Then, now, or both. The mind of a barefooter.

Unofficial Poll here:

How many people out there went barefoot regularly as a kid and still do now?

or...

did you discover barefooting later in life?

or....

did you "get it out of your system early" (in which case your probably not reading this forum... but the choice remains)

 

when i was younger i went barefoot all the time and i thought it was the coolest thing, but now for some reason, i prefer to wear flip flops & sandals and have my feet clean & pedicured. grungy feet doesn't do anything for me, besides i haven't seen anyone else barefoot for years, stores hassle you about it, people stare & ask you about it, just doesn't do it for me anymore.

 

I NEVER went bf as a kid, in fact, I didn't until my mid 20's. Now it's prefered. I could care less what other people think.

 

The very idea to go barefoot outside never occurred to me until I was just clicking around on the internet and found the newsgroup alt.lifestyles.barefoot (now almost gone, a few people still post there every once in a while but mostly it's just spam). It wasn't that my parents or anyone had ever forbidden me to go barefoot outside; it just had never, ever, even for one second, come up. I had never seen anyone barefoot outside their own homes or apart from beaches/pools, I just wore shoes because I didn't know anything better. When I read about it, I immediately knew I wanted to go barefoot too. Unfortunately that was November, and a pretty cold one, so I waited until spring but I didn't forget or anything... so come spring I started to shed my shoes, first for a couple trips to the woods and on my way to the store, and put on my shoes when I went inside. But I did that only for a week or so, then I found I looked more silly putting my shoes on & taking them off than just being barefoot, so I stopped that. That was almost nine years ago and I've rarely worn shoes since.

 

I've always loved being barefoot as long as I can remember, but there was some shyness along with it. Not until my mid 20's was I able to feel comfortable wearing flip flops and going barefoot in public.

 

My experiences pretty much mirror Barefoot-Boy's. I have always had a foot fetish, so I can distinctly remember enjoying seeing girls barefoot from a very young age. And I liked to be barefoot at home, but it wasn't until my cousin Nathan from Australia came and stayed with us for a month when I was around 12 or 13. He would always be barefoot, and one time he came with us to the store and didn't put on shoes. I remember being amazed that he would even think about doing this, and my dad came down on him for it which I thought was unfair. But it planted the seed in my head. From that time all the way through high school, and to this day, I am always on the lookout for other people who are barefoot in public.

When I moved up here to go to college, and had my own apartment, that's when I first started to go barefoot outside myself, and did so for several years ono and off. Then I found flip flops were sort of coming back as more than just a "beach accessory" and I swtiched over to wearing them when I needed to.

 

Ditto the above for me, pretty much. Since I was about 5 years old I had a fetish for people who went barefoot outside a lot but was too shy to do it myself. I envied those who did, and tried to hide my fetish because I thought people might think it was taboo. Also, my status-oriented parents were terrified about bare feet and thought I would get tetanus, catch cold, and make the family look "poor". My mother would scream, "If you go barefooted you're going to die!!" They even made me wear shoes inside the house! My feet were in shoes so much that they were malformed, stinky, and the veins were popping out because the skin was so thin it was nearly transparent. They were constantly itchy and there were fungus infections all over. I had bad posture from walking on weak deformed feet. Ironically my mother also screamed at me about my posture- "You're body is like a shrimp, stop hunching like that!" Finally I left my parents at 17 to attend university and by 19 I was barefoot almost all the time and still am today at 36. I now just don't care what people think about it- I enjoy it very much and I don't need to be socially accepted by the uptight shoe police anyway. I think the people who make a big fuss about it have secret foot fetishes themselves and they are just envious and frustrated like I used to be under all that damaging social pressure. Since going barefoot, my feet, posture, and confidence have all improved 100%. I forgive my ol' mother because she just didn't know any better. She came from a snobby upper class military family. I believe that the most advanced society of the future will go barefoot everywhere in fair weather and laugh about how humans once made it a social requirement to wear shoes in public.

 

I find it really interesting that Matthew, Sweet Dream and myself have foot fetishes, have always loved going barefoot yet were shy about appearing shoeless in public.

 

Yeah, I am the same way. I have a tremendous foot fetish, and when I was young, I never ever would be barefoot except while showering. That was it.

When I was about 15 I started to sleep barefoot, then around 20 I got my first pair of sandals. I was still shy about people seeing my feet in public. But after a while, I got over it. And it wasn't till spring of this year that I started barefooting out of the house.

Now, it is nearly impossible to get me to put anything on my feet.

 

You know, I have always known that my shyness about being barefoot was one of the facets of the shame I felt early on for having such an "unusual" interest in feet. For a long time I thought I was strange, creepy, shameful, etc. because I was so attracted to feet, both my own and women's feet. So it was not coincidental that I discovered my own interest and desire to go barefoot outside at the same time I was coming to grips with the fact that having a foot fetish was a completely accepted and unique personality trait and learned to love that part of myself.

 

i didn't discover that shoes were "the norm" until I went to school. We always went barefoot.. unless it was winter, or you had to go out to the shop (stuff fixing area)... or you didn't want cow shit on your feet. haha. Such things don't matter when you are a kid though and the cow shit never hurt me. It always ended up getting mixed in with the dust and mud and grass, so you couldn't tell where one started and the other ended. Grandma kept a bucket of rain water for foot washing on the front porch anway. The dog never wore shoes, so I didn't see why I had to.

As an adult? All summer I am barefooted... unless I am in the city. I don't enjoy cement under my feet as much as the dirt. But even in the city, I only wear shoes if I feel I have to... like if I am going to a restuarant or something. Back home, in town, shoes are never required... restuarants, the bank, grocery store.. no one cares.

Basically, I'm barefooted unless i feel shoes are required (and then its just flat flip flops) or until the snow sets in. Ohio is great for this... been here over 2 years and have only worn real "inclosed" shoes once (crazy snow storm last year)

 

Well people... my intended point is this: Most people, not all, but most, that have a later in life fixation with bare feet were denied the chance to go barefoot as a kid. Anyone else agree?

 

Yes, I mostly agree and would like to add that the fixation with bare feet probably started as soon as denial became a factor and grew larger as a result. Those with a predisposed foot fetish who were denied the chance to go barefoot as a child, either through external forces or by self-induced guilt associated with sexual pleasure, developed a fixation early on that, through its secrecy and taboo, grew in intensity and persisted later in life- sometimes to the point of arresting their sexual maturity. Those allowed to go barefoot as a child, on the other hand, probably got it out of their system early on and their sexuality was then allowed to fully develop. That's why if I ever raise kids it's going to be in the country, on a farm or in a small ultra-progressive barefoot-friendly town, far away from cities or mainstream society.

 

I wore shoes as a kid. I discovered barefooting quite by accident a few years ago while spending a cold winter weekend at the beach in sandals. One on my sandal straps broke and the rest is history. I spent a pleasant weekend walking barefoot. The temperatures were in the high 20's and low 30's. The unexpected 3 inch snowfall on the last day was a challenge, but I quickly discovered that I was able to walk barefoot in the snow, provided that I kept the snow off the tops of my feet.

 

In my case, my mom was always barefoot, and so were my sisters. For some reason, though, I was foot-shy...and was often teased about it by my mom. At some point, I got over that and embraced my love of bare feet and going-so...and now still do so allmost constantly. Ironically, now my mom hates it it me and in others...saying it is socially graceless.

 

I always went barefoot and also have a foot fetish since my early teens. my parents didn't always agree but knew I was head strong and would do it anyway so they let me have my way.

 

I was a country bumpkin growing up. We ran around barefoot all the time as kids. Didn't even think twice about it. My grampa used to call me his "little hillbilly". LOL.

Then I grew up and thought I HAD to wear shoes...after all...everyone else did.

But then, over the summer I went to the Rainbow gathering and didn't wear shoes (they were a hassle), the rest is history.

 

All of my folks are from the country were you didnt have to wear shoes. i grew up in the suburbs, but as they say you can take us out of the country, but ya caint take the country outta us.......i NEVER wore shoes as a child and my mother said that i would kick and scream so bad when she would try to put on mshoes that she jsut stopped and any place that wouldnt let me come in because i wasnt wearing shoes, my family would boycott them for treating a child like that....in high school i was only barefoot at home, but when i was 15 we moved back to the country wear the norm was to go to the gas station with no shoes or shirt so i got used to how it was when i was a kid again....now because of FUCKING urban sprawl it is no longer country where i live, but i still dont change and all of the city folk that have moved out here and cut down our trees, they look at me funny and try to give me a hard time and then i just tell them to go back where they came from ro else leave us country folk alone lol.....peace......

 

I started going barefoot in my teens. I really can't remember when or why. By the time I was in my mid 20's, when ever I was home I was barefoot. I live in the northeast so we have very cold winters, but over the last 2 winters I continue to go barefoot. It's just very comfortable for me.

I wouldn't say I have a fetish, but I always thought women looked sexy barefoot. I really dig a pretty girl wearing jeans and barefoot. I think that is such a great look.