[13] G. Stanley Hall, _Adolescence_, vol. ii, p. 113. It will be noted
that the hand does not appear among the parts of the body which are
normally of supreme interest. An interest in the hand is by no means
uncommon (it may be noted, for instance, in the course of History XII in
Appendix B to vol. iii of these _Studies_), but the hand does not possess
the mystery which envelops the foot, and hand-fetichism is very much less
frequent than foot-fetichism, while glove-fetichism is remarkably rare. An
interesting case of hand-fetichism, scarcely reaching morbid intensity, is
recorded by Binet, _Etudes de Psychologie Expérimentale_, pp. 13-19; and
see Krafft-Ebing, _Op. cit._, pp. 214 et seq.
[14] _Mémoires_, vol. i, Chapter VII.
[15] Among leading English novelists Hardy shows an unusual but by no
means predominant interest in the feet and shoes of his heroines; see,
e.g., the observations of the cobbler in _Under the Greenwood Tree_,
Chapter III. A chapter in Goethe's _Wahlverwandtschaften_ (Part I, Chapter
II) contains an episode involving the charm of the foot and the kissing of
the beloved's shoe.
[16] Schinz, "Philosophie des Conventions Sociales," _Revue
Philosophique_, June, 1903, p. 626. Mirabeau mentions in his _Erotika
Biblion_ that modern Greek women sometimes use their feet to provoke
orgasm in their lovers. I may add that simultaneous mutual masturbation by
means of the feet is not unknown to-day, and I have been told by an
English shoe-fetichist that he at one time was accustomed to practice this
with a married lady (Brazilian)--she with slippers on and he without--who
derived gratification equal to his own.
[17] Jacoby (loc. cit. pp. 796-7) gives a large number of references to
Ovid's works bearing on this point. "In reading him," he remarks, "one is
inclined to say that the psychology of the Romans was closely allied to
that of the Chinese."
[18] R. Kleinpaul, _Sprache ohne Worte_, p. 308. See also Moll, _Konträre
Sexualempfindung_, third edition, pp. 306-308. Bloch brings together many
interesting references bearing on the ancient sexual and religious
symbolism of the shoe, _Beiträge zur Ætiologie der Psychopathia Sexualis_,
Teil II, p. 324.
[19] Jacoby (loc. cit. p. 797) appears to regard shoe-fetichism as a true
atavism: "The sexual adoration of feminine foot-gear," he concludes,
"perhaps the most enigmatic and certainly the most singular of
degenerative insanities, is thus merely a form of atavism, the return of
the degenerate to the very ancient and primitive psychology which we no
longer understand and are no longer capable of feeling."
[20] Moll has reported in detail (_Untersuchungen über die Libido
Sexualis_, bd. i, Teil II, pp. 320-324) a case which both he and
Krafft-Ebing regard as illustrative of the connection between
boot-fetichism and masochism. It is essentially a case of masochism,
though manifesting itself almost exclusively in the desire to perform
humiliating acts in connection with the attractive person's boots.
[21] Krafft-Ebing goes so far as to assert (_Psychopathia Sexualis_,
English translation of tenth edition, p. 174) that "when in cases of
shoe-fetichism the female shoe appears alone as the excitant of sexual
desire one is justified in presuming that masochistic motives have
remained latent.... Latent masochism may always be assumed as the
unconscious motive." In this way he hopelessly misinterprets some of his
own cases.
[22] Krafft-Ebing goes so far as to assert (_Psychopathia Sexualis_,
English translation, pp. 159 and 174). Yet some of the cases he brings
forward (e.g., Coxe's as quoted by Hammond) show no sign of masochism,
since, according to Krafft-Ebing's own definition (p. 116), the idea of
subjugation by the opposite sex is of the essence of masochism.
[23] Her actions suggest that there is often a latent sexual consciousness
in regard to the feet in women, atavistic or pseudo-atavistic, and
corresponding to the sexual attraction which the feet formerly aroused,
almost normally, in men. This is also suggested by the case, referred to
by Shufeldt, of an unmarried woman, belonging to a family exhibiting in a
high degree both erotic and neurotic traits, who had "a certain
uncontrollable fascination for shoes. She delights in new shoes, and
changes her shoes all day long at regular intervals of three hours each.
She keeps this row of shoes out in plain sight in her apartment." (R.W.
Shufeldt, "On a Case of Female Impotency," 1896, p. 10.)