Foot fetishism

), treatments (such as massaging, washing partner's feet or painting partner's toenails), state of dress (e.g., barefoot, flip flops, boat shoes, ballet flats, sandals, high heels,[4] clogs, hosiery, socked feet, etc.

[14] Foot fetishism may be caused by the feet and the genitals occupying adjacent areas of the somatosensory cortex, possibly entailing some neural crosstalk between the two.

[15] Neuroscientist V. S. Ramachandran proposed that an accidental link between these regions could explain the prevalence of foot fetishism.

[16] Desmond Morris considered foot fetishism the result of mal-imprinting at an early age, the tactile pressure of a foot/shoe being important in this.

[21] Some researchers have hypothesized that foot fetishism increases as a response to epidemics of sexually transmitted infections.

In one study, conducted by A James Giannini at Ohio State University, an increased interest in feet as sexual objects was observed during the great gonorrhea epidemic of twelfth-century Europe, and the syphilis epidemics of the 16th and 19th centuries in Europe.

[25][26] The Hindu god Brahma was aroused by the sight of Parvati's feet in the eighth-century text Skanda Purana.