"What Have Millennials Ruined Today?" Game, presented by Charleston Chew™

[Dr. Medulla]

I never understood the foot fetish thing. Nor do I notice feet/footwear much in general. I could be married to the deer lady and never even notice her hooves.

[Mimi]

I never understood the foot fetish thing. Nor do I notice feet/footwear much in general. I could be married to the deer lady and never even notice her hooves.

I love her.

[revbob]

I never understood the foot fetish thing. Nor do I notice feet/footwear much in general. I could be married to the deer lady and never even notice her hooves.

I love her.

Easily my favorite followed by Willie Jack and Cheese.

[Mimi]

I never understood the foot fetish thing. Nor do I notice feet/footwear much in general. I could be married to the deer lady and never even notice her hooves.

I love her.

Easily my favorite followed by Willie Jack and Cheese.

Yep, Willie Jack especially

[Silent Majority]

Sure, of course, but isn't it kind of a strange thing to collectively decide is verboten?

Those fetishists are quite egregious in their aggressive pursuit, I understand, and it's a common ick. Makes sense to me.

It's just an odd inconsistency to me. They don't have an aversion to showing skin in public and sharing the same in photos. Girls wear short skirts and wear mid-riff shirts, for example, but no to toes? I can appreciate the logic, but the apparent exceptions then are what stand out as odd.

Are those young women incessentaly pestered online for shots of their tummies and knees though? The feet dudes are notorious for unwanted attention.

"Send nudes."

It would make sense if there was a general trend toward covering up, or even pushback to sharing photos of any kind, as a way of asserting power over their body as a whole, but I'm not seeing that. Because, again, this is a generation that has challenged the public/private distinction to a remarkable degree. I ain't judging them for how much they expose of their life to the world, visually or biographically—tho it ain't for me—but I can't believe I'm the only one who sees this as odd.

I would say that a request for nudes in general isn't so specific to enduce a distaste for attention in a particular part of the body, though.

[JennyB]

So Gen Z don't want people to see their feet? A generation that reveals the hell out of their lives online but feet is the one unforgivable taboo?
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-gen- ... 96c06c0cc4

It's their place to set the boundaries which suit them.

Sure, of course, but isn't it kind of a strange thing to collectively decide is verboten?

No. Because feet are disgusting unless they are on a baby or cute animal.

[Dr. Medulla]

So Gen Z don't want people to see their feet? A generation that reveals the hell out of their lives online but feet is the one unforgivable taboo?
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-gen- ... 96c06c0cc4

It's their place to set the boundaries which suit them.

Sure, of course, but isn't it kind of a strange thing to collectively decide is verboten?

No. Because feet are disgusting unless they are on a baby or cute animal.

Sure, but most body parts are kinda gross looking on most of us.

[Flex]

So Gen Z don't want people to see their feet? A generation that reveals the hell out of their lives online but feet is the one unforgivable taboo?
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-gen- ... 96c06c0cc4

A few thoughts, I guess:

1. Like most "generation [blank] is ruining [blank]" we're pretty heavy on anecdote and light on more compelling info. This one's actually a little better than some in this genre, talking to more than one person and actually citing a trending tikok hashtag, but I still think that's pretty thin grounds to claim an entire generational cohort is doing a certain thing.

2. Indeed, the article itself interviews a gen z person who says they just wear socks because its usually cold and they and their friends don't care about this as an issue. I love the way most of these sorts of trend pieces conclude with "everything you just read was pointless"

3. But assuming this foot thing IS a thing, the article itself cites other youth trends that lead to more and less revealing clothing. A pretty strong case to be made that "young people tend to be contradictory and a little irrational, especially when it comes to fashion trends." I do agree with you that it's slightly odd that the always-on-display-everywhere generation draws the line at toes (I respect Maj's points, but surely toes aren't the only thing about being hyper-on-display-constantly that leads to intrusive, unwanted attention from overzealous creeps), but *gestures broadly at the history of teenage culture being contradictory and inconsistent*

4. Again, insofar as this is a real trend, the more eyebrow raising assertion in the article to me is that the stigma is driven as much by the generations disdain towards their peers who fail to properly monetize every single ounce of their existence. If that's real, it should really pump the brakes for folks convinced the youth are coming to save us from capitalism and consumer culture and the like. I find that attitude described in the article as wholly, even viscerally, repulsive (much like how some folks feel about feet, apparently). Talk about being in a different universe than any quaint concern about "selling out"

5. A quick scroll through my own photos finds little-to-no photos of my (or anyone else's) feet or toes. I have no problem with photos of such things, and yet they're almost non-existent. So is this sudden death of the foot photo even a thing? Who was going around taking a bunch of prominent foot photos in the first place (except fetishists)? The wedding photographer they interviewed says the people she works with who want close toed shoes are all millennials, again undermining the premise of the article. I dunno, I think the missus had an open toe shoe/sandal for our wedding but photos of her feet are pretty much non-existent from our wedding photos anyways. I guess I'd have to understand the level of ubiquity of prominent foot photos in previous generations to understand how they've declined.

6. The teacher being interviewed is a millennial who says things like "[gen z] is a whole vibe" and they're "here for it" and whatever. Grow the fuck up and talk like an adult.

[Flex]

So Gen Z don't want people to see their feet? A generation that reveals the hell out of their lives online but feet is the one unforgivable taboo?
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-gen- ... 96c06c0cc4

It's their place to set the boundaries which suit them.

Sure, of course, but isn't it kind of a strange thing to collectively decide is verboten?

No. Because feet are disgusting unless they are on a baby or cute animal.

Sure, but most body parts are kinda gross looking on most of us.

My elbows look great on me

[JennyB]

So Gen Z don't want people to see their feet? A generation that reveals the hell out of their lives online but feet is the one unforgivable taboo?
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-gen- ... 96c06c0cc4

It's their place to set the boundaries which suit them.

Sure, of course, but isn't it kind of a strange thing to collectively decide is verboten?

No. Because feet are disgusting unless they are on a baby or cute animal.

Sure, but most body parts are kinda gross looking on most of us.

But nothing as disgusting as feet!

[Dr. Medulla]

It's their place to set the boundaries which suit them.

Sure, of course, but isn't it kind of a strange thing to collectively decide is verboten?

No. Because feet are disgusting unless they are on a baby or cute animal.

Sure, but most body parts are kinda gross looking on most of us.

My elbows look great on me

I don't mind my eyes. Everything else should be traded in for pennies on the dollar if such an offer can be found.

[gkbill]

Sure, of course, but isn't it kind of a strange thing to collectively decide is verboten?

No. Because feet are disgusting unless they are on a baby or cute animal.

Sure, but most body parts are kinda gross looking on most of us.

My elbows look great on me

I don't mind my eyes. Everything else should be traded in for pennies on the dollar if such an offer can be found.

Hello,

For $5, I'll upload pictures of my toenail fungus.




For $10, I won't.

[Flex]

Sure, of course, but isn't it kind of a strange thing to collectively decide is verboten?

No. Because feet are disgusting unless they are on a baby or cute animal.

Sure, but most body parts are kinda gross looking on most of us.

My elbows look great on me

I don't mind my eyes. Everything else should be traded in for pennies on the dollar if such an offer can be found.

I don't mind your eyes either, dreamboat

[Dr. Medulla]

So Gen Z don't want people to see their feet? A generation that reveals the hell out of their lives online but feet is the one unforgivable taboo?
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-gen- ... 96c06c0cc4

A few thoughts, I guess:

1. Like most "generation [blank] is ruining [blank]" we're pretty heavy on anecdote and light on more compelling info. This one's actually a little better than some in this genre, talking to more than one person and actually citing a trending tikok hashtag, but I still think that's pretty thin grounds to claim an entire generational cohort is doing a certain thing.

It's also a case of being way too early in the generation's existence to make significant pronouncements. I remember when Strauss & Howe released their book on Millennials, around 2000 or so, I didn't find it persuasive because the data on Millennials was too limited at that point. It was far more interesting for what it said about their parents, Boomers and older Xers.

3. But assuming this foot thing IS a thing, the article itself cites other youth trends that lead to more and less revealing clothing. A pretty strong case to be made that "young people tend to be contradictory and a little irrational, especially when it comes to fashion trends." I do agree with you that it's slightly odd that the always-on-display-everywhere generation draws the line at toes (I respect Maj's points, but surely toes aren't the only thing about being hyper-on-display-constantly that leads to intrusive, unwanted attention from overzealous creeps), but *gestures broadly at the history of teenage culture being contradictory and inconsistent*

Agreed entirely. And I would never suggest that contradictions or inconsistencies are their property exclusively, or even of that stage in life. People are weird, which is a good thing because it fucks with social scientists' models.

5. A quick scroll through my own photos finds little-to-no photos of my (or anyone else's) feet or toes. I have no problem with photos of such things, and yet they're almost non-existent. So is this sudden death of the foot photo even a thing? Who was going around taking a bunch of prominent foot photos in the first place (except fetishists)? The wedding photographer they interviewed says the people she works with who want close toed shoes are all millennials, again undermining the premise of the article. I dunno, I think the missus had an open toe shoe/sandal for our wedding but photos of her feet are pretty much non-existent from our wedding photos anyways. I guess I'd have to understand the level of ubiquity of prominent foot photos in previous generations to understand how they've declined.

My blind spot in all this is almost certainly my aversion to being photographed at all, so it's weird to me that people who are really really really interested in photographing and sharing so much of their lives decide that that one part, which previously had no social taboo, now has significance. Like, I know I'm odd with stuff like that, so it stands out to me.

6. The teacher being interviewed is a millennial who says things like "[gen z] is a whole vibe" and they're "here for it" and whatever. Grow the fuck up and talk like an adult.

Look at Mr. Compuserve over here!

[Kory]

I'm outing myself a lot this year. Meet me, the board's resident foot fetishist (really, I'm just a sex maniac).