San Francisco is one of the most notoriously naughty cities in the world. We champion progressive politics and generally serve as a towering paragon of tolerance. We also boast a singe-your-tongue sexuality, red-hot and raunchy.
So it’s not surprising that people of all shapes, sizes, and kinks make their home in our city. And if podophilia, or foot fetish, is your thing, you won’t have trouble getting your kicks.
As a recent transplant from the beautiful bowels of Brooklyn, I’m no stranger to kink, but foot-fondness seems particularly puzzling. When you’ve got feet like mine — bony, calloused, and usually ringed in mud — the concept of someone cuddling them with their cock is, well, a long shot at best. I’m not sure if I’m ready for a foot-focused romping, but I’d at least like to be an acceptable contender.
Podophilia makes me ponder so many things. Why feet? What do people with foot fetishes get out of it? And how do they find feet to worship? But first I had to find podophiles who’d be willing to talk to me.
I decided to start online with Craig.
In just the past week, 11 Craigslist ads for foot slaves went up. From those ads, I made contact with three foot worshippers.
Fernando* is a 42-year-old gay Latino who grew up in Nicaragua; we had our tête-à-tête on the telephone. He traces his foot fetish back to age five. Jesus, I thought I was ahead of the sex curve with my fourth-grade fondness for climbing the rope in gym class.
Fernando says he never had a TV growing up, so he would head over to the neighbors’ house for a daily dose of palling around and watching cartoons.
“Their dad would come home, have dinner, and take his shoes off,” Fernando sighs. “Sometimes they’d invite me into the bedroom where he would pile on the bed with the kids. He’d be lying there with his clothes on, his shoes off, and I was so drawn to his feet. It gave me this really nice feeling.”
In his Craigslist ad, Fernando wrote: “Big plus if you’re the kind of guy who wears thin dress socks and leather dress shoes.” Fernando, I say, that’s pretty specific. What’s the deal?
“To me, it’s the look of the feet as much as the smell,” he explains. “The scent of leather on a man’s feet is very erotic. I don’t want them dirty or stinky, but I do like the smell at the end of the day.”
Socks are also a serious affair. “I find that the thin socks cling to the feet and accentuate the shape. I find that pretty sexy.”
He pauses, considering. “Some guys like the thick stuff you’d wear with sneakers, but to me dress socks are a very masculine thing. It’s not the kind of thing a woman ever wears. And it evokes the status of a professional, someone that pays himself attention.”
As for the shape of the actual foot as opposed to its accoutrements, Fernando digs a “nice, high arch” with “healthy toenails.” Not a shock. Flat-footed, ogre toes need not apply.
He also says that while some guys are finicky about the size of the foot, his only criteria is that feet be no smaller than a size 8 because they start to look too feminine.
And just for the record, he “despises” black tube socks. (But who doesn’t?)
Since we’re being so candid, I ask Fernando to clear up whether foot fetish is a subservient “thing.”
“It’s not necessarily about someone being vulnerable to me, but wanting to be intimate enough with me to offer me his feet. It’s very gratifying. It can be subservient if he’s into playing this role, but that’s not my thing,” he explains.
I started to worry that Fernando might be in a state of perpetual frustration — finding someone to roll around with is hard enough without a thin-sock prerequisite.
Fernando waved my worries into the wind. “I feel like other guys are missing out!” Plus, he tells me there are all sorts of sublime situations where he can check out the goods.
“It’s very interesting to go to a shoe store. It’s a voyeur thing. You pretend you’re looking at shoes while checking out a guy’s feet. Summertime is a good time, I’m always salivating. I can be a bit too obvious. Then they look to see if something is wrong with their feet!”
But I wanted the nitty-gritty. Is the foot worship part of foreplay or its own act entirely? Is it quid pro quo?
Fernando showers them with wet kisses, toe sucking, ardent sniffs, and moan-inducing massages; a worship sesh lasts about an hour.
“To me, foot worship is both foreplay and an act in itself. I can climax by just that. I could forgo a man’s penis. As a gay man I also like a man’s penis too, but given the choice, I could do [foot play] every day for hours. But no one has that kind of time!”
Fernando shrugs in regards to his own feet being worshipped. “It’s pleasurable, but not sexual.”
D*, a straight, 48-year-old, is the next foot worshipper who agrees to talk with me. We meet up at Bean Bag Cafe on Divisadero. His Craigslist ad stated that “nothing” turns him on more than a woman “fucking my mouth with her pretty toes.” He insisted on meeting in person, but as soon as we meet, he seems anxious, speaking in hushed tones with furtive glances.
Like Fernando, D had his sexual awakening very young — a toddler crawling about his mother’s barefooted friends — but didn’t put it all together until Playboy entered his adolescent mitts and the photographs of women sans shoes made him go wild.
“I like them more dainty — size 8 1/2 or less — well-pedicured, soft, and no dirty soles.”
I tuck my feet under my chair, my face burning rosy-pink.
“For me, it’s appealing because it’s taboo. It’s a bit dirty. Feet aren’t thought of as a sexual thing. I love the female foot and its nice curvy arch; it’s very alluring.”
Unlike Fernando, D digs the subservient vibe. “There is something about a man submitting to a woman’s feet. It’s about not being able to have the woman full-on or just having her feet and legs. There is a sense of withholding.”
D also loves a good foot job. Yup, they’re real.
“My wife lets me play around a little bit. From time to time I’ll post an ad, but very rarely do I find what I’m looking for. The woman has to understand the situation and the perimeters, which may include me masturbating on her feet.”
Fernando and D both explain that while the intimacy of anal sex or intercourse is reserved solely for monogamous partners, they need a variety of different feet to satiate their fetish.
“I’ve been married a long time,” D says, “and my wife was reluctant at first, but we worked through it. It has never become an issue because I don’t let it. It’s better with someone new because I haven’t experienced it yet. It’s sort of dangerous. Of course I still find my wife’s feet really pretty, but the sexual appeal does fade.”
Finally I spoke with HumanRug, a vaguely disconcerting but definitely intriguing pseudonym, who found the conversation I had started on Yelp about foot-lovers. He emails me saying, “It’s hard to explain,” so he wants to send over a video. “No nudity,” he promises. Rats, I think.
I open the video file he emails. The angle of the camera is low; the torso of a goatee-ed man (age 50ish) is splayed across a thick brown carpet. A woman’s legs stroll into the frame and step onto his chest.
She gathers her balance and then begins to rub his face — pretty damn hard — splaying her toes across his eyebrows, stroking his nostrils, beard, forehead, and lips with her feet. The skin on his face ripples with the pressure, distorting his features.
Then… she starts stomping. She’s careful never to come down squarely on his nose, but the sticky thudding sound of flesh on flesh makes me flinch. Her foot comes down again and again.
The face trample lasts four minutes. Good lord, I write him after viewing the video, don’t you end up with bumps and bruises?!
“None at all,” he says. “In fact, this one is pretty ‘nice’ compared to some. My ‘friends’ always say, ‘I don’t want to hurt you.’ Then they get into it and sometimes it’s hard to get them to stop!”
While HumanRug insists his face fears no fouls, he is a bit of masochist — he enjoys pain. “But only from women. There is nothing hotter than looking up at a beautiful woman looking down on you as her foot comes slamming onto your face.”
Apparently he also sells these movies. And makes “a good bit of money,” splitting what he makes with the “model.” If their movie sells.
“You ever do foot fetish stuff?” he asks.
They’re not ready for their close-up, I reply. But thanks for the offer.
Wanna get in on the foot fervor? Check out these meet-up groups below, or swing by Foot Worship in Polk Gulch, your one-stop spot for fuck-me shoes that’ll have any podophile panting for more.
*Names were altered for privacy
