Mini Rant: Pheromone Myth
Yeah, it’s rather a random topic for me to touch upon, but I think this is one of those myths that is so widely accepted as fact that it’s worth a quick mention (if not a rant!)
All too often, I hear people refer to pheromones in some context or other – and very often by friends that are otherwise quite intelligent. So, I do feel the need to state this once and for all, to anyone that cares enough to listen:
There has never been a single experiment performed which proved the existence of pheromones in humans.
Not one!
There was a woman working in the University of Chicago that claimed to have gained proof that a person’s pheromones could have physical effects upon others. She claimed to affect the menstrual cycles of women by exposing them to sweat-stained patches gained from other women at certain phases of ovulation. However, her methodology had a lot to be desired and her “results” are generally now considered to be hokum.
And it’s been pretty much the exact same story for everyone that has attempted to gather data on this subject.
I don’t doubt that perfume companies would love you to believe that pheromones are actually real. That they can affect the people around you with their dazzling array of scents. In fact, they work this subliminal suggestion into every one of their ads. For example, the Lynx line of deodorants that use nothing but the suggestion that their fragrances can turn the woman of your desires to putty in your hands!
This leads to part 2 of my pheromone irritation.
Pheromones are not the same as smells! That is to say, while some pheromones observed in insects do actually have smells, that doesn’t mean that every smell an insect, an animal or a person’s body produces is full of pheromones and work as mind control for anyone and anything in it’s immediate area!
Don’t get me wrong, I can attest that it’s certainly true that the smell of a woman can drive you mad with desire! But it’s not PHEROMONES at work there! It’s the smell of perfume or talcum powder, or something else delicately infused with the odour of flowers! … Or, as a recent study found, the smell of certain ingredients of her last meal coming from her sweat glands that are getting your horn blowing and your dander up!
People may think it’s not particularly sexy to be turned on by a girl because she’s just eaten a bacon sandwich (a view with which I vehemently disagree!), but I assure you it’s more likely that than her “pheromones”!
MisterShouty 