On this week’s ‘So You Think You’re an Adult’, one man admits to feeling concerned about his foot fetish.
“I’m so drawn to feet,” he told Moncrieff. “This time of year is a nightmare for me – I keep staring at people’s sandals and flip flops and getting aroused by their toes.
“It doesn’t even have to be women’s feet, even a man’s foot is attractive, even though I’m not bi or gay.”
The listener said he has never been with someone who accepts his fascination with feet, so he has tried to “smother” his strong desire.
“Is it normal to be totally distracted by them?” he asked. “I even look at the floor of the bus, scanning for sock-free feet and hoping I can sit next to or opposite someone who isn’t wearing a full shoe.
“It’s a desire I can’t squash.”
'Body maps'
Broadcaster and writer Barbara Scully did some research on foot fetishes and found they were more common than she expected.
“I wasn’t sure foot fetishes were actually a real thing, [but] one in seven people have fantasised about feet in a sexual way at least once in their lives,” she said.
She said a doctor in the 1950s tried to create a “body map” - which said the sensory perception for our feet is located directly adjacent to the sensory perception of our genitalia.
“That can explain the sexual fascination many people experience with feet,” she said.
Host Seán suggested it isn’t a problem if he just wants to look at feet – but Barbara said “he would imagine doing more than that if he got the opportunity”.
“You’re going to need to find someone else on the same level as you,” she told the listener.
'People are into what they’re into'
Broadcaster Declan Buckley simply said “people are into what they’re into”.
“Whatever you’re into, that’s normal. That doesn’t mean everyone has to be into it,” he said.
He said people shouldn’t feel too insecure about their sexual preferences.
“When people get fixated on a certain thing, they then worry someone else is going to either shame them or laugh at them,” he said.
“[But] there’s nothing weird about wanting to touch your partner’s feet.”
Barbara suggested finding Irish websites for people with foot fetishes “to meet other feet” - or buying a fake foot online.
“No, that’s just weird,” Declan said.
You can listen to 'So You Think You're an Adult' every Thursday on Moncrieff.
