Underfoot
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Women struggling to make their voices heard within a fetish community is not restricted to Size.
The Women Who Just Really, Really Love Feet
I was struck by the notion that fetish photos of feet can, like other porn imagery, be divided into male and female gazes. I went to the linked subreddit and I couldn’t discern any distinction, but I have spent so many years averting my eyes from foot-centered Size content that I cannot have an informed opinion.
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Many of the women I spoke to said they experience their foot fetish differently than men, who seem to be more turned on by out-of-context images of feet. “Men can look at a foot and be aroused. A lot of them will even masturbate to just feet. That’s not something that even computes in my head,” said Katherine, 30, who lives in Maryland. Julie concurred, explaining that she likes “what feet do” more than the way they look. Kaitlyn, another woman I spoke to, told me her attraction to feet only occurs if she’s into the whole man.
I feel like I see this trend a lot in size content as well. It’s not a strict rule, of course, but I know we’ve had similar discussions here.
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@blehb When you’ve got subjects of vastly different sizes, it’s often difficult to get all of the Biggo in frame. Nonetheless, I am typically less compelled by a Size image where I can’t see the Biggo’s expression.
In a non-Size context, I have no use for headless or faceless porn images. Not interested in the slightest.
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I appreciate you posting this along with the links! As someone who is constantly searching… it is difficult to find images of male feet that are created for the female gaze.
Truth be told, I feel 10x more shy sharing that I have a foot fetish vs macrophilia … just wish more guys were open to receiving foot rubs ya know
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@SmolChlo I actually talked to an ex about this, apparently many guys have trouble seeing any part of themselves (except that one) as inherently desirable. So when you focus on it they get very self conscious
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From the article:
"Reddit’s multiple foot-fetish subreddits are nearly all created for men—their homepages solely show pictures of female feet, and one of the biggest subreddits, r/FootFetish, warns that “Female nudity is welcome here” but male nudity “is not allowed.”
Giant menmale feet are so gross! They are not allowed to exist ever!"Katherine also feels ashamed of having a foot fetish, which is partly why she never tells her partners about it. “I see a lot of men with this fetish and I think they give it a bad name,” she said. “A lot of them are incredibly obsessive and intense, even creepy.”
It’s eerie how similar this is to the size community. Just change a few words and this could be an article about us.
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@Nyx said:
It’s eerie how similar this is to the size community. Just change a few words and this could be an article about us.
Insecure straight dudes terrified of being thought of as gay ruin everything.
This straight dude loves seeing images of giant cocks. AMA
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On that front I’m actually happier with all fetishes being a bit underground, I like this separate and I don’t want it mainstream.
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@SmolChlo Don’t answer this if you’re not comfortable with it, but I’m curious how much of a role foot odor plays in your fetish. Apparently, the apocrine sweat glands in the soles evoke the same neurochemical reaction that is generated by smelling more conventional erogenous zones.
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@Deedee There’s a long way to go in helping straight men develop better physical self-images, but a necessary step is embracing the (straight) female gaze in every element of society, including fetish porn.
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I don’t know how much I have to contribute, but my feelings around feet are complicated so I figured I’d just share them lol
I definitely don’t think I have an “IRL” foot fetish. I don’t generally mind them, and I find some more appealing to look at than others, but that’s about as far as it goes. Then again, like Chloe said, I think I’m far more adverse to the idea of admitting to a foot fetish than a size one, so maybe I’m subconsciously suppressing something for all I know.
In any case, it’s a very different story when it comes to sizey scenarios. Then I’m totally down for foot play! Part of it is the fact that I’m into almost any body part as long as it’s gigantic, but there is something extra about being down on the floor at his feet where I’m most vulnerable, or about being pinned under a single toe - there’s an extra layer of domination/humiliation/playfulness there that I enjoy a whole lot. I still vastly prefer handhelds, but I think I might actually like foot play over mouth play (not by much, but still).
But I do have mixed feelings about a lot of foot content. For one, I personally have zero interest in them being smelly/sweaty, I’m not into the gross factor in general, and that can be really hard to separate. I’ve even seen some foot fetishists say that it comes with the territory and you can’t have one without the other (I disagree, but a lot of the content still seems to revolve around that aspect).
And then the other downside I’ve found is that I haven’t always had the best experience with the people who are into it. I used to include a bit more foot content in stories, and I stopped doing that as much, in part because I felt like I was getting negative attention - those who commented on that part tended to just demand more and ONLY really cared about that (and I just assumed everyone else wasn’t really into it). I now suspect that my vision of things is skewed, because I’ve run into multiple people who like all kinds of things and yet it was only later on that I realized they liked the foot stuff as well, because they didn’t really talk about it at all (heck, I might put myself in that category). It’s enough of a taboo, even in these subcommunities, that maybe people either are all about it and go ALL in, or they opt not to mention it at all, even if they do like it. Maybe I’m totally off here, just speaking from my own experience!
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@Olo I feel that’s like that’s like solving food inequality by starving everyone. No one, regardless of gender, should have porn play a role in developing a self image. It’s not healthy.
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@Deedee There’s porn and there’s porn. I’d like to know what images arouse women.
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@Olo One of the best things I have learned in life is that nothing arouses women and nothing arouses men. But many things will arouse the woman or man you’re with. Watch how she reacts to things, talk to her, and experiment. No woman worth being with will begrudge you for trying something for her enjoyment that didn’t work.
What I have learned is that no one likes the excuse “Other man[or woman] liked it so I thought you would” oooh was that an awkward night that I’d rather not have had.
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@Deedee I 100% agree with this when it comes to individuals in relationships. It’s a joy in and of itself to discover what makes your partner tick 🥰
But I do think that on a broader level there is some value in differentiating the types of preferred content between various groups of people and exploring what makes people tick on a greater scale (ie the conversations about male vs female gaze). It doesn’t cover any one individual’s preferences universally of course, but there are some trends that I think are worth discussing. Maybe particularly if you’re a content creator or something and you’re trying to cater to a group. It’s fun to talk about in any case!