From: Don Weber Subject: Re: Survey for Barefooters Date: Tue, 18 Oct 1994 12:39:11 -0400 Darren Richardson writes and I respond: > 1. Insurance companies notwithstanding, why do you think > the sight of bare feet in public make a significant portion > of Americans uneasy? Bare feet are usually coated with dark grimy dirt from the street. Most Americans hate dirt on any part of the skin. Furthermore, most people think adult human feet are ugly. I can only guess why. I think they are conditioned. When they see a bare foot they also smell a bad odor. This is because most often the first sight of a bare foot is when it is removed from a shoe. Vary rarely do members of the shoe wearing majority see bare feet that do not smell and very rarely to they see any smelly thing that is not ugly, so their conditioning is never challenged. The other reason is that feet encased in shoes most of the time are indeed sightfully ugly. At best they have no chance to be tanned by the sun, and at worst they are full of bunions and corns. I have yet to see an ugly foot on someone who never wears shoes, not counting deformities from birth or severe injuries. > 2. What is your favorite thing about being barefoot? It just feels good and wearing shoes just feels bad. I hate the suffocating feeling of shoes and especially sweaty feet. I love exercising the skin on my soles by walking on a variety of textures from grass to glass and the warm stimulated feeling I feel hours after. I also enjoy the attention I receive from astonished observers. My bare feet have started many a conversation. > 3. What do you see as the biggest drawback to going barefoot > in settings where bare feet usually aren't seen? My bare feet cause a controversy at best, and confrontation at worst. Sometimes I want neither. I just want to go about my business and not be bothered. Or at least I do not want to stir up trouble in the group I am in, such as at work. On the other hand, I have never had a problem going barefoot in the woods, so it depends a lot on the location. This is an excellent question. Many shoe wearers may consider the weather, fashion, or type of activity when choosing shoes to wear. My first question is always, "What will people think if I go barefoot? Will I get kicked out, or will people just think I am wierd? The tragedy of this is that I refrain from volunteering with local charities, because I do not want to be hassled about my bare feet. > 4. Do you feel that it's possible for American society to > "get over" it's cultural addiction to shoes and learn to > appreciate barefoot freedom in a wider variety of settings? No, but what I hope to get from most Americans is a tolerance, where they wear their shoes, but let me go barefoot without hassling me or making remarks. This will happen only by educating them. Most of their beliefs that bare feet are bad have no scientific basis. On the Internet, I have seen many stories of store or restaurant owners quoting non-existant laws to persuade a barefoot person to leave. For those anti-barefoot policies that do exist, we just want the policy makers to be honest and rational as to why the policies are necessary. > 5. Do you sense that a lot of people are "in the closet" in > regards to their preference for going barefoot, and if so, how > do you think that can best be overcome? Absolutely! For many years I was in the closet. I often went barefoot only at night and in places where there were few people to see me. I had fears of getting fired from my job if someone from work saw me. A friend of mine had a roommate in college who was afraid to display her bare feet to anyone, because she thought they were ugly. I have heard of others who are even afraid to wear sandals of flip flops in public. While in college and before I wore shoes because my parents told me it was wrong to go barefoot. Later it was because I thought I was the only one. Getting to know other barefoot people, via Internet, or you and Richard Frazine, is the best way I know to validate one's feelings that going barefoot is OK. > 6. Obviously Frazine's book, as well as the Internet, serve > as catalysts for people who like to go barefoot to institute > networks. Do you anticipate continued growth of the network > and do you expect more hikers who prefer shoes to bare soles > to give barefoot hiking a try as it becomes more accepted? Yes. Thankfully, the networks will continue to grow. I believe there are still thousands of hard core barefooters who are isolated or think they are the only one. Furthermore, there may be millions of people that would try to hike 5 miles barefoot just for the experience or to see what it was like. > 7. How do you feel your aversion to shoes has helped you? > How it held you back? I am physically healthier, especially my feet, because I wear shoes as little as possible. I feel better barefoot, so I am more motivated to do things that are not fun. For example, I often work from noon until 9pm. I am always barefoot at my desk, but before 6pm I always put on shoes to go to the lab. After 6pm I walk barefoot to the lab because there are so few people. I do my best work from 6-9pm. My aversion to shoes has definitely held me back. It causes me to distance myself from shoe wearers. I am less likely to ask a shoe wearer to go somewhere with me, because even if they are tolerant of bare feet, they still do not understand, and I am tired of explaining. I already mentioned that I do not volunteer to charities. I might even be a manager by now, but bare feet has given me a non-conformist mind set. As a manager I would be under more pressure to wear shoes at my desk. > 8. You told me about someone's "bar of soap" remark when he > saw the bottoms of your hiking group's feet, and about the > interlopers on the Internet who make less than friendly > remarks about going barefoot. What is your general attitude > toward such remarks? How has your confidence and self-esteem > grown since reading Frazine's book? How do you deal with > perceptions of relatives, friends and colleagues who don't > like going barefoot but who are nonetheless put in the position > of acknowledging your barefoot preference? I thought the "bar of soap" comment was funny. The Internet hecklers made me angry at first, but now I just ignore them and they go away. In the newsgroup "alt.barefoot" the barefooters outnumber the hecklers, are more educated about barefoot issues, and provide more scientific evidence to back their claims. So the hecklers are really nothing to worry about. I read Frazine's just 2 weeks after accessing Internet, so both networks around me started growing about the same time. My confidence and self-esteem grew so dramatically that I even put a personal ad in the local paper, which was titled "Barefoot Hiker" and contained the line, "We both go barefoot outdoors most of the time." I never would have had the courage to put out this ad if I had not known other barefooters like myself. I can generally tell who is open to bare feet and who is closed. The barefoot tolerant family members and friends know all about my barefoot activities and the closed minded ones do not. I don't push the issue too much at work. I also have a circle of music friends. Some of them think it's great, but I wore soleless sandals to a rehearsal one time and really freaked out some people. Sometimes I will wear shoes just to avoid a fuss. > 9. Do you find that people uneducated about the art of going > barefoot keep saying things like "you're going to cut your > feet" or "how can you stand to walk around barefoot?" How do > you respond? Is your response significantly different today > than before you read _The_Barefoot_Hiker_? Yes to the first question. Often I carry around pieces of broken glass from a pop bottle. I break them into smaller pieces, pointy side up, with my bare foot. That usually knocks the bystander from their parental or authoritarian roll. If I do not have the glass, I show them the bottom of my foot and start describing how tough it is. I enjoyed showing off my tough soles to the masses before reading Frazine's book and I still do. But now I have my personalized "Barefoot Hiker" business card and wear the Barefoot Hikers T shirt. These items, acquired after reading Frazine's book, help by letting people know that I am a serious, certified, authorized, or official barefooter, rather than someone who just forgot their shoes. That seems to make a big difference with them. ooooO Ooooo Don ( ) ( ) The "Barefoot Athlete" ) ( ) ( (_) (_)