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Here are my feet.

They have appeared on this blog before. In 2011, I published an essay called “Heteronormativity—Beware of the Male Toering”, defending my decision to wear two gold rings on my index toes. Fifteen years later, the rings remain. They have recently acquired a companion: a simple brass band on the middle toe of my right foot. Apparently, this is how empires begin.

The conclusion of that old essay has aged better than the theoretical machinery I used to reach it. Jewellery still cannot make a man gay, other people should still mind their own feet, and I still think toe rings look cool. I am rather less convinced that every raised eyebrow reveals the grinding machinery of patriarchal oppression. Some people are enforcing a social convention. Some are uncomfortable with men who wander beyond ordinary masculine presentation. Others simply think toe rings look silly. They are entitled to be wrong.

Same feet, less theory.

The toe rings were never the whole story, anyway. I simply prefer being barefoot.

Shoes Are Tools

A shoe is a useful piece of equipment. It protects the foot from cold, sharp objects, hot pavement, workplace hazards, and the many botanical weapons concealed in my yard. What it is not is a natural extension of the human body that must remain attached whenever we are awake.

At home, I am barefoot. For light yardwork, I am barefoot. When the task involves shovels, burrs, thorns, or other objects likely to make me regret my principles, I wear my gardening sandals.

Edmonton winter also imposes certain limits upon the project. I wear boots outside because I may be an idiot, but freezing off my digits would be an excessive commitment to the bit. Once inside, however, the boots come off and the Birkenstocks go on.

Teaching? Barefoot in my Birks.

Working at the University? Barefoot in my Birks.

Choir? You guessed it: barefoot in my Birks.

Yes, I recognize that wearing sandals is not technically barefoot. In ordinary conversation, however, “barefoot in my Birks” communicates the important fact: no socks have been permitted to interfere with relations between my feet and the surrounding world.

The Modest Case for Bare Feet

There are health claims to be made here, but they should remain modest. Research on minimalist footwear—not quite the same thing as padding around one’s house barefoot—has found that giving the foot more work to do can increase foot-muscle strength. One six-month study reported a substantial increase among people doing ordinary daily activity in minimal shoes. Another found that walking in minimalist shoes strengthened foot muscles about as effectively as a programme of targeted foot exercises.

That is interesting, but it is not permission to construct a wellness religion. A systematic review of habitual barefoot walking and running found only limited evidence for long-term effects on biomechanics and health. Barefoot living will not align your chakras, draw electrons from Mother Earth, purge toxins, or otherwise perform the usual miracles advertised by people selling something.

My argument requires none of that.

Feet move, flex, spread, grip, and feel the surface beneath them. Shoes necessarily alter some of that experience in exchange for protection. Sometimes the exchange is worthwhile; sometimes there is nothing present from which the foot needs protecting. If I am sitting on my couch, walking across the kitchen, or wandering through soft grass, a shoe has no urgent work to perform.

Comfort is also a legitimate good. Not every preference needs to be converted into a medical intervention before we are allowed to enjoy it. I like the feeling of cool floors, warm decks, grass, and bare heels resting on the edge of a chair. I dislike the constriction and accumulated warmth of socks. That is not a clinical trial, but it is entirely adequate evidence about which state makes my own feet happier.

This Is Not Medical Advice for Everybody

There are people who should not follow my example. Diabetes, neuropathy, poor circulation, impaired sensation, wounds, balance problems, and other medical conditions can make an unnoticed foot injury dangerous. Anyone dealing with those risks should follow medical advice rather than the example of a barefoot blogger from Edmonton.

The environment matters as well. Wear proper footwear around broken glass, machinery, chemicals, extreme temperatures, heavy objects, and workplaces with safety requirements. Do not stride onto someone else’s construction site and announce that The Arbourist has liberated your toes.

This is a defence of sensible freedom, not a demand for podiatric anarchy.

Free the Toes—Within Reason

Most of us spend our lives moving between two unnecessary extremes. At one end, shoes become compulsory equipment even when nothing requires them. At the other, barefoot evangelists promise that direct contact with the lawn will repair modern civilization.

There is a comfortable middle path. Wear shoes when they have a job. Take them off when they do not. If going barefoot feels good and the ground is safe, let your feet out for a while. If it hurts, put the shoes back on. No consciousness-raising session is required.

Does wearing a toe ring make a man gay? Still no.

Does going barefoot make him enlightened? Also no.

It may simply mean that his feet are comfortable, his increasingly numerous toe rings remain visible, and the socks have once again been defeated.

Sources

• Curtis, Robert, et al. “Daily Activity in Minimal Footwear Increases Foot Strength.” Scientific Reports 11 (2021). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-98070-0
• Ridge, Sarah T., et al. “Walking in Minimalist Shoes Is Effective for Strengthening Foot Muscles.” Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 51, no. 1 (2019): 104–113. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30113521/
• Hollander, Karsten, et al. “Long-Term Effects of Habitual Barefoot Running and Walking: A Systematic Review.” Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 49, no. 4 (2017): 752–762. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27801744/
• American Diabetes Association. “Diabetes & Your Feet.” https://diabetes.org/diabetes-and-your-feet