# Gender-based Body Parts Fetish Question **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 23, 2007, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-based-body-parts-fetish-question/420195 "2007-09-23T14:16:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-based-body-parts-fetish-question/420195/1 "2007-09-23T14:16:39Z")
Wow, what an awkward thread title. Sorry, all. Here’s what I mean by it. Is it only men who fetishize body parts that are not part of the normal human complement of primary or secondary sexual characteristics? Like feet, for example. I’m not talking about someone really liking an attractive foot as part of a total body package, I’m talking about someone for whom the foot is the sole (ha-ha) or at least overwhelmingly principal sexual attractant. Someone who spends hours masturbating to pictures of feet and doesn’t care much of anything about the rest of the person in any sexual sense. Granted, I don’t spend a lot of time researching this - that’s what the Dope is for. I’ve just never heard of women having this sort of fetish exclusivity. Sure, we all have our interests. I personally really like strong forearms and hands with a medium amount of blonde or red hair on them, but it doesn’t fill my fantasies - it’s just a nice bonus. Anecdotes welcome! No cites required! ---
**Author:** ![essell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/34f0e0/32.png) [@essell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/essell)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-based-body-parts-fetish-question/420195/2 "2007-09-23T14:44:11Z")
On one hand I’ve got to agree with you, but females do seem to like having different parts of _their_ bodies played with in a sexual manner. Back or foot rubs, ear or neck nibbling etc. Guys mostly just want their cocks played with. On the other hand I’m a guy so it may just be that females don’t advertise or tell me about their weird desires. One point to remeber when thinking about such things: _The female body is a triumph of beauty and form, the male body is mostly laughable._ ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-based-body-parts-fetish-question/420195/3 "2007-09-23T17:17:54Z")
[QUOTE=essell] _The female body is a triumph of beauty and form, the male body is mostly laughable._ [/QUOTE] Now I’m surprised to hear this from a UK-er, where insults like “cow,” “cunt” and “tit” are used (unless these were all invented by the BBC Foreign Distribution Dept.), while in the US we’ll call a guy a “pussy,” but not to disparage that body part itself, but rather to equate the guy with the pussy’s traditionally weaker owner. Or we’‘ll call a woman a "bitch,’ which many women consider a badge of honor as they overturn the connotation of being weaker for having a pussy. ---
**Author:** ![Polerius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d78d45/32.png) [@Polerius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polerius)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-based-body-parts-fetish-question/420195/4 "2007-09-23T17:29:55Z")
[QUOTE=essell] _The female body is a triumph of beauty and form,_ [/QUOTE] Agreed! > [@](#): > > _the male body is mostly laughable._ I call [bullshit](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/flashpoints/visualarts/david_big.html) on that! ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-based-body-parts-fetish-question/420195/5 "2007-09-23T17:38:50Z")
[QUOTE=Polerius] Agreed! I call [bullshit](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/flashpoints/visualarts/david_big.html) on that! [/QUOTE] Haha! It’s so tiny! ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-based-body-parts-fetish-question/420195/6 "2007-09-23T17:48:46Z")
**(Warning: broad essentialist sex stereotypes ahead)** Fetishism (and probably pornography) is trickier for women, because sex is not so narrowly focused or object-oriented for them. It’s more of a combination of sensual, social and atmospheric stimuli. OTOH, most porn for men, fetish-oriented or not, is all-or-nothing, all about long boring closeups of one body part or the other. If the people who made this stuff ran restaurants, you would ask for ketchup and be expected to chug an entire bottle with your burger. If there _was_ a burger. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-based-body-parts-fetish-question/420195/7 "2007-09-23T17:55:57Z")
I think\* men are perhaps a bit better at doing the worshiping, and women are more accustomed to being worshipped. So if we’re talking feet/shoes, men are more likely to externalize it and do the worshipping, and women are more likely to internalize it, and get off on their feet/shoes being worshipped. Fetish, either way. Men are more external, women are more internal. \*gross generalizations, YMMV, Dopers are as a group, completely atypical, all the usual caveats, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-based-body-parts-fetish-question/420195/8 "2007-09-23T19:16:38Z")
[QUOTE=Inner Stickler] Haha! It’s so tiny! [/QUOTE] Hey, it’s VERY air conditioned in those museums! ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-based-body-parts-fetish-question/420195/9 "2007-09-23T20:14:50Z")
> [@](#): > > The female body is a triumph of beauty and form, the male body is mostly laughable. Disagreed. Man bodies are beautiful too! **Polerius** you beat me to it. Seeing Michelangelo’s _David_ was one of those punch-in-the-gut moments where you realize how freaking gorgeous human beings really are. As to the OP, gosh, I love feet and all, but more because they’re cute and have wiggly toes than because they make me hot. I can’t imagine a sexual experience only involving one part of the body. I can imagine one focusing heavily on one part–but having it be the sole object of interest, rather than part of the whole package? Baffling. (Female, btw.) ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-based-body-parts-fetish-question/420195/10 "2007-09-24T07:18:18Z")
[QUOTE=Slithy Tove] Now I’m surprised to hear this from a UK-er, where insults like “cow,” “cunt” and “tit” are used (unless these were all invented by the BBC Foreign Distribution Dept.), while in the US we’ll call a guy a “pussy,” but not to disparage that body part itself, but rather to equate the guy with the pussy’s traditionally weaker owner. Or we’‘ll call a woman a "bitch,’ which many women consider a badge of honor as they overturn the connotation of being weaker for having a pussy. [/QUOTE] I think the topics of sexuality and gender are so complicated that just because female-related terms are used in a derogatory fashion doesn’t mean that the worship of the female form is necessarily impinged upon. It’s possible for there to exist in a society elements that degrade women and that worship them, sometimes simultaneously. In fact, the things that make women “inferior” are sometimes the very things that are worshipped or make women feminine (lesser physical strength/“delicateness”, higher voices, smaller/childlike physical stature, etc.). I bet if you asked all those guys from UK who toss around “cow,” “cunt,” and “tit” as insults if they found women’s bodies superior to men’s when it comes to beauty, they’d say yes. Why? Because inconsistency is human in a big bad way. I’m with **Beware of Doug** on why fetishes occur less frequently among women than men. Of course, human diversity being what it was, I would be surprised if there weren’t women who have fetishes in the sense the OP is talking about. I’m also with the posters who think men’s bodies are beautiful, just 'cuz they are. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-based-body-parts-fetish-question/420195/11 "2007-09-24T09:17:11Z")
My body is like a temple. The Parthenon…crumbling and old ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-based-body-parts-fetish-question/420195/12 "2007-09-24T09:32:07Z")
[QUOTE=Slithy Tove] …while in the US we’ll call a guy a “pussy,” but not to disparage that body part itself, but rather to equate the guy with the pussy’s traditionally weaker owner. [/QUOTE] Really? I always equated it with a cat. Like using “bitch” towards a woman uses the dog metaphor, a “pussy” towards a man uses the cat metaphor. Simple opposites. That’s how _I’d_ always thought it, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![essell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/34f0e0/32.png) [@essell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/essell)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-based-body-parts-fetish-question/420195/13 "2007-09-24T10:28:38Z")
[QUOTE=Polerius] I call [bullshit](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/flashpoints/visualarts/david_big.html) on that! [/QUOTE] I object! This sets an unrealised standard of beauty!