Introduction
The elevator shuts, and I glance over my shoulder to find his eyes, guarded, staring into me. There is a charged electricity filling the uncomfortable silence, and as he takes off his woolen coat to accommodate the rising temperature in that tiny space, I catch the thick scent of musk and expensive cologne that wafts from him. A flush blooms on my cheeks, and a sensual warmth spreads down my spine. ëIs it not every loverís ardent desire to inhale part of the beloved?í(Casanova). Smell, scent, and natural odor play a tremous role between sex and smell. Scent has direct impact on past memories and close ties with emotions. The mere factors of smell and color, ì can control the emotional temperature of the room,î (Botting,147) The temperature of the room is further complicated with studies that show that men wear a fragrance to lure women, while females wear perfume to project their image (Botting, 153).
Food for thought
New Study: Men and Women can Blindly distinguish between each other scents!
Researchers at the University of California conducted an extensive study that involved 16 male and female college students. Each student was instructed to wear a white t-shirt and to use soap, deodorant, or perfume, in a twenty-four hour before the test. After the shirts were worn, they were collected and put into buckets. Both members of the opposite sex were allowed to smell the buckets. In almost all cases, the males were able to distinguish between the female scent and male odor. Males reported at a consistent rate that female scent was ìsweetî and the male scent was ìmuskyî.
Segments of DNA called MHC Linked to Female Attraction to Males.
A study conducted at the University of Bern examined the link between MHC genes found within human DNA and sexual attraction of males by females. MHC DNA codes for some of the disease detecting structures, which function as the immune systemís eyes. When a disease is recognized, the immune system is alerted, and MHC identifies the potential disease smothering them with destructive enzymes.
In the study 100 college students were recruited and the men were given untreated cotton T-shirts to wear as they slept alone for two consecutive nights. They were told not to eat any spicy foods; not to use deodorants, cologne, or perfumed soaps, and to avoid smoking, drinking, and sex during the experiment. During the daytime their sweaty t-shirts were kept in sealed plastic containers.
Now for the smell testÖ
Females were recruited around the time that they were ovulating (it is a proven fact that womenís sense of smell increases 100 fold during ovulation.) Women were put alone in a room and presented with boxes containing the maleís t-shirts. First the women were asked to smell the new, unworn control t-shirt. Then the women were asked to rate each manís shirt for ìsexiness,î ìpleasantness,î and ìintensity of smell.î
IT WAS FOUND that women rate menís body odor pleasantness and sexiness based on how much of their MHC profile is shared between the two. Men whose MHC profile varied the most from their own were felt to be the most desirable based solely on scent.
Hence, a manís sexiness to a woman is directly connected to positive MHC protectors that vary from their own. Therefore, creating a more developed MHC system in the hypothetical offspring of the two individuals.
**Scientific reports show:**
Women, who sleep in the same room regardless of sexual intercourse, tend to ovulate more frequently, then women who donít sleep in the same room as men.
**The Japanese consider underarm odor a sickness!**
The doctors are not only treating patients who suffer from underarm wetness, but are now going to specialty schools to treat such problems. Yet, few Japanese suffer from such conditions because their nationality as a whole has few pheromones.
Conclusions
The Study of scent and its relationship to humanís natural instinct to procreate is a recent field of study. Until the late 1930ís scientists believed the world of scent, pheromone production, and sexual attraction did not correlate within the human species. However, recent scientific research has indicated, although not conclusively that our olfactory senses do play a relatively large role in human interaction. These studies have also shown that most of the influence that they do play in more subliminal that overt.
Maternal infant bonds have linked infants affection to his/ her mother with the food and attention received from the mother and her pituitary gland located under her armpit, invariably where the child spends most if his/her time receiving the previously stated attention. Studies have proven that infants as well as mothers can identify this connection solely upon scent as early as 6 hours after birth.
The sense of smell is one of the most under rated and neglected tools used by humans. It facilitates our ability to taste and increases pleasure during a passionate kiss. The world we interact in on a daily basis would be much more mundane without this subtle ability. Women have increased sensitivity to scent because of their high level of estrogen, which is directly linked to the increased amount of odor sensitive neurons.
Both scientific and cultural studies have shown the deep connection that the human population has with its ability to smell and react accordingly to particular odors.
Historical folklore regarding the sense of smell ranges from Victorian women peeling an apple and placing it under their armpit to allow it to become saturated with her scent and then the ìlove appleî is presented to her suitor to inhale in hopes that he might be turned on. Also, southern folklore spoke of using female sweat and menstrual fluid as ingredients in food to lure a mate away from a tendency to have an affair.
Regardless of the situation, scent has and will always play a large part in our daily lives. Whether we are smelling our t-shirt to make sure we donít need to change it, or a turn of the head to follow that sweet smelling individual whom as just passed, scent is a crucial element in human interaction be it sexual or not.
Abstract
1. Gould, James and Carol Gould. Sexual Selection. NY: Scientific
American Library Publishing, 1997.
2. Botting, Kate and Douglas Botting. Sex Appeal. NY: St. Martainís
Press, 1993.
3. Write, R.H. The Sense of Smell. FL: CRC Press, 1982.
4. Perper, Timothy. Sex Signals. Philadelphia: ISI Press, 1985.
5. Hopson, Janet. Scent Signals. NY: William Morrow and Company, 1979.
6. Vincent, Paul. Smell. NY: Straus and Giroux Publishing, 1994.
7. Guerer, Annick. Scent. NY: Turtle Bay Books Publishing, 1992.
8. Engen, Trygg. Odor Sensation and Memory. NY: 1991.
9. Engen, Trygg. The Perception of Odors. NY: 1982.
10. Schab, Frank and Robert Crowder. Memory for Odors. UK:
1995.
11. Hummel, H.E. and T.A. Miller. Techniques in Pheromone
Research. NY: 1984.
12. Winter, Ruth. The Smell Book. NY: 1976.
13. Kohl, James and Robert Francoer. The Scent of Eros.
Continuum Publishing Company. NY: 1995.
14. Furlow, Bryant. ìThe Smell of Love,î Psychology Today. 1996;
38-45.
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