7 Aug 2019

To Think on One's Feet

Horst P. Horst: Barefoot Beauty (1941)


Feet: some people find them very beautiful and sexually attractive; others think them repulsive and shameful.

But, love 'em or hate them, the fact remains that plates are not without evolutionary, cultural and philosophical importance. Whilst Heidegger makes a huge fuss about the human hand, Bataille is more interested in the foot, particularly le gros orteil, which he regards as the defining feature of man; i.e., that which distinguishes us from other apes.

I don't know if that's true, but the fact that we can stand up and walk tall on our own two feet is certainly crucial. Freud argues that civilization begins with man's fateful decision to adopt an upright posture, with his nose in the air (this latter fact leading directly to the decline in his sense of smell and, subsequently, his association of bodily dirt and odours with shameful animality and base materialism).

Our habitual bipedalism developed rather belatedly in evolutionary terms and the human foot with its unique anatomical structure is a comparatively recent assemblage of bones, joints, tendons, muscles, etc. which might help to explain why our feet are so susceptible to all kinds of problems (from flat feet to swollen feet; from blisters to bunions).

Other maladies - including dodgy knees, bad backs, and hernias - are also associated with the fact that man likes to stand erect. Perhaps this is why in so many cultures feet are held in such low regard; the fact that they are often dirty and prone to sweat also adds to their perceived baseness. Arguably, only the sexual organs have a more degraded status within the heirarchy of the body.

Living as we do, we moderns, from the spiritual upper centres, we dream of becoming angels; i.e., heavenly creatures who have feet that never touch the ground. But, as a Lawrentian and as something of a podophile, I would challenge such idealism. I think we should overcome our secret horror for our terrestrial origins in mud and learn to value the naked reality of feet that are intensely alive with the desire for touch - as well as great centres of resistance with which to kick! 


See: Georges Bataille, 'The Big Toe', Visions of Excess, ed. Allan Stoekl, trans. Allan Stoekl, with Carl R. Lovitt and Donald M. Leslie Jr., (The University of Minnesota Press, 1985), pp. 20-23. Click here to read this essay on line. 

This post is for Mimi.  


1 comment:

  1. Hear, hear! As Lawrence wrote in 'Cry of the Masses','. . .give us back our bodies, for a day, for a single day / to stamp the earth and feel the wind, like wakeful men again.'

    Anyone who doubts that our feet are aware (though often jaded). . .'intensely alive with the desire for touch'. . .need only unburdon them of socks and shoes and walk on grass or soil - or, better still, paddle in the cool flowing waters of their local brook, balancing on the pebbles and the gravelly bottom. So soon, their feet will exult in these freedom and renewed contact with life. They will wake, and will shout to you again and again, and for some time afterwards - "We are alive. We are ALIVE!"
    Reflexologists know the importance of feet - how a good foot massage can rouse and revive the whole body - the whole being.
    Jesus knew a thing or two, it seems.
    And, never forget that our arms as they sway with the motion of walking, are our redundant forelegs, mimicking the act of locomotion. And they are great 'centres of resistance' too - so that we can punch as well as kick!

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