May I pose a question to you? Have you ever just stood up and looked directly down before? For those who have never done such a thing, I implore you to perform this action right now. You see those lumpy pieces of flesh that are apparently connected to our ankles right? Now I know what you might say, "What are these hideous monstrosities connected to my legs?!" But before doing anything too drastic, let me hopefully attempt to explain what these two lumps of flesh and bone are before you.
To those uninitiated with these lumps, what we have connected to our leg is what we call a foot. A foot is defined as "...an extremely complex anatomic structure made up of 26 bones and 33 joints that must work together with 19 muscles and 107 ligaments to execute highly precise movement." To simplify this, a foot is in essence a structure that helps us performs such simples tasks that we barely think about. To some, the natural act of moving at a regular pace by lifting and setting down each foot in turn, never having both feet off the ground at once is something that happens with no other thought put into it, also commonly referred to as walking. We take our feet for granted too much. Now that you know what in the living world is a foot, let us delve into the history revolving around our feet.
Dating to about 40,000 years ago, it is hypothesized that shoes were first invented. I'm sure most people know or even seen a shoe before, but may not be able to clearly define it to others. Wikipedia defines a shoe as an item of footwear intended to protect and comfort the human foot. Previously our concepts of a shoe was just a piece of gear, an utility thay we used to protect ourselves form our natural outside environments. Now however, shoes have a greater meaning than previously. Our concept of shoes now view them as a sign of status, with people buying collector shoes from the brand for what is viewed as lots of money. The name Jan Ernst Matzeliger is prominently thrown around when discussing our modern idea of shoes. He is credited as the modern inventor of shoes with the proper structure.
Dating back all the way to ancient China, the social status of women was completely composed of their feet. For the "most beautiful" women, it was believed that women with the smallest feet were considered the most elegant and beautiful out of everyone. This so called social norm would then develop the concept of foot binding. For those uninitiated, foot binding refers to the concept breaking and tightly binding a young girl's feet in order to change the size and shape of their feet. As mentioned previously this was to give these women their "status" among others who did not have their feet bound. However this practice did leave to women's feeting being both malformed and caused them extricating pain during the process.
Let's now delve into the more, "kinky" side of feet. Foot fetishism is the pronounced sexual interest in feet. This type of fetish is the most common that associates some type of sexual arousement with what most consider a non-sexual body part. This type of fetish in addition has multiple other branches that goes into the more risque maneuvers not for the eyes of little and innocent children to see.
With the advent of the internet, the "peak" of feet history has occurred with the creation of a website known as Wikifeet. Wikifeet was created all the way back in 2008 by Eli Ozer, who wanted an online collaboration where people who share his interests could could share picture of celebrity's feet. The dedication put into this website is astounding, where the user can search for feet using multiple filters such as size, popularity, and nationality in addition to other various markers. Back on 2017, it was estimated that 3 million people used the website over the course of the year. When considering that this was just a small online project, the response and interaction from said site is high and continues to grow.
The history of feet in one that is vast and ever expanding just like any other topic. Feet are an important part to humans in general, as it helps us perform what we take for granted as "normal" or "mundane" actions. Hopefully this chapter was able to inform you, the readers how important feet are. Next time you just stand up or walk to get a cup of water, just reflect on why you are able to do so. Appreciate your feet that you are given, never take them for granted and make sure to take care of them.
Author's Notes:
53 followers...
This is a complete surprise to me. I would have never expected something like this to happen. When I initially began, it was just for the fun of it all. But here I am now.
I just want to thank everyone I have met along the way. You know who you are. You guys have legitimately made me feel happy and I consider y'all as my friends. I am very grateful for everything you have done. Once again thank you guys for everything.
Until next time, later guys.
