Why are people shy to go barefoot in public?

I honestly don't understand it. I've been reading some random threads on this board and I noticed a good number of people saying they were too shy or scared to go barefoot when people/people they knew would see them. Why?

 

Maybe they know people are judgmental and aren't in the mood for dealing with the crap they'll get?

I have a foot fetish, but I keep it a secret IRL because society has such a negative attitude about it, and I don't want to hear rudeness and people being a$$holes about it, and mockery and such.

 

See I think foot fetishes and simply walking around barefoot are completely different ballparks. I must be lucky, because I've never known someone to give anyone shit for being barefoot. Having a foot fetish is something directly deemed as 'weird' in society--walking around barefoot is something everyone does to some extent, but others choose to take it outside and in public.

 

going barefoot is uncommon.. thats probably why pple feel shy about it.
personally i dont really get the point, but if any of my friends did it, i wouldnt mind it. i would ask them about it tho.

 

I'm not shy.

I walk around school barefoot.

No teachers said anything,
kids thought it was weird though. They tell me that I'm going to get a disease from bla bla bla,
the soles of my feet are so hard, and without feeling, I think I am safe.

I don't know why I do it....my shoes got really really wet one day at school so I took them off, and I just kept doing it. I just think I am generally overlooked, no one really notices.
Whadeva.

 

I agree that they're different, but as Crayola mentioned bare footing around is uncommon too if you're going to be completely barefoot, outside of your property or say, the beach where being barefoot is considered normal. Even someone carrying shoes while bare footing around town might get funny looks.

Yes almost everyone is barefoot to some extent, but choosing to take it outside as you said, is still considered strange by many and may be frowned upon.

 

The weird thing for me is,
I ALWAYS have to wear shoes and socks in my house. It is just how I am most comfortable.
Not outside, though. I prefer not to.
I often walk into places with 'no shoes-no service' signs barefoot, and service has always been given....

I am invincible!

 

i didnt even know signs like those existed. wth. people made signs saying "no shoes-no service"???

 

Oh, yeah, they're all over the place. I just ignore them.


I guess come to think of it, when I walk around the school barefoot people occasionally tell me to put my shoes on or that it's gross. I just ignore them, though.

 

The signs exist a lot in the USA in retail shops and malls and restaurants. I have never seen them in Paris or Australia, except footwear is required in some of the clubs and pubs over here.

 

It's an American thing. Never seen those signs anywhere else.

 

I'm not shy, I just have really bad feet.

 

Yes, but you're probably also a cute girl. Cute girls can get away with anything. With men, it's entirely different.

I've always wanted to do an actual study. Send a bunch of men into malls, shopping centers, restaurants, whatever and see how long it takes some self-important security guard or other employee to kick them out for being barefoot. And then, immediately afterward, send in a group of gorgeous girls with the same absent footwear, and see if they ever get kicked out. My guess is they wouldn't.

 

That was my big problem before I just started going barefoot everywhere with no big problems. Only once have I been told that I shouldn't be barefoot, but I wasn't kicked out.

 

You'd have to do it twice. On another day in an another shopping centre do the same thing with the girls going in first. In fact you need to do it in many shopping centres to get good statistically useful results.

 

Well, yes, of course. If I were going to do an actual study, and want get sociologically significant data, it would have to involve a much larger sample.

It would require multiple venues in multiple locations. Everything would have to be recorded, such as the names and genders of the enforcing employees, because sometimes even in one location you've got employees who enforce the rules, and others that don't. And I'd love to catch the surly asshole security guard that kicks out the barefoot guy, just because he can, but then hits on the cute barefoot girl.

Also, group size is something that would have to be taken into account. I suspect that large groups of potentially money-spending barefooters would be less likely to be accosted than an individual on his or her own.

You would also want to do mixed groups - boys and girls.

It would have to be a very thorough and detailed study to actually prove that there is prejudice against men going barefoot while women can get away with it, but I think that's what the data would show.

 

dunno why. i am from the country and i used to run around barefoot whenever possible... i mean, its not much of an issue. however, often its simply not practical... for work, in a city, when its cold, etc. i didnt even know that running around barefoot is something special ... until i met a few barefoot chicks on university (but hey, they were stoned half the time, so maybe they just forgot their shoes). is this something city ppl find interesting?

 

Sounds like a campaign to get a dissertation topic approved !!

 

Being barefoot is uncommon these days.
Being barefoot exposes the rest of the foot than is usual (flip-flops).
Being barefoot is physically stimulating.
You're being actively stimlated in public through your soles.
Almost like a physical therapy session...in public.

 

i know people who dont want to be barefoot even though they wear flip flops 100% of the time.

"i feel so damn naked without that little strap, it will reveal my flip flop tanlines!! oh no!!"