Comments on Barefoot and Grounded .com: Most Facebook Users Would Go Barefoot in Public: P...

A follow-up comment that I forgot earlier: Some...

2011-09-13T21:45:56.191-05:00

A follow-up comment that I forgot earlier:

Someone asked what would it take to get people to go barefoot more like they did years ago. The best idea I've had would be to have a celebrity be habitually barefoot in a weekly TV show. It could be part of their character, and others on the show could bring up the same questions and comments we all hear. Eventually, the myth would die with the other characters realizing that it's acceptable, and there are no laws or other problems with it. It would have to be someone who is either already popular or would become popular during the series that would make it 'cool' to go barefoot again.

I think America used to be a lot more barefoot fri...

2011-09-13T20:40:46.512-05:00

I think America used to be a lot more barefoot friendly perhaps 100 years and more ago. I've seen many paintings of kids going to school barefoot, and even adults barefoot. I suspect a lot of the negativity towards it come from the Great Depression in the '30s when barefoot meant you were poor, the hippie movement of the 60's, and somewhat from the shoe companies pushing their 'cool' shoes on the public.

I suspect the numbers would be fairly high (perhaps 50% or more) of people who would go barefoot in stores if they didn't fear being run out. The health department 'law' doesn't exist in any state in the U.S., but companies continue to post the "...by order of the Health Department" signs as a way to make it sound legit. As long as the word isn't mainstream, people will believe that there actually *is* a health department rule against it. If we could get businesses to post signs like this in their windows, that would help a LOT:

http://www.barefooters.org/1997-winter/gifs/jfy_bf_ok.jpg

I actually had a neighbor kid giving me a hard time recently about being barefoot in public. His logic was that it wasn't 'decent'. I suspect that's what his parents / church taught him. He might have a hard time in a place like New Zealand. I would fit in nicely there! Might just have to visit some day. ;-)

All we can do is spread the word. There are lots of barefooters and even closet barefooters out there, and lots of sites about barefooting. http://www.barefooters.org/ is just one of 'em. The more people know, the more people will venture out shoeless and store owners and trolls will have to let them in.

I was lucky, I guess that I grew up in the USA in ...

2011-08-06T20:54:07.114-05:00

I was lucky, I guess that I grew up in the USA in the 1970s. The crwod I ran with went barefoot most of the summer.

The summer of 1972 I can remember going barefoot to school the last day of school and went shoeless until school started in the fall.

What will it take to bring back the barefoot ways ...

2011-07-12T11:31:55.242-05:00

What will it take to bring back the barefoot ways people had in the 70s and 80s. You never see anyone going barefoot anymore.
I saw one BF woman coming out of a Family Dollar Store in South St. Paul Mn and I asked her if she had any problems in the store. She said they made her leave because she was barefoot. I was barefoot too and I was afraid to go in. This is just wrong. They're our feet, why can't they let us choose our footwear or lack of it. We need to start a protest or something. Barefoot Fan of South St. Paul.

Well the problem with this poll is that it allows ...

2011-06-02T20:30:33.339-05:00

Well the problem with this poll is that it allows responders to self-select. As I learned in my Stats in Social Science class back in college, this reneders the results unreliable. I can assure you from personal experience that the actual percentage of people who would answer 'yes almost always' is much lower.

I know this because I moved to New Zealand several years ago. Here it is perfectly socially acceptable for kids, teens and adults to go barefoot in public. There are no signs prohibiting it and personal injury lawsuits aren't allowed in NZ so no stores worry about getting sued if someone stubs a toe. Kids go to primary school (elementary) barefoot up to age 11-13, and I mean probably 75-95% of them are barefoot everyday all day at school.

Even on a rainy winter day in the 55F range you'll see at least a couple people barefoot at the supermarket and kids in hoodies and rain jackets with long pants still in bare feet.

Yet even in nice summer weather nowhere near 50% of people are barefoot at the mall or supermarket. I'd say probably 50-75% of primary school kids are but only maybe 20-25% of teens and young adults and only a handful of people over 40. The percentages all go up out in rural areas and small towns, but it still isn't 50% of adults, even young adults.

And that's not the the percentage of people doing it all the time. I'd bet even here in NZ that number is more like 1 in 10 teens/young adults. Even in a place where people grow up barefoot most of the time, are used to being barefoot in public and no one gives you a second glance for it, the majority of people over the age of 12 still choose to wear at least flip-flops (which are the most common footwear choice in NZ).

I have to think that for Americans, who weren't raised spending most days barefoot, the numbers would be much lower.

I grew up in North Carolina in a basically rural a...

2011-05-14T00:38:23.824-05:00

I grew up in North Carolina in a basically rural area/small town. In the summer most all kids went barefoot, as did a lot of teens and younger adults. I pretty much went without shoes in warm weather until I was 22 or so, and then it just seemed to go out of fashion, so to speak. I suppose for one thing maybe stores began enforcing a "No Bare Feet" policy, but certain brands of shoes have become status symbols, and they're aggressively marketed to younger people. I am 36 now and think it's sort of a shame that it's not much done anymore.

@Elinor - I have no problems with pain and only on...

2011-04-25T19:39:14.848-05:00

@Elinor - I have no problems with pain and only once a blister, and that was more from not walking at all rather than being barefoot and I only got one the first day. Your feet toughen up really quickly. And you shouldn't have to go through pain or hobble to do it either. Just build up to it, don't powerwalk for a half-hour the very first day! Walk where there is a cement path bordered by grass, and walk on one, then the other a couple of minutes each. Do it a few times a week for a couple of weeks and you will find that they will toughen up nicely. Being able to walk on sharp pebbles and withstand nasty prickles takes longer, but blisters are not common problems going barefoot - that is a shod problem!

I agree with the your statements. i like
2011-04-24T21:58:49.372-05:00
I agree with the your statements. i like five finger vibrams,five finger vibrams also make you satisfied.

Just one question. Those of you who go barefoot i...

2011-04-19T10:09:13.707-05:00

Just one question. Those of you who go barefoot in cities, how on earth do you cope with the pain and the blisters? I understand that one's feet do eventually toughen up, but I for one am not prepared to go through the process - it would take too long and I do not want to be hobbling around while it happens. I'm content with fairly minimalist footwear, and I certainly can't wear heels of any sort. If I lived in an area where one could walk on grass all the time, I might consider it.

Having said that, I was appalled to hear about the hostility towards those who choose to go barefoot. I think it must be an American thing, because I've never heard of it happening here in the UK (and I did at one point have a friend who used to go barefoot for most of the summer - he never had any problems from other people). What people choose to wear or not to wear on their feet is surely their own business. It's not as if feet were indecent, after all!

Thanks for so much effort in this survey. So much ...

2011-04-12T11:08:43.817-05:00

Thanks for so much effort in this survey. So much of the discrimination of living barefoot - especially in public - is based on false "health" information & stigma from the hippie movement in the 60s. People have a comfort level with footwear and can't believe that most footwear is so damaging & unhealthy - especially women's shoes. In addition to hurting the bones & weakening the muscles of the foot, footwear breeds fungus & bacteria - thus the "smell" - not an issue with unshod feet. Being barefoot is not only comfortable, but much better for foot health & strength. Just don't try to tell that to shoe stores or most podiatrists. Being barefoot in public should be much more socially acceptable & with knowledgeable information from people like you I'm sure it will be as time passes.
Thanks Again...

It's not easy to run valid test. Form of the q...

2011-04-12T00:30:57.979-05:00

It's not easy to run valid test. Form of the question and way of asking has a tremendous impact on the data. Selection of the responders was not proper. I consider this test inconclusive.

I am already barefoot all the time. For me it is n...

2011-04-11T20:45:27.387-05:00

I am already barefoot all the time. For me it is not an issue. I am sure a lot people wish they could go barefoot. The social stigma is probably the strongest thing that stops people from going barefoot. I remember the first time going barefoot in public was not easy. But Then I found out that most people had nothing bad to say about it or did not noticed. Being barefoot is not strange. You cannot live in fear and let other people run your life. Besides, people respect people you stand for what they believe.

One thing I noticed that could affect the validity...

2011-04-11T20:19:46.499-05:00

One thing I noticed that could affect the validity of the data is only people interested in the question would take the time to answer it. This question of course would attract barefoot enthusiasts, like myself, to answer the question, while being left largely ignored by the general Facebook public. This is a very good idea though. The main reason I don't go to class barefoot is I don't want my professors to think I'm strange or unprofessional, since I might end up doing research for them some day.

My local food co-op store requires shoes in the st...

2011-04-11T20:11:07.185-05:00

My local food co-op store requires shoes in the store. Their reason is that if something happens to someones bare feet. They are sure that the insurance company will tell them to make customers put shoes on. I've told them insurance companies don't require this. The store is just afraid of "what could happen", and they seem to think the risk is higher with bare feet then bare hands. They say they want to allow it, but they put the blame on the insurance company to keep the shoe required policy active.

Usually the store that has the shoes required sign. Also has shirt required on the same sign. Clearly the shirt required is a social thing. I think the shoes required tends to be more of a liability issue for the stores of broken glass on floor, etc.

At the co-op I have found on Sunday evenings the management staff is not working, and no one bothers me. So I still shop once a week bare foot. I've done this many times, and have never hurt my feet. So where is the risk I ask ? I don't see it.

The interesting thing is another food store not far away. Is very friendly to my bare feet. They are even friendly to someone coming in the store with roller blades on. The co-op will not allow either of those activities. Heck the other store that is friendly to roller blades even has a picture on the checkout screen of a customer in roller blades.

Why is one store barefoot friendly, but the neighboring store is not ? The answer is that the mind set is different to each store owner/manager. I find the store that is BF friendly has far superior customer service.

The only stores that really pest me in my area are grocery stores, but not all grocery stores interestingly.

I find most interesting stores concerned about BF are concerned about the bottom of the bare foot, but not the top. Flip flops, sandals are OK, but bare feet are not OK.....

The above numbers in the post entry don't mean much to me. This is a shoe addicted society, and the shoe companies will spend millions of dollars on advertising to keep it that way. Nuff said.

I think we need to find some loop holes in our legal system to challenge these shoes required policies. We need a big case to judge in our favor to set a new trend across the country saying these policies are unacceptable......

I'm quite surprised myself about these results...

2011-04-11T19:11:55.389-05:00

I'm quite surprised myself about these results! I hope these results accurately reflect the thinking of the general population.

Regarding your following comment: "I believe that many managers and security base much of their discrimination off baseless thinking that other patrons will be offended by seeing people go barefoot." I also believe this is true for many managers. But I also believe that many managers are simply afraid of lawsuits or mistakenly believe in health codes against barefoot customers, and that these managers would tolerate barefoot customers if it wasn't for these unjustified fears. This is especially true in places such as gas station stores for example, where how a customer looks in front of others is not as important as in places like restaurants, museums, upscale stores, etc. Managers need to be educated about ALL issues related to public barefooting, which includes perception of other customers, liability, supposed health codes, and others.