- The Never-Told Story -
Nowadays it's
very rare to find BAREFOOT people walking down the street, resting on a park
bench, drinking coffee or shopping, as if it were forbidden to perform these
daily activities in PUBLIC without wearing shoes. The same happens even in more
intimate environments, such as the surroundings of one's home when one sweeps
or washes the sidewalk or the car or takes out the garbage. A truly strange
behavior, not being barefoot occasionally, frequently or permanently, but to
avoid it in front of others because of a kind of MODESTY, as if each one had
his own internal religious Minister that prohibited him from showing certain
parts of the body.
This wasn't
always the case, since until two thirds of the previous century, it was most
natural for rural people to go barefoot, even in the city. The same for a part
of the urban lower class, especially children. (In a casual talk on the subject
in the late '70s, my grandfather made a comparison: “Of 52 children in my
group, how many do you think they wore shoes?” - “Some ... 20?”, I ventured. -
No. FOUR: The rest of us went barefoot.”) There were also trades that
performed traditionally barefoot, such as car washing.
But along
with these uses imposed by custom, towards the end of the '60s and the
following decade, with the emergence and heyday of the hippie movement - which
meant so much for individual liberties -, no longer wearing footwear even in
public became an OPTION for the middle class, especially young people. It was -
as I expressed in a radio capsule 15 years ago - “a time of extraordinary
freedom to dress, half dress or not dress”.
Almost at the
end of the decade of 70’s, a tendency began to hint in the opposite direction:
dressing too much, both in its version “upper class", the anachronistic
elegance of the DISCO fashion, as of "lower one", the typical ghetto
inhabitant attire. Nothing unusual in the History of Fashion, except the detail
that they ended up inhibiting alternative expressions.
(About 23 years ago, heading to the corner store,
three young men coming in the opposite direction, uniformed in fashion -
shorts, excessively large sweatshirts, baseball cap turned sideways and tennis
shoes - suddenly began to laugh. "What are these simpletons laughs
about?" I wondered as I continued on my way. Then, already in the store,
reconsidering facts and circumstances, I discovered that of me ... for going
barefoot.) "Wow! - I thought -, these
guys didn't know the 70s even by reference, when what was expected - and
appreciated - socially was to be an individual.)
As in so many
other aspects of daily life, people have become too dependent on the opinion of
others, almost waiting for instructions on what to do or not, even in matters
of personal preference, such as going barefoot. It can also be “gymnophobia”, in this particular case,
fear of bare feet.
Whatever this
is, there is no doubt that it is also a interesting topic for the Sociology of
Contemporary Daily Life: WHY DO URBAN PEOPLE NOT PRACTICE MORE THE BAREFOOTING?
Fernando Acosta Reyes
(@ferstarey) is founder of the Investigative Society of the Strange
(SIDLE), professional musician and student of social behavior.
Image: thedromomaniac.com
