>>28037022Buckle up.
On the outermost layer, there's the social stuff. Feet tell you a lot about a person. A lifetime of walking up hills in heavy boots and a lifetime of waltzing around ballrooms in heels is immediately visible. Then there's the fact that they're great social cues (think about the different between cross legs with and without pigeon toed feet) and that they're primely placed to be used as handles in multiple sex positions. The literal job of a foot is simple, which means they're ideal for ornamentation as no complex mechanism stands to be obstructed. You couldn't do the fancy shit you see on high heels with gloves because women wouldn't be able to pick things up.
Then, the deeper, biological level. The fact that feet typically smell counterintuitively means that if a man finds a woman's feet not-unpleasant, it's a sign she's healthy and a good fit. Sweat contains pheromonal signals relevant to the immune system, and it's established that a lot of subconscious selection among people (other species too for that matter) orients around this. People look for immune system profiles that contrast their own, which means one resistant to diseases to which they are weak and vice-versa. So if a partner's sweat smells very unfamiliar (ie completely different germs to one's own body cultures), it's actually a really good thing mate-wise - your hypothetical offspring would have a stronger immune profile than if you mated with a similar-smelling partner. Armpitfags, listen up - this is pretty much the strongest explanation for why you exist right here. Both you and footfags are essentially beelining to sweat deposits, thanks to a genetic predisposition to inspect your partner's immune system. Funnily enough, I remember reading once (ages ago, no link) that foot fetishism was historically at its highest in times of disease.
Basically it isn't surprising that men who randomly developed an interest in this one body part have experienced selection. Nor is it
