It's a MASSIVE if, I know, but...

Supposing society changed significantly and bare feet became widely accepted as a normal choice of attire in all aspects of life, and you had the opportunity to never wear shoes again, would you take the opportunity and get rid of all your shoes completely, either by chucking them or by giving them to a charity shop or something.

I certainly would. Getting used to snow would be a challenge before, but once I'd given it a go I could always by some flip-flops for snow, should the need arise, and since snow isn't all that common in this country, except for maybe one or two days a year during the coldest parts of winter I really would welcome this opportunity. Shame I doubt it would actually happen.

 

Snows rather common here in colorado, so I could never go completely barefoot. And I think extreme hiking would also be extremely painful without shoes.

 

I'd keep a pair of shoes. they wouldn't be worn much, but hey, i'd definitely keep some. Don't get me wrong, I hate shoes, but I'd always have the old ones there.

 

How do you define extreme hiking? Personally a bit of stony rocky or slippery stuff can be done quite easily in bare feet. you have a better grip on the ground for one thing and have early warnings of exactly what it is on which you're about to put your full weight. Feet adapt, skin thickens and toughens. I'm quite happy to lose my shoes altogether. I can always buy a pair should the need ever arise. The idea of the situation is, if you wanted to go barefoot anywhere, no-one would ever question it, no-one would ever stop and advise you to wear shoes, however politely. When offered the full freedom to go barefoot wherever I please, I would snap your arm off.

 

i'd still keep a pair of sandals, because i've been hiking in the mountains barefoot, i went three miles down to the creek and i went out of my mind running trying to find shade and smooth surfaces, i laid down in a road once because i could barely make it, so i wouldn't get rid of all of them.

 

On the other hand, supposing you'd gone barefoot everywhere for bloody ages by the time you next went on a hike. Your feet would be in a pretty good condition for it, surely!

Myself I haven't done a lot of serious hiking. I've been on walks, the longest one an 8 mile round trip in Norfolk, which I did barefoot, but it wasn't over particularly challenging terrain, except for half a mile of a really stoney gravelly path with a mixture of large and small stones. That slowed me down for a bit, but I was able to continue easily once I'd got the other side of it.

I really would love to go on a big hike and do it barefoot, preferably sharing it with other barefooters as well.

 

I don't know about snapping anybody's arm off (is that a British idiom?), but I add myself to the list of those who would do completely without shoes and go barefoot 100%. I currently live in Florida, so snow is not a threat. Yes, it's hot as hell on the pavement at times in the summer, but I think that if I weren't ever having to wear shoes, my feet would toughen even enough to handle that. (As it is, I do okay on fiendishly hot pavement, but not hellishly hot pavement.)

I would feel as freed by not having to wear shoes as it would feel to end up on a tropical island like Brooke Shields and whatsisname in The Blue Lagoon. Imagine being alone with some hot girl on an uninhabited island, able to make love and be naked at any given moment of the day! Being able to be barefoot no matter when and where would be a good facsimile of that sense of freedom, for me.

Blue skies,
-Jeffrey

 

I would considering doing it, as long as I could go naked as well.

 

how can you be naked if you wear shoes?

Incidentally, about 'I'd snap your arm off'. It basically means, if someone's holding something in their hand as if to offer it to me, I'd be so quick to grab it I'd take the arm with it.

 

Hey, there man. I considered your opinion, And I really, really support you!
I mean if the whole world changed, it`s doubtless that I would go barefoot All the time,everywhere. I don`t know what`s damn problem with people today, they just look at you as you are a scum, whith no reason. Why should anyone do something like that? However, it`s absolutely NATURAL... And, why does anyone care if we wear shoes or not... that`s our life...

About that winter thing... I went out in my garden and were at snow for 1h.
The feeling was wonderful, though I couldn`t sense my toes... it was c00L
I was amazed when I got in... I had my feet wormt up...and what is more there WAS NO injuries...

WeLL, s0 l0ng, and ENJOY BAREFOOTING, my Barefoot fellows ;-)

Till NeXT timE...

 

Well I suppose snow barefooting is like anything else, if you don't overdo it at first you'll be fine. If we ever get a snowy winter in britain I'll hope to build myself up to it slowly and maybe then i'll really enjoy it.

 

I would go without shoes all of the time if I could but itd take some getting used to. Id rather go shirtless myself cuz thats more my thing and I could always just keep a jacket for when it gets cold and chuck all my shirts and my shoes and my socks while im at it.

Thats the whole damn point, they HAVE no reason to think of you as scum they just come up with a bunch of corporate bullshit or use some sort of non-existant health regulation and if that doesnt work they fall back on the saftey or public morality issue and if that fails then they just resort to the "its my business and I can chuck out anyone I want" speech. I think we need tighter regulations protecting us at many venues from these people so that they cannot merely throw us out or deny us service merely because we are barefoot or shirtless, so long as we have some sort of legal covering on. I support nudism but im just trying to be practical here and compromise a bit, I dont think we will be seeing nudity in most stores anytime soon but being shirtless and barefoot is legal and is closer to being within our grasp.

 

These people just don't understand why anyone would want to be barefoot outside their own home and so they jump to the first explanation they can think of, a one size fits all explanation, namely "must be a weirdo".

 

People should just go barefoot, if enough did it in a single place then theres not much anyone could do about it, theyd just have to accept it and change the rules because its not like theyd wanna kick out all of their customers. I think alot of people should go barefoot into stores where it wouldnt be economically possible to have a shoe rule and people would have to learn to accept bare feet.

 

You're talking about organising a large number of people to do it at once. It could be quite intimidating, and that doesn't help convey the message that barefooters are ordinary and friendly people.

 

I wouldnt want them to gang up on anyone and threaten them, id just want them all to be in one place and all be barefoot there, thats all, they dont even have to be together as a group or even socialize with anyone, just be there and go about their business but there is strength in numbers and one person would have less of a chance of being accepted barefoot than alot of people would.

 

Barefoot is commonplace, isn't it? I seldom wear shoes outside of working times. I don't understand the fuss. Of course I would be completely nakerd if I could that is really wonderful. I believe that the freedom to be naked is a constitutional right and everybody should be forced to spend a month out of every year without clothes. Your skin is the largest sense organ of the body, by dressing it is like wearing earplugs all your life, or black blind-man's glasses. Allow your skin to do its job properly and see what a difference it makes!


Rusty

 

No. I'm of the belief that there are times when you should be able to go barefooted, but also times when it's not recomended. So no, I would not get rid of my footware.. but I would spend more time barefooted.