Foot Fetish-Written for Breakoutbeatz.com

Foot Fetish-

By Nina Foxx

I don't buy clothes, I buy accessories, specifically shoes. I have shoes for every occasion, including going to the supermarket. I hate grocery shopping,so adding a little pizazz to my shopping outfit makes it easier for me to get there every week and avoid a mutiny by my always hungry family.
        I thought the shoes I'd chosen for the task were no big deal; snakeskin strappy shooties in an almost natural color. They felt good and looked just as good and after I put them on, I skipped happily from aisle to aisle in modern hunter-gatherer style, filling my basket with staples while I alternated between chatting on my iphone with my sister and humming "Like a G6" to block out the MUZAK. I'd reached for some turkey bacon and found my path blocked by a middle-aged, pot bellied, average, suburban looking man. His blue shirt was interrupted by his technology access badge and his khakis were riding just a hair too low around his hips. His lips were moving. I looked around me. We were the only people in the aisle. I pulled my headphones from my ears.
        "Were you talking to me?" I asked.
His mouth spread into a grin. "I was just saying that your shoes were cool."
The unthinkable was happening to me. This man was violating the unspoken supermarket silence rule. I stood there at a loss for words. Was this a pickup line?
        Just then, a little girl came flying out of the cereal aisle. "Daddy, Can I have these? She was clutching a box of Captain Crunch.
        "I'm not gay or anything," he said. "The shoes are just hot!" He grabbed the cereal from his kid and tossed it into his cart, then walked off, leaving me standing there with my mouth hanging open.
        At first, I thought that perhaps he didn't get out much, or maybe he was married to a marshmallow sole wearing, orthopedic shoe-type woman, but then I started to wonder what sort of man notices a woman shoes? I mean really notices them and appreciated the efforts we go through to tip around on our toes in the name of fashion? He didn't say, "those shoes make your calves or butt look hot". What he'd said was my shoes were hot.
        I asked a few men that I know about it. I tried to take a random sampling. One or two are absolutely what you would call "Manly- men", a few others more uber-sexual. (These seem to care more about their appearance, or at least let us know they care).
I was told that some men have foot-fetishes, specifically, women's feet, and as such, they absolutely noticed the shoes a woman puts on her feet. So, then, wouldn't this be a shoe fetish since typically shoes cover the feet?
        I also had a man or two tell me that they love women's shoes so much, they loved it when their girlfriend was naked and wearing nothing BUT shoes. One gentlemen even admitted that he admired the diversity in shoes that we women enjoy. What was this about?
        The more I asked, the more I realized that it wasn't just us women who like shoes. I know plenty of fellas who complain that their woman's shoe collection is encroaching on their closet space, but does this mean that deep down, men enjoy our shoes as much as we do?
        I'm at the car dealer today, wearing my car dealer shoes, a neutral-colored (nude is big this year), strappy cage sandal by Jimmy Choo with four inch heels. Fellas, if you see me, weigh in, that is, if you can catch me. Don't let the high heels fool you, though. There's a lot more to this sistah than her feet.