Being a sportswriter is sort of like being a policeman in that you are compelled to see the often unpleasant underside of your field of work, a side that tends to escape the gaze of the general public.
And, even though I hung up writing full-time for pay a long time back, I still get feedback occasionally regarding the old stomping grounds.
I’ve committed a pun with “stomping grounds” because today we step (another pun) into the field of foot fetishism.
Once, when an athlete was credited with having good feet, it meant he or she was nimble, graceful, perhaps elusive.
These days, good feet might mean possessing a commodity marketable online to foot fetishists.
There are rumors coursing through the area high school sports community of athletes at multiple schools tapping the online market to sell pictures of their feet and reap rewards.
I’ve even heard of one team doing it together as a fund-raiser! Sure beats selling four square feet or so of wrapping paper for $15, as one school fund-raising shyster did to my mother maybe two decades back.
A story relayed to me regarding one non-athlete partaking of this foot fetish opportunity, was about a kid who discovered his feet were in demand and he could make a lot more money with pictures of his feet than he could working part-time at some fast-food joint.
I will confess right now I’m no foot fetishist – not, to borrow the phrase from the Seinfeld episode on homosexuality, that there’s anything wrong with it.
But, I hear when these young purveyors of foot fetish photos are found out, they are forced to stop due to legal concerns.
Because it is consensual, and there presumably is no physical contact, I was curious as to why, so I did some internet probing.
According to what I found, it is illegal for minors (under the age of 18) to participate. This is despite the reality that minors can risk burns operating the fryer at a fast-food outlet, be victims of robbery should the outlet be mistaken for an ATM by robbers, and otherwise face potential adverse consequences from jobs they legally are allowed to work.
But, for some entrepreneur to discover his or her feet are in demand photographically, is wrong just because he or she is 17 years of age or younger, conflicts me.
This is a chance for them go get their foot – another pun– in the door of free enterprise.
It could be a first step – again, a pun – on the road to building a successful business.
And, finally, at least the sellers of the photos are footing the bill for their upkeep, not sucking at the government teat. Dare I dream they actually pay income tax?
It is time for these content providers to organize and strike back the way abortion seekers (and, notably, minors in some states are not barred from seeking abortions) demonstrate with signs and shirts pushing back on government control of their bodies.
I’ve got a suggestion for the slogan for the T-shirts of would-be foot fetish photo providers challenging governmental regulation: Keep Your Hands Off My Feet.
Sam Ross Jr's site 