Earlier quoted context omitted.
I found his “origin story” very interesting too. One theory I’ve heard for foot fetishism, which is the most common bodily fetish by far I believe, is essentially a neural equivalent of crossed-wires: Brain areas associated with the feet and with genitals being next to one another. His anecdote felt like an environmental thing though, with him having these foot-centric formative experiences. Though I guess you could…
I heard that crossed wires theory and I just don’t believe it. For me the simplest explanation is that there’s an entire industry built around selling sexy women’s footwear (heels) that draws attention to the foot, so it really shouldn’t be a surprise.
Personally, I believe this has much more to do with the taboo nature of feet (as they are usually seen as dirty), similarly to other fetishes (e.g. urine).
Foot fetishism is by no means a modern phenomenon driven by advertising.