Kylie's feet top the fetish charts!

Who would you most like to play footsie with?

According to the Carnation Footcare/You Gove 'Footsie Index', Kylie Minogue's tiny size-three feet are perfect for men to fondle while George Clooney is the king of footplay.

The survey asked 2000 Britons to select which celebrities they would most like to engage in seductive footsie with.

The award probably has come as no surprise to Kylie. In an interview with FHM Kylie was asked about her favourite body part. She replied:"Umm, my feet are quite good. I've had many a girlfriend curse me about my feet. Feet are normally not the prettiest things, but mine are not bad at all."

Kylie's feet are so attractive, there are even websites which are devoted to them, such as John Kipling's site. One of his fans said of her: "Kylie is hot, feet are a major turn on, the combination is awesome."

Top Women

1. Kylie Minogue - 15%

2. Angelina Jolie - 13%

3. Fearne Cotton - 10%

4. Cameron Diaz - 9%

5. Beyonce Knowles - 5%

Top Men

1. George Clooney - 24%

2. Brad Pitt - 10%

3. Simon Cowell/Justin Timberlake/David Beckham - 6%

4. Vernon Kay - 5%

5. Tom Cruise - 3%

Tickle Your Fancy!

Does the thought of a feather hovering close to your foot set your sole alight? Or perhaps fingertips trailing up your spine sends your nervous system quivering? What is it about the tickle that makes it so exciting?

Evolutionist Charles Darwin was the first scientist recorded who gave serious thought to this peculiar thrill. In The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals , Darwin detailed these involuntary spasms in all walks of life, concluding that it helps form and maintain social bonds by causing laughter and fun. The key to success appears to be the element of surprise as Darwin pointed out:"the precise point to be tickled must not be known".

Tickling divides mankind into those who are ticklish and those who tickle it seems. While tickling sends most into fits of giggles, for some it can cause great discomfort and distress. For one growing community, however, it sends them to the peaks of arousal.

Ed, 53, said of his fetish:"I love nothing more than to tie a woman down, sending her her crazy with tortuous tickles. Seeing her body resisting my touch yet wanting so much more at the same time turns me on. I guess I love introducing women to this pleasure and doing everything I can to increase it."

"After all," the tickle lover adds, "there's no better way to bring a smile to my face than to hear, see, taste and smell a woman cumming over and over again."

Many 'lees' and 'lers', like Ed, enjoy tickling as part of foreplay, however for some it is a stand-alone activity verging on platonic. Technically, as a game of dominance and submission, it is a BDSM activity, however it's not recognised by the BDSM community as mainstream. As with any pursuit of BDSM-fun, personal safety is paramount and rules of play and safety words should be used.

Of his preference for light bondage while engaging in tickling Ed says: "There's something empowering and enjoyable for both of us as she's laying there spread-eagled and at my tickling mercy. I could just tie her up I suppose, but what do either of us gain out me humiliating her?"

"Especially as I'm hoping she'll return the favour," he adds.

Ed believes that the internet has helped him not only learn but embrace his fetish. For those wanting to learn more about tickling, he suggests forums such as The Tickling Media Forum and Tickling Theater.

In the name of research, I trawled through the message boards and was surprised by not only the high level of activity on these forums but just how deep the obsession runs. On the Tickling Media Forum, a discussion of one member's resentment of his fetish led another, Boomtown313 to write about how the fetish fit in his life. He wrote: "For me, the albatross was the damn Mr. Hyde mentality that I'd slip into. If you know what I'm talking about, come on raise your hands. I'd spend an entire night reading tickling stories. I'd stop to watch a video. Then I'd find a ticklish girl and IM her till I couldn't keep my eyes open. Gorging on internet tickling material, like a pig rolling around in mud, overdosed my libido, knocked me way off balance, and made pursuing ticklelust my Prime Directive."

I guess tickling is not much different from other fetishes in that it creates such immense pleasure and arousal that it verges on addiction. Left out of control, your desire can interfere with not only your's but others' functions in life...and not in a giggle-filled tickle kind of way!

Buster's Bursting!

Suffering with bronchitis and lacking TLC, I attempted to perk up my life with some left over chinese and an episode ofSex And The City

As much as I love the Carrie and Mr Big storyline, I was entranced by Charlotte and Buster, the shoe salesman who truly loves his product line. Buster allows Charlotte to have expensive shoes at no cost in exchange for him being allowed to assist her in trying on pairs of shoes. By the sixth pair, Buster's ready to burst with excitement (literally) and Charlotte's only just understanding the trials and tribulations of shoe fetishism.

Also known as retifism, the shoe fetishist's fixation on footwear may extend to interfering with their life - particularly the sexual arena. Rather than let fetshism interfere with his existence, Buster appeared to have built his existence around his fetish.

Brame, Brame & Jocobs (1996) define foot fetishism broadly - it is a deep sexual interest in the lower limb or anything that covers portions of them. The fetishist's response to the foot is similar to a conventional person's arousal at seeing genitalia. The allure of the traditional erogenous zones is literally transposed onto the lower limbs.

As with any fetish, there are unique preferences of the individuals. While some merely fixate on the foot, others may get a kick from a stiletto-heel, purr with delight at the sight of a kitten-heeled boot or long to stroke a silk-stockinged foot. Wet High Heels caters for many different needs with image libraries including: abused shoes, wet shoes, muddy shoes and so much more.

Acts involving feet, including podiatry also may cause arousal. Enthusiasts of the ancient Chinese art of foot-binding, which Freud called a fetish, have many outlets on the internet. Despite being outlawed in the early 20th century, the lotus-foot holds an interest, whether sexual or otherwise, with books such as Beverly Jackson's Splendid Slippers: A Thousand Years of an Erotic Tradition in print.

As odd as this fetish may seem, it is by no means alien to the general public - albeit in a milder form.

In February, The Independent reported of scientific findings from a research team at the University of Bologna investigating sexual preferences who found that feet and their associated objects were the most common desire.

Perhaps this common human obsession with feet is an expected biological one. Apocrine sweat glands in the feet emit pheromones, in a way similar to the glands in the armpoint and genital area. For mammals, the smells admitted play a huge role in sexual attraction for most mammals.

So what is it about shoes that send women into a spending frenzy and men's hearts (and groins) a-flutter?

Speaking to the Independent, designer Christian Louboutin expressed it in simple terms: "A good shoe is one that doesn't dress you but undresses you. So if a woman is naked, and wearing shoes, she should still look nude."