The Flip Flop Girl

I guess the only hesitation I have with this group is how children might be involved. I believe I was told that kids can go to the group's site for documentation that it is indeed not illegal to go barefoot in public places, etc. I suppose I just would be careful with children and adults interacting in all this. Sounds like it's all fine and on the level from what I can tell but such as thing as a focus on feet is a slippery slope, don't you all think? Clearly, there are adults among this group who can't help but think of more than just pure and innocent barefootin fun--it's only human nature. With that being the case, it's seems like the best way to go is to just keep the kids out of the equation. Or am I over-reacting? I don't know.
 

You raise some interesting points. Although I'm not a member it appears the Society for Barefoot Living is on the up and up. Their focus, asyou say is on barefooting and not on feet. That is an important distinction. I'd be willing to bet, however, that there are some members who have more than just an interest in barefooting when it comes to feet.
As a parent the best thing I can say here is that pedophiles and deviants can be anywhere. You have to know what your kids are doing and who they are doing it with. No organization or group is inherently safe. Most pedophiles are able to abuse children because they associate with them and win their trust. How many headlines have we seen seen about priests and teachers who have abused young ones? Parents have to have very frank discussions with their kids about what is and what isn't acceptable behavior and what they can and can't do online. They also have to let their kids know what they should do when they encounter an unacceptable behavior.
 

I suppose what I'm wondering is if it would be better to just let kids be kids and, if they want to go barefoot, fine. But don't give it unnecessary focus.

I think it's like something that you really can't organize and package with adult mentors. Sort of raises a creep factor to me that's hard to deny completely.
 

It all goes right back to the unique position that feet enjoy in our society unlike any other body part.
The SBL site, the "Parents for Barefoot Children" site, the Running barefoot site, and the Barefoot Hikers site all are about the joy and healthful benefits of barefoot life.
Any sexual content is strictly forbidden.
Just because some people have a sexual interest in feet or even more specificaly bare feet does not mean that other children or adults should be denied the simple pleasure or barefoot living.
Should a teenage girl be told not to go barefoot in public because a dirty sole lover may rape her?
NO! Not any more than she should be told to wear a Burka for similar reasons.
There are far more people (I won't throw out any of my estimated percentages any more)
that enjoy going barefoot than there are lovers of bare feet!
It will be a little difficult for the FFG to understand, because as a sexualizer of feet but not necessarily a lover of barefoot freedom and feelings, the typical all around barefooter remains a mysterious concept to you.
But, with your already demonstrated open mind you will understand.
I am a good example.
All my life I have loved going barefoot, independant of any sexual interest in barefoot females.
I also have loved female bare feet as far back as I can remember.
During most of my high school and college years, I believed that the two concepts were entirly seperate.
I thought it a pure coincedence that I loved going barefoot so much and also loved the barefoot feet of women.
I had in the past even contemplated: What would I prefer in a woman, one who went barefoot everywhere, or one who accepted me going barefoot everywhere. I even further wondered: Would I be happier with the barefooter of my dreams if she hated male feet and required me to wear shoes, or a nice girl with ugly feet who never let them see the light of day, but encouraged me to go barefoot everywhere.
Fortunatly, I never had to make that choice.
I think that being a normal productive member of society and mainting high standards for myself as well as any women in my life has allowed me to not have to make such a compromise.
I am impressed with how the moderators, membership commitee, and members of the SBL have been able to maintain such a pure barefoot site for so long.
The fetish oriented members that enjoy barefoot life keep all of that to themselves, as do I.
I have been involved at many levels in maintaining barefoot access to public places for people, strictly as a barefooter, and not a fetishist or lover of feet.
The website of the SBL is maintained as an information site for all barefooters, with the promotion of acceptance of bare feet as one the the primary goals.
The member's discussion group is mostly adults, with an occasional young person chiming in, but still is strictly about barefooting with no hints of sexualization.
Rachel, as long as I have been hanging out there, and chatting with members, and meeting them at the get togethers, I have never heard of any lurking child predaters even being suspected.
There have been some contacts via e-mail of adult to adult interests in meet-ups, but to my knowledge none have been "creepy" in orientation.
The SBL is not a place to explore the sexuality of feet. It IS however a place to gain confidence in the barefoot everywhere lifestyle.
You are probably more interested in intelectual discussion of foot love and experiences then in general barefoot life topics.
That is the thing that first drew me to your blog. The fetish sites I find boring, and not really my cup of tea. The true barefoot sites are a very important part of my web life, but I keep it all clean and only chat about aspects of my family's barefoot life.
In your blog, we don't just exclaim:"WOW. great sole pics! Lets see more! I'm a sole man, can you dirty 'em up for me? Sexy feet Rach!"
But, are not afraid to embrace the sexual attraction that we have towards feet, whether flipped, flopped, or bare, decorated or plain, clean or dirty.
If you were to decide that you did want to go barefoot more often on more varied surfaces or in more of a variety of situations, the SBL would be a good membership for you to gain, and you would join with the understanding that you would keep all the sexual stuff out of it.
If you decided that you were interested in chatting with a certain member, you would- but most likely you would find that if you brought up a more "enhanced" interest in feet that whether it were a guy or a girl you would be politly told that it is not their thing.
I really doubt that a barefoot teen that after viewing the site decides to join, and subsequintly writes posts, would encounter any personal sexual messeges.
It's good to be concerned, and no, I would not consider it over reacting, but in my opinion your worries are not warranted.
 

It's good to know that you feel as confident in the SBL as you do. I have no problem with them. I was just putting out some thoughts about whether or not the group needed to include kids or not. I think if a kid were allowed to just go about life, barefoot like Huckelberry Finn or not, he or she would do just fine. I like the idea of adults needing a group more than any kid ever would. Maybe a way for that adult to get back to the simpler times of childhood. A great way to socialize and support each other. So, whether kids really need all that is up for debate as far as I'm concerned. But those are just my thoughts. I'm open to hear more.
 

The kid can't.
That's where the SBL comes in.
Between teachers, overly cautious parents, and fraudulant signs at stores, the barefoot kid no longer exists.
Also, when I speak of kids using the site to gain the info needed to justify barefoot access to school, etc., I am thinking of the 12 to 17 year old.
That is well past the age of the "Huck Finn" type that you describe.
I don't believe I have ever seen a member under the age of 15, and even they are rare.
Usually they are trying to get information to present to their school principle after their parents have already accepted their barefoot lifestyle, but have encountered resistance at the school administrative level.
 

thanks for the info. it would be interesting to look up some news about schools resisting barefoot kids. i think it comes down to a safety issue for the schools. restaurants and other businesses probably want to avoid any risks as well even if it doesn't make that much sense.

there is something to be said regarding safety. if a really heavy box could theoretically fall on my foot, i'd want to be wearing proper shoes. shoes do have a place in our society and work places. i'm sort of playing devil's advocate here, i know, but feet are vulnerable in many ways. i've suffered from being barefoot at the wrong time so i know.
 

Wow, I'm almost being pushed up to the top rung of my SBL soapbox!
To be fair, let's only compare bare feet to flips, sandals, and heels.
I must warn you, I have prevailed in many retail and municipal venues!
Long story short, if injury or liability is the issue, PLEASE remember to remove any of the above footwear and continue on barefoot!
Devils advocate?
To the SBL membership, you are sounding almost like Satan himself!
You really should check out the SBL site thoroughly.
We have succesfully debunked all of your worries numerous times.
The FFG would be much safer and healthier if she became the BFG.
 

boardster, you silly boy, you ARE the soapbox. but you love that. i think your intensity on this whole issue proves what a fetish it for you--which is fine.

but the next time i'm in a situation where i feel at risk, i still don't see how i'm going to want to be barefoot! sorry, barefoot boy, this hardcore barefootin is not for me. the sand, a nice foot path, the occassional lobby, okay, but not barefoot all the time. just not getting it.
 

The members who REALLY are big time barefoot rights advocates, who have successfully sued libraries, pharmacy chains, banks, fast food franchises, etc. don't have a fetish metatarsal in their collective bodies!
I am small time compared to those die hard fighters of first amendment rights.
I am pretty much a fringe member, but for the most part a tireless worker for the right to bare feet(not to be confused with second ammendment fighters for the right to bare... er,.. bear arms.)
As I said before, there are MANY more hard core lovers of the barefoot lifestyle than there are of bare feet.
You are not a barefoot enthusiast, and admittedly "don't get it", but as a female fetisher of the foot you are actually a much smaller minority than the all around barefooter is.
Nothing wrong with that, vive la differen'ce!
 

Boardster,
This all proves an interesting tangent to my main focus which is how, we as a society, stuggle with our sexual tensions and how it manifests in the worship of the flip flop.

Your main focus obviously is being barefoot. The problem with your arguements is your propensity to bolster your observations with pseudo-science. You want to put a percentage to everything or you want to rush to make unsubstantiated claims.

What I'd like is to just have to state your feelings. What makes you happy about feet. What turns you on about them? Describe what that is like. You should admit that you have a foot fetish. That would be something. You seem to want to hide behind all this research, all this data you've collected. I'm saying all this attention you've given barefooting proves a fetish is there of one form or another (which is cool.) You obviously, have very deep feelings about feet and you want proof that you're not alone in this and that your feelings are proper and even backed by science.

Truth be told, a person who just happens to like to go barefoot just goes barefoot here and there and leaves it at that. A true foot fetishists/foot lover, takes it much further. Makes demands on society (which can be a good thing) and makes pronouncements about his barefooting (which can be long winded, but who cares, it's fine.)
 

I guess where you and I differ is that I believe man's sexual interest in woman's feet is at least as common as homosexuality is.
I also believe that in primative cultures man had no sexual interest in breasts.
In addition, through my years of friendship with members of the barefooter community, I totally disagree with your claim that the radical barefooter must somehow be sexually involved as well.

I thought I had made it clear that it is just the use of the word fetish that is in question, and that I have been up-front most of my life with regard to my sexual interest in the female foot.
We each have our talents, mine lie not in the arts, but instead in the sciences.
I have been conducting research on feet as they are involved in sexual attraction for over 40 years, and consider my work to be as scientific as any other research available on the subject.
As a psychology major in college, I read every account on foot fetishism ever published in the English language.
None of that interfered with my regular indulgence in loving women and their feet.
I have'nt hidden my interest since high school, and unlike some "creepy" types out there I have lived out my dreams continously throughout my otherwise rather normal life.
With my personal interest in bare as opposed to flip-flopped female feet, my interviews have been rather limited-maybe a few thousand barefoot everywhere people.
Sampling flip-floppers might prove even more variable, as the ubiquitous fashion trend likely would include every possible feeling about feet there is.
 

boardster, sorry for the delay. i did want to write back to you and encourage you to publish your findings in print and/or your own site-that would be cool. or talk about it more here or on your own blog. i know you started your blog on a lark but maybe that's a good place to flesh out your concepts. i'm afraid you're getting all to bogged down in being "scientific" or attempting to sound like some authority. it makes me wonder. i don't claim to be an authority. i just write down my observations and what i feel and, sure, i speculate. i think you speculate too and you shouldn't think that's not credible or any less legitimate. for instance, i don't agree with your declaration that breasts were not naturally something man found sexually attractive about woman but that he was more tunred on by her dirty feet. you are turned on by dirty feet and i just don't think you need to cling to this early man theory. just enjoy dirty feet is what i think. why do you need "scientific" justification. just a thought. but if you do have some compelling information, maybe you do need to share it in some organized fashion.

so, boardster, you say you're a scientist--or you're in some related field? whatever the case, i would loosen up and try to get more in touch with your feelings and your writing might become that more smoother. i wouldn't try so much to prove someting. yeah, i think that's what i mean.

also, you claim to have read all the literature there is about foot fetishes. i'd love for you to share more on that. what i wonder, if you have read all this, why it would be difficult for you to embrace a more fluid definition of having a foot fetish. clearly, you have one. by that, i mean, a well-above average interest in feet to the point of obsession-- which i think is just fine, just own up to it. you say yourself, time and again, that you have a sexual interest in feet. all this adds up to a healthy foot fetish.

as for the whole "barefooter" culture, that's cool. i obviously enjoy barefooting as much as i care to. my contention is that there is a sexual component and that it is natural and fine. i just don't see how something so sensual, the bare foot on various surfaces, can not be sexual.

i love feet and always will and i think we all should accept the sensual/sexual pleasure involved.