Booted Up

Bettie Page has died.

(Time Magazine)

(L.A. Times)

(Bettie Page Memorial)

THIS is why I'm a boot freak.

There's at least 10 things I should be doing today - some of which actually involve a paycheck, or not tripping over things on my way to the kitchen - but a post on a SciFi blog - probably IO9 - set me off on a Google search for comics I collected - obsessively - as a child.

Much to my mother's annoyance, I blew my $5/week allowance on comic books. Not Superman (which still bores me to tears), Spiderman, or even Batman - why would a 7 year old girl be attracted to them?? - but The Legion of Super Heroes.

Forget Playboy, or my step-father's hidden Penthouses in the basement: THIS shaped my sexuality. I can remember this EXACT frame - featuring Saturn Girl and Shrinking Violet - and it freaked me out to find it this morning.

I was fascinated by it as a young girl. I was not old enough to read Gloria Steinem, and Skin Two was still years away. And it wasn't even the (now) obvious sexuality - it was about adventure, and power, and imagination!

Nowadays, the art has become much more blatant. Things are either über dark and stylized (i.e. Frank Miller, Dave McKean), or this PC "cool kick-ass chick" thing (Mark Miller). The *writing* is better, but the art tends to be too...obvious. And none of it is available for 35 cents at your local small town pharmacy.

Are young girls predisposed to kink staring at paparazzi pics of Hillary Duff in Louboutins now? Boots may be more popular than ever - but have they lost the mystery for the newbies?

About that 'Wishlist' thing. And options.

I've been threatening for, oh...2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 years now...to put up a wishlist. Yeah, I'm still working on it.

Honestly, I have this fear that I'll finally post a wishlist and two things will happen:

Please keep Sam in your thoughts.

If you've watched my cam sometime over the past 7 years, you've probably seen a ridiculously fat and fuzzy black cat stumble through, and occasionally hang out under my chair.

Ask Teri 4/12/08

(Three dozen emails written by mostly young(ish) men).

A version of: "I see/know women who wear boots and I WANT/NEED A GIRLFRIEND WHO WEARS BOOTS!"

Look - if I had a secret formula - a hex of some sort - I'd put it in a box and have an infomercial. And I'd have a helicopter-only access home somewhere in Sri Lanka. With guards that looked like Clive Owen.

I can lecture like a blow-hard until I'm old and wrinkled: All because a woman enjoys wearing boots does not mean she enjoys being stared at because of it. I know, I know - the majority of you are going, "Wha?? NO F-ING WAY!"

I'll throw a bit of kerosene on the flame - most times *I* don't like being stared at because I'm wearing boots! Sometimes, I resent it - because it takes me out of my own head trip, and forces me to be aware of the outside world.

Zentai Catsuits

If I had to make a list of the reader questions...

I have no friends:(.

Why are there so many single and female boot fetishists?

Responses to the "Oooo...Someone has balls"...

The day after I posted that 'rant', my computer decided to pull a HAL and consume my life for several days. Since this blog is moderated - meaning I have to 'approve' posts (it keeps the porn spam away) - the responses from readers are finally online. I am only now beginning to read and respond.

Hey! Two boot women that we respect and adore posted! Thank you BootChick and Angie!

Ask Teri II

Mood:   Confrontational

Music: Einstürzende Neubauten "Armenia"

(Apparently Typepad has a 'cut-off' point for posts - imagine that! Consider this a continuation from the previous diatribe.)

(Jim asks: hi Mistress i live near phila,pa and i beg you to please come here and kidnap me and enslave me then use me 24/7 as your slave slut,maid and toilet and yes please use and abuse me in all videoes. i am serious with a real request so please send me your thoughts sincerely slave jim)

My name isn't 'Mistress'. Your punctuation and grammar would make my third grade teacher weep with frustration. Perhaps if you wrote a sincere letter about yourself, devoted to an individual woman, and made it a point to remember her name, you would receive a response that consisted of more than, "It's $250 an hour.". Just a suggestion. Do not email me again.

(Abhinav writes: I am a boy from India and love women in boots or gloves.I think you are an amzing woman and are the supreme godess of boot wearers in the world.Youre body is perfect for all types of boots.I dream about lickin and sucking a womans toes,boots and heels but I amonly 14 years old. What should I do??)

Oh...goddammit. I don't know if I should be flattered, or if I should be looking over my shoulder for the 'Catch A Predator' crew.

OK, people - how would YOU deal with an email like this? And it is not unusual - I receive something like this...pretty much every few weeks. From a really young (read: underage) man, asking for advice. Most times they live in some far-off part of the world like India, or Peru, or Gaybash, South Dakota. And they break my heart. It was hard for me, growing up in a small, conservative town - I can only imagine what it's like for a teen living in a culture that rejects sexuality, and that punishes women for being anything but submissive to tradition.

The internet is both a blessing and a curse for fetishism - because can you miss what you are not exposed to? I don't know the answer to that.

And I'm female. No matter where any of you boys grew up - the fact that I'm a girl makes everything different. I didn't think about 'worshipping' boots - I thought about wearing them.

Fetishism is different for women. We are the ones who are coveted, and once a girl puts on her first pair of heels and walks in public - she becomes very aware of the...coveting. All of a sudden, her personal fetish seems to belong to everyone.

If women were as closeted about their fetishism as the majority of you boys are - you'd be a miserable bunch. And the internet would make $10 a day.

I want you to put your thinking caps on - and write a bit of sincere advice for this young man. I am sending him the link to this post. The majority of you are far more qualified to answer him than I will ever be.

(Click here to view the enlargement) <---I honestly have no idea which Bootlovers.com issue this was in - can one of you know-it-alls tell me so I can edit the link? Edit: It was Issue #42 - thank you Manoleat!