Freelance Writer
I get a lot of content for my social media channels from my hiking adventures as well as from my year-round visits to the rivers that flow through Uvalde County, Texas.
In November, I posted a reel on social media of me walking through the water at the 19-Mile Crossing near Camp Wood, wearing a bathing suit covered by a puffy winter jacket and coordinating hat and scarf. The reel was about 10 seconds long and included a voiceover of a woman saying, “So I know I said I was busy, but I lied. I was doing this instead”. No big deal.
I personally thought the reel was a cheeky response to my friends back home who were posting about how cold it was in Virginia. They were freezing and there I was still wearing a bathing suit and dipping my feet in the water as the sun went down at one of my favorite spots on the Nueces River.
I anticipated a jealous comment or two from my cousins up north about the warmer weather down here, as well as a few thumbs up from my regular likers, but nothing could have prepared me for the barrage of comments to come…
My cutesy reel started with a few hundred views – which turned into a few thousand views – which turned into a hundred thousand views – which at the time of this publication had turned into 852,517 views. Of course, I was pleasantly surprised by the number of people that looked at my reel, but it was the number and intensity of the direct messages that followed that reeeeeeellly surprised me.
I received three marriage proposals, two offers to be my sugar daddy, one slut-shaming message, and I lost count of how many requests I received for additional pictures of my feet!
Let’s address this these one by one:
Marriage Proposals: Those who know me well know that if a man asks me to marry him, I will say yes. I almost got a tattoo last month that would have read, “Say No”, on my left hand, ring finger as a reminder to decline any future proposals, but I changed my mind and got a tattoo of the moon on my wrist instead (See photos on my Instagram feed @leighlatrelle). Men see me and just want to be with me forever (Go ahead and laugh. I’m laughing too). Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the men that saw a ten-second-long video of me and decided that I was “the one”, but to all three of you, I must respectfully decline.
Sugar Daddy: God bless the dudes that wanted to take care of me with all their sugar for the rest of my sweet life. Double bless the one that didn’t want any sugar included in the arrangement. Although the thought of not paying my own bills ever again is very enticing, I must say that without being properly introduced, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t want any of our sugar to mix and must respectfully decline your offers, as well.
Slut-Shaming: I had ONE solitary man – out of 850k – that thought I was a whore for posting the reel. I am not a true feminist, but I definitely lean in when it comes to a man trying to shame me for anything. Okay big boy, what was it about the reel that made you uncomfortable? What made you want to condemn me with your words? You were so angry. Why? Do we need to worry that you might drive to Texas, strip off your shirt, put on a Viking hat, and storm the Uvalde County Courthouse in protest against my reel? Was it because my legs were showing? Even the Pentecostals left me alone on this one, bro. Save your anger. I really do hope you are not as hard on your daughters as you were on me – you know that complete stranger out there in the metaverse.
Feet: Now these messages were my most favorite of all the messages I received. I have read dozens of memes on Facebook about selling pictures of your feet to raise money during these tough economic times and laughed hysterically, but I never knew how real this whole foot fetish thing was until I was inundated with one request after the other for pictures of my feet. WHAT?!?!?!? I still can’t believe so many people wanted pictures of my feet. Mind you, my feet are cute, but I don’t think I’ll be getting any calls from agents to do magazine ads any time soon. I like bikers, beards, and tattoos, so I’m not going to judge anyone for what they like, but I do a good job of controlling my impulses when it comes asking strangers on the internet to send me pictures of their motorcycles. En serio? Mis pies? Ya!
I know the title of my story made you think the whole thing was going to be about feet, but it’s really about the consequences of putting yourself out there. When you post something on social media – it’s out there – like out there for the whole world to see – as well as for the whole wide world to push back with their opinions. Most people were kind. Some people were funny. And one dude that was just mean af. No matter how pure my original intent, there will always be an army of souls out there wanting to put me in my place and cast judgement. When I posted that short video clip, I never expected anyone to judge me or for that matter like me so much as to propose marriage! I don’t think I was ready for all of it and I learned a valuable lesson: Cover your damn feet!
Like I always say, do not follow me for relationship advice, but if you want to see the reel I talk about in this story, find me on social media @leighlatrelle. You can email comments to me at leighlatrelle@gmail.com.
