Too Scared?

Wha' happened?......
Hippies went barefoot; men stopped wearing socks all the freakin' time; and more people than ever expose their pedal parts by wearing flip-flops and sandals and clogs etc.
So there's definitely more skin showing. The mini-skirt did it for the torso, so I guess flip-flops did it for feet. "Everybody else does it....."
So why don't people go barefoot? It feels great---why else would people get so devoted to it---but what do "committed" (maybe we should be) barefooters like us have to do to get the rest of the shod world to try? Not everybody will like it---vanilla and chocolate---but how come people got so hung up on NOT doing it???

 

Well I go barefoot sometimes but other times I'm afraid of stepping on something dangerous, my feet hurting, or I feel too shy etc.. like I don't really enjoy drawing attention to myself and walking barefoot downtown does that.

 

Yes, going barefoot in public IS a learning experience, but it IS worth learning. To NOT mind other people. To enjoy being barefoot where others are not. It DOES take time...nobody knows that more than barefooters...but it is so enjoyable and NOT wrong that more people should be trying it out...JUST AS YOU DO!!! Congratulations!

 

One reason being is that society has become so germaphobic, that they are afraid of getting some kind of disease or having their foot poked with a hypodermic needle. As barefooters we all know that is very not likely to happen, the general public is so misinformed when it comes to barefeet, most think it's illegal to drive an automobile or walk into a public place such as an office building or a retail store without shoes. If you ask me I think the popularity of flip flops has pretty much killed barefooting these days. Most often shoddies will pick flip flops over barefeet, due to reasons of hygiene and social taboos.

 

I agree. Totally. But what can barefooters do to get people OUT of that rut? It's all hearsay and false impressions and blah blah blah.

 

If you don't go barefoot then why are you here? No offense, just curious.

 

Yeah man, I hate that! I got AIDS three times last week! It's a good thing rational people are immune.

 

Grab a pair of flip flops and go for a barefoot stroll after dark. I have gone for a few this week and it is great. It really is helping an ankle problem and just feels good. If you find glass, ants or construction, flip flop through the mess and then carry them again. If you go out late enough, about the only people who can judge you are about to drunk drive home.

 

I'm sorry, but that has to be one of the most irrational statements I've heard in a long time. You cannot get aids from walking barefoot. That's patently absurd.

As far as sharp things go, long-time barefooters can walk over/easily avoid very sharp objects (I regularly hike over razor coral) with no harm done. It's simply a matter of having tough soles and learning to walk correctly, rather than using the unnatural gait imposed by shoes.

I've not worn shoes for over 20 years and have literally walked thousands of miles barefoot in major cities on four continents, without a single problem. The perpetuation of myths about barefooting is the leading reason for paranoia (defined as an unreasonable fear) and lack of social acceptance of something (barefooting) which should be as natural as walking.

(Evanescence rocks...)

 

Ok, you're half correct. Allow me to fill in the gaps. There ARE benefits to wearing shoes along the lines you cite, and of course there are risks to going barefoot. There are also benefits to going barefoot and there are things about wearing shoes that not everyone likes.

However, the main reason people wear shoes most of the time is because that's what everyone else does, and unless people are really unhappy while wearing shoes, they'll wear shoes. Those of us who go barefoot on the other hand don't do it in order to avoid being a conformist - we do it because we actually LIKE it. In fact we like it so much MORE than wearing shoes that we would rather have to deal with standing out as different, drawing attention and risking the occasional injury (which is actually pretty easy to avoid - we've got eyes and use them, for a start, and we've also got feet geared by millions of years of evolution to adapt, thicken and toughen).

So to someone who is quite happy wearing shoes, to wear shoes is the rational thing to do as to that person, such as yourself, there are no drawbacks to doing so. But to those of us who do find problems with wearing shoes (myself, I have shoes that are not uncomfortable per se, but my feet get so hot if I've got anything covering the soles, that the heat builds up followed by a lot of sweat and ultimately a very bad smell, so I'm so much more comfortable when I'm barefoot), it's rational to go barefoot. What's irrational is other people insisting that we wear shoes just because it's the rational choice for THEM, but not for us.

 

I've started to reply to this so many times,...
As my mom taught me, if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.
Faelixx needs to find another forum; obviously this is not his/her place.
The streets in my world are not covered with turds, litter, or any of the other "nasties" that supposedly would infect my body and rot it to the core.

 

Let's be tolerant. We can put one post down to curiosity, or even misguided concern. Let's not treat Faelixx as a troll until the 2nd post (with the more aggressive tone) appears.

 

I didn't sat anything nasty. I just don't know what world has all these terrible things that would cause me disease from not wearing shoes. Gettings AIDS from going barefoot??

 

I have been going baefoot for decades and have so far had just one little cut.
Of course, a shoddy might say that's one too many, but the benefits of barefooting (good for your feet, ankles, knees, hips and lower back, and prevents varicose veins) far outweigh the risks.
It makes walking much more interesting, too.

 

I love that phrase. You made my what would be otherwise rather terrible day.

Women... I suck at them. But I think that's for another post, eh?

 

i hurt my hands way more often than my feet, but i think this is not a reason to take into consideration wearing gloves all the time.

 

So then shed your shoes, toughen up your soles and learn how to walk correctly. Your feet and will eventually thank you for it.

 

I wear my birks. if im not wearing those im barefoot in the yard. winter is another story though...

 

Actually now that no-show socks have gained footing everyone is back wearing socks all the time, even in those shoes (such as low-top Chuck Taylors, or Supergas) in which people had never worn socks before (at least not with shorts, lest they be regarded as total nerds).

Except that the so-called no-show socks are usually shown in such shoes, because the shoes themselves are very low, becoming aesthetically questionable.

This makes me think that the mass is actually weirder than the free-thinking individual.

 

Wearing socks in trainers is nothing to do with appearance. It's for health really. Socks can be taken off and washed regularly, so that warm moist environment in which microbes thrive can be controlled and cleaned before fungi and bacteria can really take over. And of course they also provide a barrier between your feet and the microbes that do develop inside the shoes themselves.

How they look is far less important than that.

But of course socks are only a partial solution to that particular problem, and of course they do mean your feet get even hotter.

Just another reason to go barefoot really.