I was very proud to announce on Saturday the creation of a special new group called The Primalfoot Alliance. It is the culmination of months of planning, discussion and contemplation. For those of you who'd like to know more, I figured I could share some background on what has brought us to this opportunity.I've been barefooting in one form or another since Spring 2005, and the entire time I saw a problem: discrimination against feet. While many barefooters throughout the world find immense benefit from living life unshod, they often face intense push-back from those who feel that bare feet have no good reason to touch the ground outside of our own homes. Whether its podiatrists, store management, law enforcement or other authority figures, there's no lack of people who are unwilling to consider going barefoot as an option while in public.
I would consider myself an intellectual guy, so I think about stuff a lot. I've thought about the reasons many people give for being so opposed to feet and they just don't make sense to me. I've run so many things around and around in my head and have found barefooting and wearing primal (minimalist) footwear to make a lot of sense. But then I think about those who don't share my thoughts and I get really disappointed.
Two specific things have been the most disheartening:
First, it continually pains me to read the stories from fellow barefooters who are discriminated against while they go about their daily lives. Having been targeted for going barefoot myself, I understand how others feel when they are told by transit police, library staff or mall security -- to name a few -- to put on shoes or else. Really, once you've experienced such a positive lifestyle and realized that the ground beneath us is generally comfortable and harmless to walk on, the ignorance of others is disappointing. Being singled out for letting your feet be free is also embarrassing and, quite frankly, a little irritating.
Second, I can't help but shake my head in disbelief at how biased people are about two vital parts of their bodies. It is truly amazing how many people really believe they must always wear shoes! Even more disturbing is how podiatrists, sports doctors, shoe companies and other "experts" perpetuate the idea that most of our feet are weak, fragile and need constant support. Their reasoning is that because we have worn shoes all our lives, our feet are not properly formed to support our bodies without assistance, so we must wear...shoes. I think of it as a vicious cycle that needs to be broken. A diagram for those more visually inclined:
It all "makes sense" if you approach it from the aspect that shoes are the norm and just one of those things we must use in life. But what if you approach it from the idea that you build up the strength of your feet by making primal feet the norm? Then the diagram may look something like this:
Now I am POSITIVE that any podiatrist or other expert looking at those diagrams would probably take significant issue with them -- especially the second one. "It's not just about strength," they might say. "It's about flexibility, alignment, etc. People who've worn shoes all their lives NEED proper arch support to avoid injury or other biomechanical issues."
I get why you think that. Really. Incidentally, that's not really the point The Primalfoot Alliance is going to be making.
The point is to make an attempt at "Taking our feet back" -- like that motto? -- to how they were supposed to be in the first place. The point is that our feet, from the day we were born, were meant to work a certain way and we all screwed them up with shoes. The point is to challenge the notion that we ever should have put shoes on in the first place because we thought we needed them. The point is to remind people that, when part of your body is strong, it can function better than when it is weak.
Most importantly, the point is getting the public to understand that there is a sizable group of people that appreciate their feet and don't want to wear shoes most of the time...and that's okay. The discrimination needs to end and people need to be able to live on their feet they way they'd like. If we want to go barefoot walking around the mall, using public transit or visiting the library, there's no good reason not to let us do that.
Now, back to how things have come together so far:
I realized last fall that so many barefooters have been spinning their "wheels" and getting nowhere fast. All of the efforts we'd made to argue with management, write letters and make our points were falling on deaf ears. Why? Lack of legitimacy. One person going barefoot in a store and complaining after being told to don shoes has no clout or standing to be accommodated. Management reply time after time with a statement of, "That is our policy and we expect you to follow it." It's so easy for them to squash one barefooter like a bug and move on their way.
I got to thinking: What if barefooters from throughout the world joined together in one unified voice? What if, at the same time, we brought in people who've found benefit from minimalist shoes? We could also have medical experts who understand the benefits of allowing our feet to be feet. Their medical endorsement would add a lot to our cause. Wrap all of that up in a fresh brand with all of that support brought together and then we could have some legitimacy.
Next: Part II: What's in a Name?
What do you think of a group that brings together primalfoot supporters from around the world? Do you think it could be effective in bringing change and helping the public have a greater appreciation and tolerance for feet? Am I just crazy? I welcome your comments below.
I don't think you're crazy at all. I've been leaning toward examining the cultural basis for the reactions you have seen as my dissertation subject and when I speak about it to my family and friends, I get the same reactions from them. They talk about people in bare feet as if they are nudists (not that I'm condemning that either), weirdos, extremists, etc.
ReplyDeleteI've spent most of my home life in bare feet, and almost all of my childhood was spent unshod. I'm currently in the military and cannot wait until the end of the day to get out of the boots I have to wear with my uniform. My wife complains that I'm certain to catch my death of cold walking about the house in bare feet but it hasn't happened yet.
I'm not sure where the animus comes from. Certainly much of what I hear from others is that you have to be poor, uneducated, etc. to run around with no shoes. That probably stems in part from the fact that those are conditions in this country that might 'force' someone to go about unshod, or certainly contributed to such near the turn of the last century. It is hard to believe that it has anything to do with the 'nakedness' of the foot itself, given the numbers of people strolling around in their shower shoes these days ;) . But who knows. After all, porn sales are through the roof yet people go ballistic at the occasional 'wardrobe malfunction' or thong-wearing gardener.
No, you are not crazy. But the journey ahead will likely be very interesting.
And it is very important to educate people about the history of this. Print out articles from the 1960s and 1970s that show not only how common going barefoot was but also the source of the older generation's bias at that time. And as much as the older people of the time disliked all this, at least the young people of the day were more or less united in their acceptance, or at least indifference, to their peers who went barefoot everywhere. And yes, there was strength in numbers. Many places just gave up enforcement. How about this newspaper article from Feb 1, 1976 from the Eugene Register-Guard, all about mall cops:
ReplyDelete"Inside the building they have similar center regulations to enforce. Valley River still requires that shoppers wear shirts, although it has given up on prohibiting bare feet."
Cultural practices need to be transmitted to younger generations in order for them to remain. If younger generations do not even know they existed, they will not do them. For some reason, those people who were around when going barefoot was common, chose not to tell newer generations that it happened, once it went out of style. Probably was thought of as too trivial to even mention. And now we have to re-learn everything, re-educate everyone, as if the past never happened.
You said
ReplyDelete"The point is to make an attempt at "Taking our feet back" -- like that motto? -- to how they were supposed to be in the first place. The point is that our feet, from the day we were born, were meant to work a certain way and we all screwed them up with shoes"
The truth is, perhaps, a little more complex. We evolved to walk barefoot it is true. But we also evolved to walk on broken and uneven ground of differing textures, not to with unremitting hard flat tarmac or flooring under our feet.
We "screwed them up" with civilisation, with floors, with roads, with the fact that most of us work sitting down. It was not just with shoes.
I LOVE this idea, thank you for "stepping up" to the challenge and taking this on!
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