. Personally, I believe this has much more to do with the taboo nature of feet (as they are usually seen as dirty), similarly to other fetishes (e.g. urine). Foot fetishism is by no means a modern phenomenon driven by advertising.
- trhway 6y ago
  >taboo nature i think everything that is closed/covered becomes such a taboo/fetish. Feet have been in shoes (and under a long dress for women) most of the recent times. Give a couple years more of the mask regime and lips/noses would become taboo/fetish too :)
jjk166 6y ago
Seems more likely that a massive industry popped up around selling sexy footware (as opposed to say sexy satchels or sexy mittens) because there was a substantial demand for it. Perhaps the success of the industry has reinforced and perpetuated the belief that feet are sexy, but it doesn't make sense that some industrialist woke up one day and said "I'll make an extremely impractical shoe and sell millions by convincing the world it turns people on"
- FooBarBizBazz 6y ago
  Side note: Women's heels, in Western Europe, evolved from shoes worn by Persian cavalrymen; they were designed to stay in the stirrup. You still see something similar in "cowboy boots". Women appropriated the shoes as a symbol of empowerment at a time when other "butch" fashions were being borrowed (e.g., epaulets). That they made intimidated clomping noises as you walked around was half the appeal. Then the shoes became more and more "feminine", culminating in the "stiletto", which takes its name from a dagger used to finish off armored soldiers. So they've always been symbols of violence. Which makes all the more ironic that their wearers experience feet aches and leg problems, and view them as tools of male oppression. Maybe you should just stop clomping around in the things. They ruin good marble floors, make loud noises, and pain me just to look at. The whole point is for riding a horse. If you're off a horse, then it's like walking around in ski boots.
  - FooBarBizBazz 6y ago
    "Intimidated clomping" should have been "intimidating clomping". She who clomps intimidates.
  - ducharmdev 6y ago
    Do you have a source for this? Not that I don't believe you, but just curious about the history.
    - FooBarBizBazz 6y ago
      Sure: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21151350 https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21151350
agency 6y ago
Yeah the whole "mapping of brain region to concept" feels very over-simplistic so it's hard to know what to make of it.
- hackinthebochs 6y ago
  Are you saying the concept of brain mapping locations is overly simplistic, or that crossed wiring could cause a foot fetish? The brain mapping is well supported: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortical_homunculus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortical_homunculus.
triceratops 6y ago
I thought the appeal of heels is that they force a "sexy" stance. Rather than how they frame the foot itself.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- hkt 6y ago
  Yep, this is true: it lengths legs, changes posture etc. The higher the heel, generally the greater the effect.
pochamago 6y ago
Speaking as someone with a rather odd fetish and no convenient origin story, crossed wires has always made the most sense to me. For a great many of the people I've spoken with about their fetish, it doesn't have a obvious spark or societal pressure, it's just something they've been attracted to for as long as they've been a cognizant human being.

kevin_thibedeau 6y ago

Why would shoes be considered sexy?

tsimionescu 6y ago

Your theory doesn't explain male foot fetishism at all. Personally, I believe this has much more to do with the taboo nature of feet (as they are usually seen as dirty), similarly to other fetishes (e.g. urine). Foot fetishism is by no means a modern phenomenon driven by advertising.

trhway 6y ago
>taboo nature i think everything that is closed/covered becomes such a taboo/fetish. Feet have been in shoes (and under a long dress for women) most of the recent times. Give a couple years more of the mask regime and lips/noses would become taboo/fetish too :)

jjk166 6y ago

Seems more likely that a massive industry popped up around selling sexy footware (as opposed to say sexy satchels or sexy mittens) because there was a substantial demand for it. Perhaps the success of the industry has reinforced and perpetuated the belief that feet are sexy, but it doesn't make sense that some industrialist woke up one day and said "I'll make an extremely impractical shoe and sell millions by convincing the world it turns people on"

FooBarBizBazz 6y ago
Side note: Women's heels, in Western Europe, evolved from shoes worn by Persian cavalrymen; they were designed to stay in the stirrup. You still see something similar in "cowboy boots". Women appropriated the shoes as a symbol of empowerment at a time when other "butch" fashions were being borrowed (e.g., epaulets). That they made intimidated clomping noises as you walked around was half the appeal. Then the shoes became more and more "feminine", culminating in the "stiletto", which takes its name from a dagger used to finish off armored soldiers. So they've always been symbols of violence. Which makes all the more ironic that their wearers experience feet aches and leg problems, and view them as tools of male oppression. Maybe you should just stop clomping around in the things. They ruin good marble floors, make loud noises, and pain me just to look at. The whole point is for riding a horse. If you're off a horse, then it's like walking around in ski boots.
- FooBarBizBazz 6y ago
  "Intimidated clomping" should have been "intimidating clomping". She who clomps intimidates.
- ducharmdev 6y ago
  Do you have a source for this? Not that I don't believe you, but just curious about the history.
  - FooBarBizBazz 6y ago
    Sure: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21151350 https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21151350

agency 6y ago

Yeah the whole "mapping of brain region to concept" feels very over-simplistic so it's hard to know what to make of it.

hackinthebochs 6y ago
Are you saying the concept of brain mapping locations is overly simplistic, or that crossed wiring could cause a foot fetish? The brain mapping is well supported: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortical_homunculus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortical_homunculus.

triceratops 6y ago

I thought the appeal of heels is that they force a "sexy" stance. Rather than how they frame the foot itself.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
hkt 6y ago
Yep, this is true: it lengths legs, changes posture etc. The higher the heel, generally the greater the effect.

pochamago 6y ago

Speaking as someone with a rather odd fetish and no convenient origin story, crossed wires has always made the most sense to me. For a great many of the people I've spoken with about their fetish, it doesn't have a obvious spark or societal pressure, it's just something they've been attracted to for as long as they've been a cognizant human being.