WTF is this "Barefoot" thread??

I was reading a thread on people who got turned on by going barefoot, or got stared at, or felt like outcast.

WTF??? I was raised in the south and we didn't wear shoes except in school. The bottom of my feet were like cow hide. I could walk on broken glass - me and everybody else. My g'father didn't get shoes until he was a teenager.

One dude was saying he got a boner going barefooted. Where I come from, it would have looked like a pole vaulters convention if everybody barefooted had a boner.

Then came the 60's and 70's and who the fuc* needed or wanted shoes?

Is it just me or are any other old hippies dumbfounded??

 

i'm a young hippie from the rural south (not so rural anymore, unfortunately) and I never wore shoes growing up. I wore shoes when i went to school and church and when it got cold outside and that was about it.

 

Bless you child. There is hope.

 

Yea I'm young and I don't get why its such a big deal to go barefoot.
I'm from the north and as soon as it got warm out I was barefoot unless being in a place that I wasn't allowed to be.
Its funny though, now that Im in the south I wear flip flops more then I go barefoot. After the 3rd or 4th time of my foot swelling up to a cantaloupe after 15-20+ fire ant bites and staying up all night for a week itching I decided I needed a lil protection.

 

haha those fire ants can be a bitch...so can asphault that holds in 100 degree heat day after day in the dog days of summer. I remember walking on asphault barefoot used to turn into a competitive sport. My friends and I would see who could stand to walk on the road the longest before running towards the shade or someones grassy yard.

 

Boners from going barefoot? Sounds like many a young fella who went woody from a light breeze.
Bare feet are best. I hate having to wear shoes. I find I have to wear them more places (health dept. rules) and the more I wear them, the more I need them. I have tennis shoes, but sandals in the snow has been known to happen. How else do you know what green grass or cool river rock really feels like?
Oh, and socks are over-rated too!

 

I still don't wear shoes exept to school. I can't go into Mcdonalds anymore though. (Why would I want to though? Euurgh. The only thing I can eat from there is the salads. Xp)

 

Hahahahah I used to do that too. I especially love walking barefoot when i'm high. The sand feels incredible.

 

There are a few different mindsets contributing to this site. Some are fetishists who get aroused by going barefoot or hearing about others doing so. That's the group your comments refer to. Others are people who enjoy life without shoes and want to exchange experiences and observations with others. I fall into that group. Then there are some who are curious about the barefoot lifestyle and are trying to find out what it's all about. There are probably some other mindsets out there as well.

 

Thanks "straight toes" for the clarification. What we don't understand we tend to dismiss. My comments were tongue in cheek as this is something foreign to me. What you find intriguing I find odd. What could be more harmless. If you enjoy it - go for it!!

 

I'm young and I used to go barefoot all the time, and I'm from a Northern city (but up until recently Pittsburgh had a more Southern type attitude, if you ask me). I only stopped because of how common broken bottles became on the sidewalks +_+

 

I started wearing shoes more after a friend got a major staff infection from a tiny piece of glass. Of course he didn't go to the doctor at first, but 48 hrs later his foot was swollen and painful and he was was practically delirious with fever. The doctor said another 12 hours and gangrene would have set in and they would have had to amputate his foot.
Another 24 and he would have been dead.

ZW

 

Consider the many more who go barefoot all the time without ill effects. I've gone barefoot on city streets (NYC), restrooms, etc. and I've picked glass out of my callouses and never got an infection, etc. While I can't say there are no bad effects from cuts, etc. different bodies have different reactions. I don't doubt the seriousness of your friend's experience. Was he diabetic? With restricted blood flow to the extremities should not go barefoot.

A common mistake for newbie barefooters is over doing it. Going all day barefoot in the spring can result in blisters and soreness then swearing off going barefoot. Your feet will adapt to the environment, but it will take time.

 

I first heard about "barefooting" when I came to this site. Although I am barefoot about 99% of the time, I wouldn't refer to myself, or anybody else referring to me as a barefooter.

You can be barefoot all the time and not have it as a highlighted point in your lifestyle. Where I come from, we refer to "barefooters" as hillbillys.

 

Whatever.

 

Man Ive actually burnt the bottom of my feet from walking on asphalt barefoot.

 

I love being barefoot. I mean I guess I dont take the barefooters lable, but I like going barefoot. It just feels right I guess. Lol.

 

Yeah, his immune system prolly wasn't the best...he was a pretty heavy boozer.

I've personally been poked, scrapped, cut, stabbed, and flayed in some less-than-sanitary situations (never go barefoot in a bar bathroom) and I've never had anything happen, but when I was a kid I got enough tetanus shots to last 3 lifetimes I think...
Every time I stepped on something rusty, the adults would say "Uhh,oh you better get a tetanus shot"..and off to the clinic we would go.

ZW

 

Those shots freakin hurt if I remember rightly.

 

Me too. Pheonix, middle of summer, just running through the parking lot from my car to the grocery store entrance.

ZW