SPEAKING OF FOOTWEAR | |
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Be it boot, sandal, or sneaker, the humble shoe has had a long and
noble sex life.
In the world of fashion, what you wear on your tootsies says a lot
about you.
But in the bedroom, it can say even more. Throughout the ages, footwear has been fetishized almost as much as feet, and like any self-respecting fetish, footwear kink is elaborate and varied. It's not a one-size-fits-all proposition; fans of tasseled loafers are unlikely to get hard at the sight of running shoes, and more than a few boot fetishists have narrowed their love objects down to particular brands. |
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Every species of shoe has its own erotic overtones. Dress shoes gleam
of sex
with businessmen with ties askew, suit trousers undone, getting sucked
off
beneath office desks. Battered work boots, on the other hand - er, foot
- are
more butch, reeking of sweaty, shirtless construction workers with
girders in
their jeans. Trainers seem younger, just the thing for horny
homies or
homo college boys, and sport-specific shoes, such as football boots,
have a
masculine mystique all their own. (I'm sure someone somewhere even gets
hard
at the sight of bowling shoes.) Guys whose specialized tastes veer
toward
rubberwear idolize hip-high waders or fireman's boots. And cowboy boots
speak
for themselves - with a twang. Where does all this pedestrian perversion come from? Some of it no doubt stems from way back in childhood, while some of the erotic heat depends on a yen for the specific sort of guy that a specific sort of shoe symbolizes. But when you get right down to it, devoted footwear fetishism should probably be approached with a "who-cares-why-as-long-as-it's-hot" attitude. "There is something so public about shoes, but so intimate at the same time," one footwear fan says. "A guy's shoes mould to his feet - they smell of him. If I'm turned on by a man, I even get off on the way his shoes' heels have worn down." Some fetishists get off by putting shoes on themselves. One man I know of has a huge collection of Converse hi-tops; just lacing up a pair makes him feel sexy. But for most footwear fans, shoe adoration has a bottomish tilt. Stroking and sniffing a warm pair of shoes is just the thing for many a shoe pig, and the really piggy crave shoes that are moist and smelly. Yes, that guy at the play party with his face in the sweaty leather high-top is just exactly where he wants to be. Kinkier? Full-fledged boot worship is a popular sport among leatherman circles. Bottomboys will caress, kiss, and lick their masters' motorcycle boots, and the hardest-core will greedily lick the soles. Masochistic subs love to feel a lugged sole pressing into their flesh. There are even devoted SM bootblacks who'll polish your shoes for the sheer love of it. Some shoe play is more directly dick-centric, of course. Many a twisted fellow has used a shoe as a jack-off aid, caressing his hard-on with shoe leather, sometimes shooting his load on the insole. And bondage enthusiasts have been known to use boots as ball weights, laces looped firmly around stretched-out sacs. While it's safe to say that anything made by man probably holds sexual delight for somebody, whole legions of footwear fanciers love the soles that keep our feet off the ground. Whether deck shoes or DMs, skateboys' Airwalks or shiny penny loafers, shoes are going to get guys going. Shoe play? Just do it.
Simon SheppardSan Francisco artist and activist Simon Sheppard is best known for his contributions to the erotic literary scene. He wrote hundreds of stories that appeared in S/M magazines; erotic anthologies; and over twenty editions of Best Gay Erotica and Best American Erotica. His Sextalk column has appeared on OutUK for more than 20 years. You can find out more about Simon Sheppard in this OutUK feature and tribute, or take a look at some of his many books that are still available:
Looking for something very sexy and just as smart? Man on Man collects the best and hottest gay sex writing by Simon, who is also co-editor of Rough Stuff: Tales of Gay Men, Sex, and Power as well as a collection of gay erotica called Hotter Than Hell. In KINKORAMA : Dispatches from the Front Lines of Perversion he takes readers behind the unmarked doors and black vinyl curtains that lead to the sometimes shocking, often hilarious, relentlessly arousing scenarios of extreme sex. There are also stories of bears in Tales from the Bear Cult: Beat Bear Stories from the Best Magazines. | |
