That ' s pretty much almost the only time you will see a woman... or person for that matter barefoot on the street in an acceptable way. Most times a beggar or very poor ( even many beggars wear slippers ), maybe a child here and there that may or may not be poor or a person going to or returning from the temple ( some leave their house barefoot when going to the temple ).
Those cases rarely if ever draw attention. Almost nobody ( except me and probably few others ) looks at a a poor woman ' s bare feet and the very few that look don't pretty much give more than a fuck. I can imagine even fewer envying her.
But god forbid a white woman happens to dare stepping barefoot on a public street, all hell breaks loose. All the weirdest stares, eyes bugging out of heads, shocked expressions, comment, giggles, tons of negative and overwhelming attention able to cause even the some of the most peaceful, calm, zen figures go frenzy.
Should I really paint my skin brown, stain myself with dust and wear dusty rags to enjoy walking barefoot in peace?
Also, don ' t want to hear of hippies or hippie suggestions, that ' s even worse.
Last but not least, don ' t even mention the corona virus. It ' s transmitted only by saliva, tears, mucus and droplets in breath that enter someone ' s mouth, nose etc, not blood, wounds and doesn ' t survive more than a few minutes outside of a body, especially with strong sunlight ( or UV in general )
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For the site administration, please stop sending me reminders to select the most helpful answer when no answer is helpful.
Why is public barefooting in India only socially acceptable for beggars ( than awkward moment when you envy this privilege ) READ DETAILS?
Um, in india the lowest caste is not legally allowed (at least for almost all of India's history (its changed recently but culturally many places still adhere to the old practices) to wear shoes, they are considered the absolute lowest and filthiest of people that no one wants to be so that is probably why your getting stared at.
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I couldn ' t be confused with an Indian as I ' m white, but if you mean they stare because I do what the fifth caste does and they can ' t understand why a white person would do that, well, that ' s none of their business anyway, but what should I do? Claw their gawking eyes out ( it ' s exactly what I feel like doing when they stare )?
I really crave and need to be given the option of wearing or not wearing something on my feet when going out in public and right now I ' m forced to wear shoes all the time in public, which I absolutely hate ( the forced part, not the shoes themselves ).
Modern ( westernized to a degree ) world such as east Asia and the Arab / Muslim world would be even worse barefoot wise and in the white world walking barefoot in public would be anathema ( except Australia, New Zealand and South Africa ).
So where should I go or what could I do to be able to go barefoot in public with zero attention and completely accepted ( no comments, no stares, no reaction ).
I'm not saying you are confused with an indian, its that they are not understanding why some one of a higher class would do something that only a lower class person would do. It would be like watching a billionaire rummage around in the trash for a meal, they simply cannot conceive of a reason why you would do it.
I'm not saying your wrong for doing it, I'm just stating why they would stare. As for walking barefoot, I've never seen anyone have an issue with it in the US except in stores of course.
As for what you can do, well ignore it. You cannot force the entire nation to not look at you, to not gawk so you either don't do it and get use to being "forced" to wear shoes or you do it and get used to people gawking. Their is no third option unless you can force all the people in the world to do your bidding in which case, you know, maybe use that power for something more meaningful.
Isn ' t there a place in the world or a group of people other than hippies that doesn't it? Also, I wouldn ' t say in the US nobody has a problem with it. I saw YouTube videos of public barefooting such as challenges or penalties for loosing a game or bet and literally everyone stared ( some stares were rewinded in slow motion ) and in one of them some guys even had the nerve to walk up to the girl being filmed and ask why she goes barefoot. Can you imagine such insolence?
Besides we ' re not living in ancient or feudal times and Hindu caste hierarchy has been abolished by law and efforts are made both by authorities ( more or less ) and by other entities such as ngo to end caste based discrimination or hierarchy enforcement. Besides there are former untouchables that managed to become more successful and help other untouchables.
Last but not least, what does it have to do with it? The people that were considered untouchables in the past now wear at least slippers if they can ' t afford something else. It ' s only some of the beggars that go barefoot sometimes. It ' s not like shoes are not affordable for most people and who said they are needed all the time?
The video above is a very mild example, but for me even that video is triggering as hell, let alone torturing my self looking for others and watching them to make a point.
Just because you didn ' t witness something doesn ' t mean it doesn ' t exist. I wonder how you would feel ( not referring only to you personally but to you all out there against barefooting ) being forced to wear some very thick gloves or just gloves in general permanently. May teach many people some empathy, but one more reason to feel like distancing myself from this alienating society.
In hippie grunge Seattle where I went for college it was a fad to go barefoot as much as possible. They said it builds skin toughness. I even tried it one day.
@update I don’t get you you want to be barefoot but not be Indian or a hippy and then you go insult all of our responses. What is your deal anyway are you like mentally retarded or something. I went ahead and reported your question as trolling.
The kind of answer I expected was being pointed at a country or community that is extremely poor that most people can ' t afford shoes or at large in their culture shoes, slippers or any kind of footwear is not worn and where bare feet are much more common and normal than even slippers. Not sermons of health risk stupid myths since animals and humans managed just fine without shoes for thousands of years, not lies that it ' s acceptable in the west when it clearly ain ' t and certainly ain ' t the norm and not suggestions of minorities, subcultures or countercultures such as the hippies which aren ' t the majority, the norm of in any way conformist. A society where it ' s conformist to be barefoot, that ' s what I search for, whatever the reason for that society being at large barefoot, even poverty ( and the west is clearly not poor so not an option ). Any other answer, is trolling or irrelevant and unasked for.
Thank you, finally a relevant answer. Hawaii is US territory, but Tahiti is French Polynesia where I could immigrate easier by virtue of being an EU citizen, so I will seriously consider it.
Why would anyone choose to go barefoot, there's everything from broken glass to dogshit to deal with.
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Because those risks are over rated. Germs are everywhere, even in the air. Even if you wash your hands after leaving a toilet, you don ' t bleach wash your whole body and it ' s why you have an immunity ( which increases with walking barefoot ). Besides that, I don ' t think you step on broken glass on purpose even with shoes on and barefoot people pay more attention where they step.
Besides I ' m not forcing anyone to go barefoot ( though if they would try they would hate being forced to wear shoes all the time after that ) I ' m just asking to be allowed to do it without tons of unwanted overwhelming attention such as stares with eyes bugging out of sockets, heads swivelling 180 degrees to follow me, comments, giggles etc. Is that even possible?
I ' ve done other much more awkward things in the past, sometimes without even realizing and barely anyone batted a lash if anything. Why can ' t barefoot people that are neither homeless or hippies be left alone?
If you do something that is out of the ordinary you’re going to get stared at what are you going to complain about human nature now? Just go do your weird barefoot fetish without commanding the whole world to cheer you on literally none of the rest of us cares that much this is idiotic
@Tea-Spaghetti I don ' t ask people to cheer, I ask the exact opposite, to fucking ignore me on the street, where I try hard not to look at anyone, often wear sunglasses for avoiding eye contact and used to wear a mask since long before the corona virus just for social barrier.
It's disgusting... it's extremely dirty outside, dogs walk in poo and spread it all over the ground. You get cuts and infections and your feet are just gross...
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I don ' t care for all that nonsense myths and I wish you people stop saying it. There ' s microbes everywhere and people don ' t step on broken glass on purpose even with shoes on, much less barefoot, also don ' t care for your phobias. Don ' t like then don ' t look. Stares is what annoys me.
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