A Theory for People's Negative Reaction to Barefoot Shoppers

hikerdana · Mar 16, 2016

This post is along the lines that @KTR posted on Fighting prejudices. But I think from a slightly different angle.

After much thought regarding my own limited experience to people's negative reaction to me being barefoot and reading other people's posts on confrontations with employees when shopping barefoot, I have a theory.

My Hypothesis
1) Most people believe that shopping or dinning in bare feet is against the law.

2) This law is per their State Health Department,

3) The law is for their own health safety.

Therefore, people who shop in bare feet are law breakers and may be putting our health at risk.

Results
They say first impressions as very important. So when an employee has a regard for the law and they see someone breaking the law in their store, they get upset and confront the barefoot person. It most often does not turn out well. Unless of course the barefoot person has a trump card like a disability, that requires them to be barefoot.

Barefooters Response
I'm thinking educating the general public on barefoot people is probably our best defense. How to do that is the big question. Perhaps contacting our favorite stores ahead of time with some education to clear the way for our visit. I realize this could backfire and they could formally disallow all future visits to the store while barefoot. But it is one thought.

A second option that could be used in conjunction with the International Barefoot Running Day and that is to use that event to educate the general public in not just barefoot running but shopping and dinning as well.

KTR · Mar 18, 2016

Hi @hikerdana !
The insight I can provide is probably different from the one at the USA. Technically, being barefoot is not against the law here, but private places apply what's called "right of admission", so they can decide whether you can enter the place or not for whatever the reason they consider. I'm not sure if this right of admission is actually supported by local or national law, but the fact is that no one wastes their time in arguing it's validity unless it has been applied for racist or xenophobic reasons.
I limit barefootness to running, but as I suggested in your blog, if I were to roam barefoot I'd carry a pair of light shoes or sandals –something that is easy to put on or remove– and use then whenever I'm asked to do so.
In the meantime, education on both sides is a way to work on barefootedness normalization, so people stop seeing barefooters as creepy hippies that seek connection with Gaia and whatnot.
In that thread of mine that you mention, someone wrote something about living by example. Just be yourself, do what you believe in, and avoid trouble.
In the extreme you can argue you religion requires you to go barefoot —as pastafarians argue they are required to wear a colander on their head

Cheers!

KTR · Mar 18, 2016

Oh, BTW! There's a place where it's totally not advisable to go barefoot. If you ever are in the urge of using a public restroom you'll be happy and relieved to carry a pair of flip-flops with you!
I remembered about this topic of yours just yesterday as I had to stop at a rest area in the motorway and pay a visit to a restroom that had seen better days. :sour:

Ahcuah · Mar 23, 2016

KTR said:
Oh, BTW! There's a place where it's totally not advisable to go barefoot. If you ever are in the urge of using a public restroom you'll be happy and relieved to carry a pair of flip-flops with you!
I remembered about this topic of yours just yesterday as I had to stop at a rest area in the motorway and pay a visit to a restroom that had seen better days.

I never worry about going into restrooms barefoot. I have skin. Skin keeps out pathogens.* And once I leave the restroom and take a few steps, anything on my soles gets rubbed off on the ground. No big deal.

* Yes, hookworm can penetrate skin. However, if somehow some person with hookworm (very rare with decent sanitation) pooped on the floor, the eggs take something like 5 days to develop. As long as the restroom has been cleaned in the past week you are safe from hookworm.

KTR · Mar 23, 2016

Yeah I know. It's just beyond my acceptable limits of disgust

Ahcuah · Mar 23, 2016

KTR said:
Yeah I know. It's just beyond my acceptable limits of disgust

I understand.

But maybe after a while . . .

Madrone · Apr 18, 2016

I personally think it's less about the law than about the fact that it just grosses people out. I'm not completely sure about the rationale, but people find feet gross, probably because they are when you put them in foot-jail, and therefore don't appreciate people going barefoot around food. Don't fully understand it myself, but I think it's the biggest reason.

Ahcuah · Apr 19, 2016

Madrone said:
I personally think it's less about the law than about the fact that it just grosses people out. I'm not completely sure about the rationale, but people find feet gross, probably because they are when you put them in foot-jail, and therefore don't appreciate people going barefoot around food. Don't fully understand it myself, but I think it's the biggest reason.

I suspect people find feet gross because when they think about them, they think about them coming out of shoes that have been worn all day (or shoes that just finished being part of a long run).

bare_ftazn · Apr 23, 2016

People are conditioned from a young age that covering the feet signifies growing up, possessing or achieving refinement and class. Protecting feet from injury and the environment were often practical needs. It's easy to forget why feet evolved to be the vital and complex organs they are.

Babies and young children go barefoot. Peasants, farm-kids, the uneducated, and villagers go barefoot. Adults wear shoes. Shoes denote taste, sophistication, wealth, and a sense of fashion. It's no wonder people have knee-jerk reactions to seeing bare feet in atypical situations.

Barefoot runners like being different. Barefoot runners enjoy the freedom of barefootedness. Barefoot runners benefit from healthier and stronger minds and bodies.