Own Your Foot Fetish, Quentin Tarantino

I’m not saying Quentin Tarantino has a foot fetish, I’m just saying that if he does, I want him to feel comfortable owning it.

I bring this up because widespread speculation over the iconic filmmaker’s rumored foot fetish has once again come up thanks to a recent British GQ interview. Tarantino’s passion for putting feet on film is well-documented, featuring in notable scenes from Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill and perhaps most memorably in 2019’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, in which feet featured so heavily that Brad Pitt thanked “Margot Robbie’s feet,” “Margaret Qualley’s feet” and “Dakota Fanning’s feet” among his co-stars during his acceptance speech at the 2020 SAG Awards. “Seriously, Quentin has separated more women from their shoes than the TSA,” Pitt joked.

Tarantino, for his part, has largely brushed off the speculation, writing off his foot-focused filmmaking as simply “good directing.” Asked by British GQ what he makes of “people thinking you have a thing about feet,” the director merely issued “a sigh of disappointment,” claiming he simply doesn’t “take it seriously.”

“There’s a lot of feet in a lot of good directors’ movies,” he argued, citing Luis Buñuel, Alfred Hitchcock and Sofia Coppola among fellow feet happy directors accused of foot fetishism. “That’s just good direction.”

Sure, that’s what they all say.

Look, I don’t think Tarantino should be outed as a foot fetishist, nor should he feel compelled to publicly disclose any information about his sex life or podophilic proclivities to the masses. Still, I would like to believe we live in a world in which famed director Quentin Tarantino feels free to proudly own his foot fetish, if he so chooses. Despite strides in recent years towards a more progressive, sex-positive approach to sex and kink, foot fetishism remains surprisingly taboo, especially for a common, relatively tame kink. According to Psychology Today, foot fetishes are among the most common fetishes, while social psychologist Dr. Justin Lehmiller told Men’s Health that about 14 percent of the participants in research he conducted for the book Tell Me What You Want reported “having had a sexual fantasy before in which feet or toes played a prominent role.” And yet, people who are into feet often remain trapped in unflattering stereotypes that paint them as either creeps or punchlines.

Like pretty much any other kink or fantasy that is practiced consensually, being into feet is normal and fine, and frankly, I think we could use more foot guy representation from the likes of famous figures like Tarantino. Not only would increased foot fetish representation be good for closeted foot enthusiasts, but picking up a kink might also make Tarantino himself seem like less of an insufferable blowhard who jerks off to his own films every night. Or maybe it would actually make him seem more like someone who jerks off to his own movies, but for different, cooler reasons. Either way, it’s a win-win!