The Library

Pheromones

01/14/2021

Biology affects people’s behavior and decisions in many ways, especially when it comes to sexual attraction.

4 Min Read

Biology affects people’s behavior and decisions in many ways, especially when it comes to sexual attraction. While you may not consciously perceive these effects, there is so much going on beneath the surface affecting your emotions and leading you towards potential romantic connections. One example of this is pheromones.

Definition:

Pheromones are scented molecules that your body secretes (and you’re not alone, other animals and insects have them, too). They have caused behavioral changes in other people (1), as your own scent can be a “powerful aphrodisiac” to some people, or a “strong repellent” to others (2). And no, you can’t control your pheromones.

Location on the Body:

Pheromones are secreted from all over the body. However, there are some main areas that have particularly stronger glands, such where your arm and shoulder connect (also known as the axillae region), as well as the pubic area, nipples, genitals, lips, eyelids, and outer ear, just to name a few (1).

Pheromones and Sex:

When you are close enough physically to a potential partner, their scent travels through your nose, through your nasal receptors, and then to your hypothalamus. The result of this can be an increase or decrease in arousal or sexual desire. Some experts believe these scents particularly affect women, who often have higher levels of estrogen, leading to an improved sense of smell.

Many researchers link the differences in pheromones to evolutionary biology, claiming that natural scents drive people toward those who are the best genetic fit for reproduction. For example, have you ever wondered why a sibling might smell bad to you, but great to their significant other?

Experiments in Pheromones:

How do pheromones dictate which partners we patch with? One study exposed a group of participants to different pheromones without revealing the gender behind each smell. They found a strong overlap between sexual orientation and the scents that people found most compelling: Participants unknowingly gravitated towards the smell that aligned with their sexual orientation. In other words, gay men were attracted to male scents, while heterosexual men were attracted to female scents. Another study showed the possibilities of utilizing the sense of smell in an active dating world, such as through “Pheromone Parties.”

Pheromone Parties:

One of the first known pheromone parties took place in New York City in 2010. About 40 attendees brought shirts they had slept in for three nights to ensure that their natural body odor would be detectable. The shirts were numbered and gendered, and placed into bags. Each participant smelled the different bags that aligned with their sexual orientation.

Ultimately, 12 couples went home together, and half of those went on to have relationships (3). Who knows how successful this study would be on a large scale, given the small sample size and the lack of replicated parties. There are also likely other limitations at play here, but it does show that there is certainly some real power to people’s biological attractions.

Tips to Increase Pheromones:

In her book In The Flow, Alisa Vitti explains that she finds it helpful to amp up her husband’s scent when she is in the second half of her luteal phase (a time in the menstruation cycle where hormones dip and libido, or sexual desire, often decreases). She suggests male partners eat celery, as the vegetable is “packed with male steroids called androstenone and androstenol that cause [her husband] to pump out more of his intoxication pheromones” (2). Papayas have been linked to increasing women’s natural scent in a similar way.

Conflicting Research Ideas

Whether you need to increase your natural scent or not is certainly up for debate. There are still some studies that dispute the power of pheromones, while others swear by it. For example, some conflicting information suggests that heterosexual people tend to have a positive reaction to scents with lower levels of androstenone. The theory suggests that this is what causes pleasurable reactions and attraction towards a specific scent, rather than a scent driving arousal or sexual behavior (4). However, much of this research substantiates a link between arousal, attraction, and smell — the real question is how much of a factor pheromones actually play in people’s sex lives.

As more research is poured into the study of human sexuality hopefully we'll know even more about this topic in the coming years. In the meantime, if you want more info, I suggest taking a read here. There are so many other fascinating studies beyond the ones I have shared that showcase the possible effects of pheromones on our behaviors and attractions.

References

1. Mostafa, Taymour, Ghada El Khouly, and Ashraf Hassan. "Pheromones in sex and reproduction: Do they have a role in humans?." Journal of Advanced Research 3.1 (2012): 1-9.

2. Vitti, Alisa. In the FLO: A 28-day plan working with your monthly cycle to do more and stress less. HarperCollins UK, 2020.

3. Gottman, John, et al. The Man's Guide to Women: Scientifically Proven Secrets from the" Love Lab" about what Women Really Want. Rodale, 2016.

4. Pause, Bettina M. "Are androgen steroids acting as pheromones in humans?." Physiology & behavior 83.1 (2004): 21-29.

5. Images 1), 2), & 3) via @Okgypsy, 4) Unknown, 5) Via Prevention Magazine