He said this, 'I want to kiss it, smell it, worship it'

The four pairs of used shoes that women writers from the midday newsroom put up on sale for this article The teal peeptoes and strappy leather flats received maximum queries PicsAshish RaneWithin an hour of putting up two pictures mdash one of strappy black leather sandals and another of black suede kitten heels mdash this writerrsquos chat wall on a site selling secondhand buys starts beeping furiouslyMaalkin writes one user later identified as User A He says he is a 36yearold male in a southern Indian metro Itrsquos one of many similar terms he will use in the course of the chat mdash ranging from lsquogoddessrsquo to lsquomarsquoamrsquo mdash to make an aggressive pitch for the wornout flats While efashion stores are offering 50 per cent Diwali dhamaka discounts that week this gentleman yearns for our olderthebetter womenrsquos shoesUser A harbours whatrsquos termed a foot fetish A more modern way of terming a fetish is partialism coined by Dr Martin Kafka in the 2010 issue of the Archives of Sexual Behavior Itrsquos a sexual interest with an exclusive focus of a specific part of the body he writes And specific sexual interest in feet may not be as uncommon as we think Dr Debra Laino a sex therapist and educator based in Delaware America is the author of Sex Therapy 101 She says in an email interview that while there is no good estimate of how widespread fetishes are as most are still underground foot and shoe fetishes are very common There is a historical piece to feet ankles and toes being an erotic area to this day if you look at fashion and how we dress up the feet women specifically she addsAnd for some Indian men the fetish plays out on ecommerce platforms where used items are resold Within two hours of putting up a pair of black kitten heels Rs 550 black leather sandals Rs 450 teal suede peeptoe wedges Rs 400 and sand heeled suede boots Rs 1500 we received 15 responses Of these enquiries only one was from a womanTypical questions put to usincluded lsquohow old are theyrsquo lsquocan you send pictures of the solersquo lsquocan you wear the shoes and send a picturersquo The more worn out the betterCarrying a mild lingering odour of your skin PerfectCaliforniabased psychosexual therapist Dr Sara Nasserzadeh says ldquoOld shoes come with a sense of smell Smell is the deepest sensation that we have For instance couples come to us and say I just donrsquot want to make love to my husband Then they realise that he has changed his colognerdquoMost buyers donrsquot shy away from telling you they want old shoes But few will be honest Some will give the excuse of a girlfriend Others will say they wish to donate to an NGO But why donate an old pair No response Instead there is a return to the transaction at hand lsquodo you want to sell themrsquoOne user through two days of conversation insists he wants to buy a pair only to clean them It turns out cleaning is an important part of the playAs revolting as it may sound used shoes feel and taste different Moreover they need maintenance which makes it all the more excitingrdquo says a 32yearold medical practitioner from Pune requesting anonymity We call him User BCleaning he explains is usually done with the tongue ldquoI venerate the shoe mdash kiss it smell it worship itrdquo he types matteroffactly on the portalrsquos chat windowThe two fetishes are closely connected we donrsquot know what exactly turns someone on mdash the leather and texture or the impression of the feet Unlike animals who lead a sexual life humans are driven by imagination making it an erotic liferdquo explains Deepak Kashyap counselling psychologistmidday writer What do you like about feetUser A They are beautiful I love to be under them Being under them is adoration of the womanBoth users that midday spoke to over the course of 10 days were men with foot fetishes and submissives or the weaker one in dominant sexual engagements For both the fetish was something they began to acknowledge around the age of 12 ie just as they hit puberty User A says he realised he liked to ldquoview feetrdquo and enjoy their shape and sizeLaino says that while therersquos little connect between foot fetish and typical BDSM behaviour ldquoSome people who practise BDSM enjoy foot bondage which could be viewed as one layer in the fetish For some there can be a humiliation aspect involved For example a Dom dominant woman partner lsquoplayingrsquo with a Sub submissive male in a way that he is only good enough to touch her feetrdquoBDSM is an acronym for Bondage Discipline Sadism and Masochism and refers to erotic practices that involve four of the aboveExplaining how a foot fetish may play out in the act of sexual intercourse she says that often there is no penetration ldquoIt is the foot that allows the person to reach their erotic threshold And there are differing degrees So playing with sucking decorating the footfeet may be part of foreplay or afterplay While men and women with fetishes can be aroused by other body parts the foot remains their erotic pointrdquo she addsUser B says ldquoBeing a submissive I like to be lsquotrampledrsquo on Trampling is a term used in BDSM for digging shoes onto a person So by say offering a foot massage I am able to be humble and that is a turn on for me Similarly with cleaning shoesrdquo he addsWhat he loves most though is being used as a footstool him bending over and the lady stepping on him with one foot ldquolike a victorrdquoItrsquos a practice neither User A or B have been able to explore with their partnersUser B who had an arranged marriage two years ago says that of the 50 pairs of used footwear he had stashed away at his workplace none belong to his wife ldquoShe knows about my fetish but not about the fact that I purchase shoes onlinerdquo he says His wife has had a more conservative traditional upbringing ldquoso it wasnrsquot easy to confess to herrdquo He adds that he made her watch videos and read up to help her understand ldquoIt was great as long as it lasted which was the first oneandahalf months after we wed Then I realised that she is not comfortable with the idea and I never tried it againrdquoItrsquos for this reason that User A remains single and unsatisfied in regular relationshipsAsked if he had ever shared his fetish with women he dated he says ldquoNo Just been normalrdquo He admits itrsquos a bit claustrophobic but itrsquos a necessity ldquoOccasionally I may have adored their feet for a momentrdquo Marriage is not a possibility because he wants dominant women and ldquoitrsquos hard to find Dom girlsrdquoUser B first chanced upon used shoes on OLX while browsing the site for other items ldquoI like the anonymity of online shopping The interface makes it easier to talk to sellersrdquo he saysIt has been two years since he started buying shoes on the portal ldquoBut I always tell the women upfront that Irsquom a guy with a fetish of sorts Most get horrified and disappear Some ask what I do with them I tell them I collect themrdquo he says The desire to make a quick buck eventually brings them back ldquoItrsquos purely business I pay them and they need to ensure the shoes reach merdquoHowever there have been times when the item didnrsquot match his expectation but he has never returned a pair or complained ldquoA deal is a dealrdquoThe industry is also promoted by women who regularly sell used footwear online to well make an extra buck while decluttering One is a seller in Noida Uttar Pradesh ldquoI used to work for a footwear business and ended up with a lot of shoe pairs This was a good way to discard themrdquo says the woman who put up the shoes on sale regularly for two years However when a job shift made new footwear hard to come by she logged off the site ldquoIn the past I would receive requests from men who would claim upfront that they needed it for their fetish I would turn them down saying itrsquos meant for womenrdquo says the 30yearold However she does admit selling it to men who would claim lsquothey wish to gift the pair to their girlfriendsrsquoOne of the users that we chanced upon was a man in it for the moneyHe says he was introduced to the industry via Facebook ldquoI now buy pairs at low price and sell them at a profitrdquo Old socks and stockings can also fetch a premium he saysAs most passions go this fetish comes at a financial cost User A knows that itrsquos cheaper to buy ldquowell used shoes with feet marks and dirtrdquo for which people wonrsquot charge much He usually pays between Rs 100 and Rs 500 for a pairThe medical practitioner sets aside Rs 3000 every month from his budget to shop onlineCurrently his collection includes 50 pairs that range from classic stilettos to patent leather boots brogues and even sneakers ldquoI havenrsquot yet discarded any because the older they get the better they become Just like winerdquo The most expensive pair that User B has bought are Italian boots for Rs 4000 ldquoI donrsquot let my expenditure go beyond Rs 15000 a year I donrsquot want this to overpower my other needsrdquo