Double Standard?

[DMTHero]

I've been thinking about something recently:

Most of us know someone who is gay. It's a part of the time we live in. And that's fine, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. Generally, people today are fine with that. In fact, a lot of people, even straight people, seem to go out of their way to show just how pro-gay they actually are. You know what I'm talking about. Now, these people tend to preach open mindedness and whatnot.

At the same time however, a foot fetish is generally regarded as a bad thing. I had it brought it up an Abnormal Psychology class just at a mention, and the majority of reactions were something along the lines of: "Ew." and "That's weird." Have any of you experienced this? Am I alone in feeling like this?

 

[tehalienfetus]

I feel that anything that people aren't accustomed to will be off putting to them. I'm not going to try to analyze someone who has a feces fetish, just as someone who finds feet utterly disgusting, wouldn't do the same for someone with a foot fetish. I guess it's just whatever peels your banana.

As far as comparing it to being gay, there are a much larger number of homosexuals (I assume) than there are with a smaller, lesser known fetish like tickling. It's just difficult to compare apples to oranges.

 

[Mash]

Yeah. You're kind of comparing apples to oranges here.

Tickling, or at least Foot Fetishism is much, much, much less common than homosexuality. Plus, the gay community has gone through far more hardships in the past compared to your average fetish. It was practically a witch hunt before modern tolerance came into play.

These days people are viewed upon as intolerant or bigoted if they frown on homosexuality. That's the difference. Nobody is going to call someone else an uneducated, intolerant hick if they think licking feet is weird.

It's unfair, but that's why nobody knows about my tickling fetish. It's not quite as... out-there as people would probably view a foot fetish, but it would still raise a few eyebrows, and I'd prefer to retain my anonymity in that regard. Sometimes you just have to suck it up and deal with it.

 

[poly27941]

I think it's a problem of conformity. My ex-girlfriend knows my foot and tickling fetish (although she isn't ticklish :cry 😛issed ) and she's accepted this "originality" :stickout ...but I think that she speak ill of this in public. Homosexuality was accepted after years and years of homophobia, because Homosexuals suddenly say:"That's enough!". And they could entry into the conformity. I think that we'll say "that's enough!" sooner or later 🙂

 

[CSOUPKID]

A lot of people are just afraid of fetishes. A lot of people have (unhealthy) hangups about sex in general. If a fetish does not harm yourself or others, there is nothing wrong with it. The only thing I wonder about is when someone is obsessed with their fetish to the exclusion of everything else sexual. I don't think I am a foot fetish person, but, I do enjoy pretty feet. I had a girlfriend that asked me one time if I liked her feet, and not just to tickle them. I took a second look at her cute little feet and explored them with my tongue and with kisses. It was nice. She enjoyed it too. She was a redhead with small, pretty, well kept feet. In my world, feet go with the rest of the whole package!

 

[drew70]

On a collective level, people were generally revolted by the concept of homosexuality just a few decades ago until political movements began forcing society to accept it. This was done at several levels but most effectively in public schools and universities.

So if you want foot fetishism to be accepted, you need to find a way to associate it with political correctness, anti-bigotry, etc.

 

[Oblivion]

So if you want foot fetishism to be accepted, you need to find a way to associate it with political correctness, anti-bigotry, etc.

It was practically a witch hunt before modern tolerance came into play.

As Mash said, it was practically a witch hunt for a long stretch of time. Still is at times, depending on which level of the government you're dealing with. No one asks on a form "Foot fetish? Can't serve in your military." There are no coy, round-about questions in interviews to determine if you have a foot fetish, and thus shouldn't be hired because of that. Unless you're applying to a shoe store or something. =p

It's something behind closed doors that shouldn't, and doesn't, affect the larger majority of the population. There isn't a need to promote tolerance for anything specific beyond "Whatever floats your boat." The only time in recent history I can think of a foot fetish coming out into broad public view was the wife of the NFL Jet's coach being in a foot fetish video for her husband. He got made fun of a lot for it by other teams, if I remember correctly. One player in an interview tried to say 'feet' as many times as he could in an interview without it being too noticeable. He was ultimately fined or benched or something.

But Rex Ryan didn't lose his job. =p

tl;dr
Comparing fruits to feet.

C wat I did thar

 

[tehalienfetus]

Comparing fruits to feet.

C wat I did thar

Nerd. ;]

 

[Critical Kai]

A nerd? On the internet?

 

[tehalienfetus]

A nerd? On the internet?

Gimme' dem cheeks.

 

[Kalamos]

Comparing fruits to feet.

...

XD

...

It was so wrong on so many levels it hit XP cap without even doing optionals.