 SEXUALITY,
ATTRACTION, AND AVERSIONOur erotic life is much influenced by odor. Pheromone, hormone-like substances in one’s personal odor, influence partner choice in humans as well as in animals. This is particularly true for choosing a suitable mate in the animal kingdom. A dog can recognize the smell of a female in heat over a distance of nearly two miles. We know that a male butterfly can smell a female as far away as six miles. Behavior during rutting or mating season and protecting the young is also affected by odor. If you think you are not influenced by the power of human odor, think again. You are unlikely to become intimate with anyone whose body odor you dislike. The role smell plays in our lives is revealed in our language. When we’re suspicious, we say, “I smell a rat,” and when we expect something will happen we say, “I’ll keep sniffing around.” We are biologically programmed to assure survival of our species, and for this reason we are sensitive to erotic aroma message. Male underarm perspiration, for instance, contains substances very similar to the male sexual hormone testosterone. The female menstrual cycle is also regulated by a specific body odor. Love comes through the nose!
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Personal
attraction and aversion are always influenced by odor. Without the
ability to smell there would be little attraction. Odor communicates
between people: we take in odor messages with our breath, decipher
them, and react accordingly. Our body has special glands that produce
a very personal perfume that changes according to our mood, state
of health or illness, and sexual inclinations. Every illness has
its own smell. A mother can often tell when her child is coming
down with an illness before any visible symptoms appear, just by
noticing changes in body odor. We smell differently when we are
happy and centered than we do when we’re unhappy, anxious,
aggressive, or under stress. We like our body odor when we like
ourselves and are content. In other words, we inform the world around
us about the state of our affairs through body odor.
