Foot Tickling in History
"The Sex Life of the Foot & Shoe"
by William A. Rossi. Copyright 1976.
Foot-Tickled To Passion.
Page 29
Another graphic example of the foots sexual nervesis found in the foots sensory-rich sole & its response, often erotic & sensual, to tickling. The noted psychologist Albert Moll states that the sole of the foot has a sensory quility whose stimulation gives rise, directly or indirectly, to voluptuous sensations.
As everyone knows, foot-tickling can drive some into flights of ecstasy & others to madness.
Essentially, however, the response to foot-tickling is sexual. Says Aigremont, The tickling of the soles of the feet has been used by many preparatory to coitus. It serves as a foreplay center so it might prolong the sexual enjoyment as much as possible.
Foot-tickling as an erotic stimulus is age-old & universal. The sophisticated lover, says Renbourn, knows that many women get intense erotic pleasure when the feet are gently stroked - like having the ear lobes nibbled. Paintings of foot-tickling can be seen in the Louvre as well as in the Museum of Pius Clementia in Rome. Theyre also commonly found in China, Japan, India, & Southeast Asia. Egyptian Queen Hatshepsut (1600 b.c.) used to prepare for her lovers with exquisite podocosmetic care. First the skin of her feet were rubbed & scented with oil of ani until it glowed as though coated with gold. Then as she reclined on a luxurious lounge, palace eunuchs tickled the bottoms of her feet with peacock feathers to bring her to a pitch of sexual readiness.
A short while ago a wealthy New York socialite visited her psychiatrist & asked whether she should Break the habit. What habit? he asked.
She explained the 2 or 3 times a week she thoroughly rubbed the soles & toes of her feet with dog food. Then she summoned her 2 Pomeranians & they eagerly licked the scent of the food from her feet.
It drives me to a sexual frenzy - the tickling sensation on my feet, she confessed. It brings me to orgasm almost every time. Or sometimes I masterbate while the dogs are licking my feet. Doctor, is there,
well, something wrong with that? With me?
Why not go the straight route with a man? he asked.
Oh, I enjoy sex with men, all right. But this foot-tickling & foot-licking thing is something special, something extra. If I asked a man to do that - well, wouldnt he think me mad or something?
The doctor pondered the matter a moment, then said, Why not ask the man? It might work, especially if you make it mutual.
She called a month later. Doctor, she said excitedly, please excuse the pun, but were tickled to death. My lover & I , were doing it to each other, & following it with real sex. Its given sex a whole new feeling for me.
The Russians, especially among the nobility & aristicracy, were devotees of sexual foot-tickling. They had learned it from the Tartar tribes. Foot-tickling for sexual arousal was used in the Muscovite palaces & courts for centuries.
Many of the Czarinas (Catherine the Great, Anna Ivanovna, Elizabeth, Anna Leopoldovna, & others) were ardent participants.
In fact, the practice was so popular that eunuchs & women were
employed as full time foot-ticklers. They developed this unique skill so well that their occupations brought prestige & good pay.
Anna Leopoldovna had no fewer than 6 ticklers at her feet, though more were employed to serve the other ladies of the court.
The foot-tickling was usually done on the private boudoirs. While the ticklers performed their task they also told baudy stories & sang obcene ballads, thus creating a sort of orgiastic atmosphere. All this, of course, was to work the ladies up to an erotic pitch so that they could meet their husbands or lovers in a sex-impassioned mood. It wasn't uncommon for these women to experience orgasms while being foot-tickled.
A few years ago, while I was visiting Russia & studying their foot wear industry there, the director of a large shoe plant employing some 7000 showed me a private collection of historical shoes from different parts of the world. In a corner was a vase containing several long, brilliantly covered feathers, & also slender artist's brushes with exquisitely soft bristles. As I touched them I recognized that they were ladies' foot ticklers.
The director smiled & said, "Ah, you seem to know what they are. Well, as old as they are, they are not out of date. They are prized by some of our Russian women today. Perhaps you would be surprised to know that the wife of one of our highest party officials & some of her friends of equal standing, are known to . . ." His voice faded & the subject was abruptly changed. Later, in Hungary, & Czechoslovakia, I saw similar foot ticklers.'
Yes, the foot is rich with its ownsexual nerves. It is no mere coincidence, as cited earlier, that the foot possesses such an abundance of sensory spots. This clearly evident by the common erotic responses to such acts as foot-tickling, foot-massaging, foot-biting, toe-sucking, foot-kissing, etc. Sensual response to such actions is inevitable because first, we are dealing with a naturally erogenous part, & second, because all such actions involve touch, the most sexual of all the senses.
