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You Walk Wrong
I grew up in Chicago and went barefoot in alleys and sidewalks all the summers (and spings and most of the autumns) of my childhood. I hated wearing shoes.
I have some pretty calloused feet as an adult, but I've always had really great footing and balance. My feet only ache when I wear "comfortable" shoes. Even really fancy sneakers meant for helping your balance don't come close to going barefoot.
Mind you, I still live in Chicago and it is November.
This is all well and good if you reside closer to the equator. However, up here in Canada, I'd recommend keeping your footwear about you, unless you find frostbite particularly inspiring.
As a full-time motorcycle rider, I must decline on this concept, although I do appreciate the idea.
I also grew up in Chicago, but in a neighborhood where you could not go barefoot through alleys and sidewalks without stepping on vials and needles. My feet aren't calloused at all and quite sensitive, and now I live in Canada in an area where this doesn't seem very practical. But I generally agree with Gormley's premise. I wonder if maybe those 'barefoot shoes' are a satisfactory alternative? Some friends thought I was crazy for considering them...
@antinous I luv my clark's brown casuals btw... i've absolutely abused them...great shoes. totally off the point...
anyway, as something more practical I've tried to make sandals out a old tires. the specs are out there. Tires are ubiquitous in our world, a very real symbol of the modern complex of technology. Turning them into serviceable footwear was a unique lesson... It's something I'd recommend.
Going barefoot is great fun, and arguably good for you. But does it really have to be connected with global warming? As a fan of silly hippie nonsense, let's try to keep it separate from serious scientific matters like global warming - you're making it harder to get the threat taken seriously.
"With naked feet you can actually feel global warming"
What does that mean? He feels the ground is more hot than what he remembered 3 years ago? I wouldn't say this is strong scientific evidence.
By the way, I live in canada too, we had snow last week. No thanks. I NEED comfortable waterproof shoes.
"With naked feet you can actually feel global warming"
Sorry, but a comment like that shows how much of a clown this guy really is.
Glad I'm not the only one who thought that.
That's what I was going to say. When I read "you can feel global warming," I just thought, "oh, so it's a crazy person." Let's try to limit the opportunities for appeal to ridicule on the global warming issue, ok?
I'm not saying I'm a paragon of correct walking, but I think the ideas behind this are really more of a "people generally have poor form while walking, which they will naturally correct if they walk barefoot" rather than a barefoot-only approach.
For instance, look how many people scuff their shoes when they walk, essentially sliding across the carpet or sidewalk (and wearing out their soles). That's not at all a feasible way to walk if you're not wearing shoes. And look how many people stomp around, landing heavily on their heels.
But there's lots of modern things we do that we didn't "evolve" to do. Sitting in front of computers day and/or night, for one.
"With naked feet you can actually feel global warming."
Can i sue Boing Boing for causing ocular damage from rolling my eyes too hard?
According to my absolutely worthless back of the envelope calcultions, the planet is warming at about 0.000168 degrees per day over the next 100 years.
Something tells me that I wouldn't be able to sense that shift over the course of a day, and given the daily and seasonal fluctuations thrown in there one can only conclude....
Put yer freakin' shoes back on.
This whole 'go barefoot' movement is born of people who live in places where it must be convenient to do so. Here in the NW, we wear shoes so we can kick the muddy, wet things off when we come inside. I guess if we installed some sort of foot bath inside the door we could work around that, but still, your feet would be mighty cold in the slushy wet winters. I think I'll stick with my wool socks and boots.
I'm not even touching the 'feel the global warming' idiocy.
I can think of a number of reasons to wear at least flip flops:
Broken glass
Mesquite thorns
Snowdrifts
Motorcycles
Cow pies
Hot sidewalks
YMMV
Global Warming aside, I question the sanity of anyone walking barefoot the streets of New York City.
We could have an interesting conversation about Vibram FiveFingers and stride patterns and arches and blah blah blah, but it has nothing to do with this article.
This guy did NOT say we should go shoeless to improve our gait; he said it's because our feet are "marvelous sensory organs" and we should do it out of solidarity with the third world.
So just to be clear, before this conversation gets too rational and scientific - this guy's a crazy hippie. And I'm not, even though I do go barefoot about 90% of the time. It's all about the reasons.
This a great example of short-sighted thinking and a particularly silly man. My mind is boggled at how limited this guy's perception of reality is.
Thought experiment time: What precentage of on the earth people live in climates where this is possible?
Then take that number and then minus the number of people who have jobs or are in direct contact with hazardous environments where footwear is required. People like everyone who is in construction, who work in hospitals, work in or around construction work sites, work where dangerous chemicals can get spilled or heavy objects dropped on toes (like all universities, labs, any place that has heavy things like boxes of paper).
Take that number and minus the people who live in cities and actually have to walk the streets, where broken glass, nails, wire, dog feces, garbage, bacteria etc... are present on any street in various conentrations.
That should leave you with one blinkered, self-centered and pampered artist who can walk barefoot, named Antony Gormley. Does he really feel that the danger to the walker and impossibility of modern society (no construction or garbage collection is happening, for two quick examples) merits "feeling the effects global warming"?
How many people have to wear proper shoes and operate in and arrange the real world so that he can enjoy his fantasy world? A lot more than can afford to go shoeless, that's for certain. What a waste of a year.
Tinea Pedis. Also known as Athletes Foot.
Also, cleaning the feet? You have a good wash when you come inside? What about at work?
I'm diabetic. Doctors warn I should never go barefoot. Shame as I used to love the barefoot vibe, alas I've learnt doctors advice should be adhered to when it comes to diabetes...
Artist Antony Gormley advocates we all give up shoes and go barefoot to get closer to our syringes.
I knew a guy in college who went without shoes all the time (for years) - he never seemed to have a problem with it. He was a math major.
goofy global warming thing aside:
I wear shoooos only while commuting and going to the bathroom outside of my home. Not on the lawn outside, but like at work or a restaurant outside. I started wearing chucks after wearing cross trainers for awhile. I noticed a pleasant difference going from "supported" to relatively unsupported. I took it a step further and now go barefoot almost the entire day. I wear a pair of hush puppy slippers when I have to wear something. I work in a relaxed environment so its not an issue. The biggest issue I face is bumfeet. You're feet get FILTHY indoors and out. I happen to have long hair and a beard so it amplifies my homelessness. I've gotten the nick name Hillbilly Jesus with some of the people who come through. I live in LA so its pretty realistic to never have to worry about the weather.
Yesterday a woman who was stopping by work said "I like your bare feet!"
I'm gonna get me a pair of those rubber shoe things with toes. They seem rad. riding your bike in slippers SUCKS.
i always walk barefoot at home. but that's because I make it a point to clean any broken glass/ rusted nails/ sharp pebbles/ hard kernels/ etc.. i might have lying around...
I like not cutting my feet on broken beer bottles, being able to go into stores and restaurants, and leaving all the
crap I step in outside when I come home. I'll keep my shoes, thanks.
I did it (barefoot on the streets of NYC) a couple of times when I was 21. Looking back, I question my own sanity.
(Dad, if you're reading this, the above sentence is a lie. And I don't do this kind of thing anymore. You know, if I had really done it before.)
And that "you can feel the global warming" is pure, buttery WTF.
If barefoot is good, how much better is naked?
Ah. So that's why Al Gore doesn't wear shoes.
I'd imagine the sell of sunscreen would skyrocket if naked was the new thing...
As I don't need a sunburn on my nether regions.
I went for two years without wearing shoes, more or less as a social experiment. It was an interesting experience. Going barefoot is very punk as it turns out, more punk than, well, being a punk. They do love their shoes! I lived in Austin Texas at the time and was fortunate enough to have a job where I didn't have to wear shoes, but even in a liberal town like Austin I could not go out to eat anywhere or do any kind of commerce hardly at all without being asked to leave the premises. And I looked presentable and clean, just barefoot. It didn't impact me greatly at the time, since I generally avoided buildings with cash registers in them, but few of us, myself included, can truly live beyond the sphere of commerce. It was amusing in an absurd way..."no shoes, no service". Restaurants I can almost understand, but hey, I don't eat with my feet, and the soles of my feet (which are washed regularly) cannot possibly get any dirtier than the soles of ones shoes. Firesign Theater has a running gag that connects shoes to commerce("Shoes for industry!")which I now can really relate to. Cultural conditioning of course, but the unspoken, baseless assumption by many these days is that barefoot people are either just plain crazy or without shoes to wear. And for the record, yes the city is fraught with physical perils for the barefooted, but I never suffered because of it. I once was refused service in a Sambo's restaurant because I was wearing a suit and shoes made out of wallpaper. They didn't throw me out, but the cook refused to cook our food. Funny. Wish I had taken a picture of that outfit! But I digress. There is definitely "something going on" with the very idea of bare feet in this corner of the world(North America). It troubles people. To this day I use a "foot shot" instead of a head shot for a visual reference icon. For an example, check out my blog...
Now lets move on to discussing naked women smoking cigarettes.
Was it actually global warming he felt or dog poo?
I'm dismayed by the grumpyness and anti-hippie rage being voiced in these comments. I believe the term is
First of all, don't you people look where you are walking?
When barefoot, do the same and you shouldn't step on glass, hypos, razor blades, porcupines, beds of nails, poo, etc.
Secondly, what is so bizarre about his premise of global warming being more immediate when you have less armor between you and the actual physical world?
Solidarity with the third world?
-Hookworm
-Guinea Worm
-Strongyloidiasis
-Buruli Ulcer
In Africa, people are literally dying for shoes.
Not a single comment about boku-maru?
I wish that feet were treated exactly as genitals by law and were required to be covered when in public. It seems that every other time I fly, I end up sitting next to some hippy waving his black soled, yellow nailed paws around the cabin.
Dante,
Your blog link can go on your profile page, thanks.
Many hippies would disagree that shoes are rarely necessary; I've been to places where shoes are the ONLY item of clothing most people were wearing. Feeling the grass between your toes is great, scorching your feet on hot pavement or impaling them on thorny underbrush is not.
I live in Middle TN on the Cumberland Plateau and there's a fella that lives near here who hasn't worn shoes with any regularity in God-only-knows-how-long. He's an old-school hippie farmer and a really nice guy; goes by the name 'Barefoot Farmer.' I've never really thought to ask him *why* he eschews footwear, but I really hope it's not out of white-guy-prosperity guilt or for hoodoo global warming detection.
"if you dispense with shoes you can appreciate distinctions and negotiate your environment in a very different way."
That's cool for him, but that doesn't mean everyone would have the same experience. And I gotta say broken glass and dog shit are not things on which I wish to step with bare feet.
Also, I think construction workers might have their own opinion on this.
That being said we all should go bare foot more often and be more careful about our shoe choices.
A couple years ago I was scheduled to have a guy come to the house to close on a refinance. Had never met the guy and when setting up the appointment he told me that he had a specific thing he wanted to mention to me, so that I wouldn't be uncomfortable, that he will be.....and then the phone blipped and I couldn't understand what he said! But to save embarrassment (or maybe because of it) I didn't want to ask him to repeat it. So I had to wait til he came over on the following Sat. to see what he had tried to let me know. (I conjured all kinds of images up in my mind of what he might be.) Turns out it was Barefoot! He hadn't worn shoes for 10 years he said. His feet looked gnarly and yukky. He was a devout barefooter!
Nice but strange guy!
ronton, the premise of feet being a reliable instrument for measuring global temperature/climate change is ridiculous on its face.
If you can't see why, I suggest you stop smoking granola.
http://www.barefooters.org/
"I wish the video had given us a better shot at what his feet look like after a year of being unshod." -- probably a little fuller than average, toes properly spaced IMO. That is my own experience.
I went barefoot a lot around campus when I was in college, but, yeah, eventually it gets cold in the winter, or you get tired of stepping on things, or you'd just rather not have your feet look all dirty.
This crazy hippie idea doesn't apply to blacksmiths, metalworkers, glass blowers, chainsaw operators..
If I hopped around the forest all day picking mushrooms and catching butterflies, barefoot would be the way to go.
I don't recommend going barefoot in any kind of wilderness survival situation unless you want to die of something nasty.
I wonder how much of the difference in foot health between habitual shoe-wearers and others (from "You Walk Wrong") is attributable to the shoes, as opposed to walking more or less all the time on hard, very level surfaces.
And I'm glad they didn't...
I did know some people who didn't wear shoes in the winter in Canada (South Central Ontario, same weather as Buffalo) - their feet really didn't look much different from anybody else's.
I can understand the reasoning this guy would use--going barefoot is "more natural", and it helps people empathize with the third world--but it is plainly obvious that this reasoning is flawed. For one thing, shoes are by no means a modern invention; we've been using them since, well, since we've been human beings. Claiming that going barefoot is better because our ancestors did it is as valid as saying that wearing shoes is better because we've been doing it since prehistory. Second, if he REALLY wanted to empathize with the third world by going barefoot, he would subject himself to the same risks that are present in the third world countries where going barefoot is a problem: parasites, worms, leeches, etc.
I've been a flip-flop wearer for years - probably 90% of the year. FWIW when I'm walking around Disneyland with the family for 10 hours my feet really don't get sore but everyone in their sneakers have aching dogs. Let's your feet get more involved rather than being squished in a leather tube
Is this the guy who was interviewed on CBC last month? I heard him talking about living in Toronto, and having never stepped on a piece of broken glass or cut his foot. The interview was maddening, however, because they never got around to discussing what he did over the winter... Brr...
I, for one, welcome our new hookworm overlords.
I went shoeless for more than 3 years. I recommend it to anyone who works at home. Shoes restrict natural toe movement when you walk, and a good number of knee and back problems in later life are shoe-related.
Yeah, when I lived in the Third World (Africa) I wouldn't dare go out of the house without boots.
I'm of the firm belief that if you're not wearing shoes in which you can run over broken glass in a pinch, you're asking for trouble.
An anecdote for the people who say that shoes are needed for construction. A friend of mine was on a jobsite in Afghanistan where most of the laborers were Pakistanis. They were all wearing sandals which was not allowed. The contractor had to supply them with steel toe work boots. This of course ended up being the single largest cause of them missing work as they started getting crippling blisters, probably more than would have hurt their feet otherwise.
Hahahano.
Looking out the window at the wet, windswept streets of Britain in November, I can only laugh at the idea of venturing out barefoot.
Now, I go barefoot at home (except when temperature decrees I wear socks) and I do prefer not clomping around in shoes indoors, but all the time? Not an option. I'll stick to wearing sandals outdoors in the summer, and my stout DMs in the winter.
Reading all of the strongly worded negative comments is illuminating! Our culture is extremely intolerant of any deviation in dress: the hostile reaction to bare feet is not very different from the reaction to nudity. People equate bare feet with lack of sanitation yet thinking nothing of walking into a clean house with their street shoes on! Notice also the immediate appearance of the "dirty hippie" meme. The hippie movement was about peace, love and tolerance during a period of war, draft and repression. Shouting "dirty hippie" is a great way to flaunt your ignorance and intolerance.
I've spent most of my life in temperate and tropical environments where dominant people try to enforce traditional northern European clothing styles. What is the purpose of wearing more clothing than is comfortable or useful? Why more than a sarong when it is warm? Why shoes indoors? Why swimsuits at all? What is the cost of being disgusted with your own body or someone else's? Why does it matter what someone else wears or does not wear?
having bare feet is relaxing and grounding and wonderful!
I wear as little on my feet as I can at all times. Shoes of any sort hurt my feet. My toes are now much much more spread out than any pair of shoes will allow and most pairs of shoes raise my heel above the ground so much that it hurts not only my feet but my back as well.
I think the standard footwear in our society today is one of the most backwards customs we have.
Living in Vermont I will say it is very challenging to find warm shoes that keep my feet in touch with the ground.
Video: Spearhead's Michael Franti On His Hit, Appendix, & Bare Feet:
http://www.billboard.com/#/features/video-spearhead-s-michael-franti-on-his-1004032089.story
@diamondbach (#23): "I knew a guy in college who went without shoes all the time (for years) - he never seemed to have a problem with it. He was a math major."
At first I read that as "meth major". In keeping with the shoeless-and-loony theme.
As a native North Dakotan, I say "get bent" to that idea.
The first thing I thought about after reading this was a picture I saw in an old Time/Life book (The Mountains) - a picture of a Peruvian porter who was found walking barefoot in the snow, stoned on coca leaves, carrying a huge basket of rocks. Hie feet, pictured on the next page, are almost as wide as they are long, and are so cracked there are bits of grass stuck into them in some spots.
Whoa there. I think you're making lots of sweeping generalizations here.
For one, not everyone walks into their homes with shoes on. As a matter of fact, huge amounts of people (I'm looking to China, Korea, and Japan) make removing their shoes when entering the home as a rule.
Also, the concept of wearing several layers of clothes is not a "western" or "northern european" idea exclusively. Some ethnic minorities in tropical climates wear several layers of clothing, even when wearing no "more than a sarong" would be ideal from your point of view.
As for your other argument (people forcing other people to dress a certain way), bear in mind that in many cases this isn't a matter of shame or denying one's own body, it's a matter of practicality--protection from the elements, keeping warm, etc.
I'm Emily Kasriel, the Executive Producer of the BBC World Service show The Forum (and its painter). We videod one of our regular 60 second ideas as an experiment this week. Great to see your response. To subscribe to similar ideas - weekly podcast http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/forum60sec
Or our weekly podcast of the whole show http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/forum/
Touch Ohana, clothes can be quite useful regardless of temperature. Especially with modern fabrics, layered clothes over most of my body in hot climates can keep me cooler than not wearing them, while also protecting me from the sun and other hazards like mosquitoes, sharp/sticky/irritating things, and so on. It isn't a matter of being disgusted with my body; in fact, I'm extremely vain, and clothes are a way of keeping my body in pristine condition.
In London some ppl do this in the summer, though getting trodden on by other commuters whilst wearing shoes is bad enough. Does this mean he can tap dance au natural as a result of his skin becoming conditioned to the harsh surfaces?
In two months I'll have to start shoveling snow (it lays as deep as 3 feet around here sometimes). Anyone who does that barefooted is certifiable in my book.
Hobbit (author of netcat) has been barefoot for decades now.
Pete refused to let him enter the Badtz Maru's engine room, though.
"Look out, it's Antony Gormley!"
" Karl, schieß auf das fenster!"
I took off my shoes for 3 years and never regretted it. I've only recently put them back on because where I moved has significant muck and broken glass everywhere. Back when I was barefoot I kept a pair of flip flops for those "No Shoes No Service" folk.
To hear Antony Gormley in discussion with a neuroscientist and a technologist talking about the porous body, forgetting and illusions, (from which this 60 seconds was extracted) check out The Forum programme
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p004wglf
Walking barefoot sometimes can be nice, but all the time? What surfaces does he walk on? Because I walk the 3 km to work and another 3 back, and cannot imagine doing it without sturdy (and in winter warm) shoes, even if the whole stretch was covered with asphalt. You probably cannot go barefoot it if you are a public transport user, either.
So if he spent a year walking barefoot inside his home, his office, and various shopping venues, and used a car to move between them, then the "feel the global warming" idea sounds hypocritical.
/me removes his shoes and socks and sits with the soles of his bare feet against MichaelRN's.
Takeshi, I'd be surprised to find out that anyone wears shoes when working at home. I always understood that most people working at home do so in their bathrobe, or their underwear, or *gasp* in their birthday suit.
I walk barefoot most of the time and when livinging Canada use to walk barefoot in the snow to and from university so it can be done to a point.
Had a conversation about this a few weeks ago with two podiatrists and their reaction was that older people slip and fall more often when barefoot then when wearing shoes. They thought people should always wear shoes. I believe that your muscles, nerves, brain, balance are more finely tuned and you have a more natural walk where you can feel/sense the subtle changes and respond to them in a subtle way when barefoot. Shoes cause your balance, muscles,nerves to be muted and you become dependent on shoes. When you rarely go without shoes your body doesn't anticipate and react to change in the surface texture, slope, etc and your brain is use to having a slightly longer leg because of the thickness of the shoe. therefore you are more likely to slip and fall when barefoot if you all ways wear shoes and rarely take them off
Free the feet free the mind
Hey, Mgfarrelly and Maggie - those of us who remember the late 1960s and early 1970s know how popular going barefoot was during that time, and yes, even in cities. And Maggie, you are not crazy. As long as you are used to going barefoot, and have gradually toughened up your feet, it's a lot less dangerous to go barefoot in a place like New York City than most people think. Less dangerous than smoking, drinking, driving motorcycles, skydiving, playing football, skateboarding, all of which can result in injury or even death. It's all about risk assessment. Any of you young people who were not around during the 1960s and 1970s who want to know what it was like back then, please read an article from the New York Times, Sept. 1, 1970 entitled "Shoelessness on the Rise", the time when the hippie thing of going barefoot became more mainstream and many non-hippies chose to be free and comfortable. Sadly, the shoe companies brainwashed everyone during the 1980s, and going barefoot went out of style.