Shoe fetishism, also known as retifism (after Nicolas-Eme Rétif), is the attribution of attractive sexual qualities to shoes or other footwear as a matter of sexual preference, psychosexual disorder, and an alternative or complement to a relationship with a partner. Homosexual men with shoe fetishism are erotically interested in men's shoes. Although shoes carry sexual connotations in mainstream culture[weasel words](for example, women's shoes are commonly sold as being "sexy") this opinion refers to an ethnographic or cultural context.