Footloose and Fancy Free Analysis #3

“Yes, in his mind the woman has got a penis, in spite of everything; but this penis is no longer the same as it was before. Something else has taken its place, has been appointed its substitute, as it were, and now inherits the interest, which was formerly directed to its predecessor. But this interest suffers an extraordinary increase as well, because the horror of castration has set up memorial to itself in the creation of this substitute. Furthermore, an aversion, which is never absent in any fetishist, to the female genitals remains a stigma indelebile of the repression that has taken place. We can now see what the fetish achieves and what it is that maintains it. It remains a token of triumph over the threat of castration and a protection against it. It also saves the fetishist from becoming a homosexual, by endowing women with the characteristic that makes them tolerable as sexual objects. In later life, the fetishist feels that he enjoys yet another advantage from his substitute for a genital. The meaning of the fetish is not known to other people, so the fetish is not withheld from him it is easily accessible and he can readily obtain the sexual satisfaction attached to it. What other men have to woo and make exertions for can be had by the fetishist with no trouble at all” (Freud, 843).

As Freud so eloquently explains, fetishes are a substitute for the penis in women. Born out of the realization that their mother’s do not have a penis, and the subsequent fear of their own castration. The fetish gives them something else to focus on, instead of a woman’s genitalia, which would be a constant reminder of the missing phallus for the fetishist.

Freud also talks about the superiority fetishists feel at the ease of their own self-fulfillment, since the subject that is gratifying it would not know the object of their fetish. I have actually witnessed this firsthand, I was once asked by an acquaintance if they could rub my earlobes. I did not think anything of the request except that it was strange, he explained it by merely saying it helps calm him when he is feeling nervous, and he only brings it up to women because they are less judgmental. In hindsight I realize now that this was probably a fetish, whether he knew it or not.

Fetishes are showcased in mainstream media more than people probably realize. Quentin Tarantino frequently showcases naked female feet in many of his movies. The following clip shows some of the more obvious instances of this.



In an interview where he was directly asked about whether or not he had a foot fetish Tarantino replied “I appreciate the female foot, but I've never said that I have a foot fetish. But I am a lower track guy. I like legs... I like booties... [Laughs] Let's just say, I have a black male sexuality.” He does not deny that he has a foot fetish, just that he has never admitted to saying he does.

Freud, Sigmund. "Fetishism". ed. Leitch, Vincent B. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. 2nd ed. New York: W. W. Norton &, 2010. Print.