Sadly for those guys who would love to be able to buy a love potion for $19.95 (or even $1,999.95) it’s a myth that you’ll be able to effortlessly attract beautiful girls just by spraying yourself with a secret chemical that makes you irresistible.
There are certainly any number of dubious sites on the Internet that will try to convince you otherwise (gullible guys desperate to get sex can be easy customers to persuade), but science simply doesn’t support such claims as reported by Scott Foster in “The Science Of Attraction“.
As the article points out, it would actually be quite chaotic to society if the mating impulse could be triggered by a mere chemical.
Only insects and some mammals rely primarily on scented natural chemicals to attract their mates. For the time being, we can maintain order so long as humans remain more complex than other species. We are thought to be more complicated because there are several biological, chemical and psychological factors that determine to whom we are attracted, Buchanan says.
The existence of sex pheromones may in fact be proven one day, but I predict it won’t be any more than a small contributing factor to a man’s overall success rate with women.
However, that’s not to say that
scent counts for nothing
In fact, scent does play a role in determining whether or not the opposite sex finds us attractive.
But it’s not cologne or perfume that’s been found to have the greatest effect. Instead, it’s male sweat…
Some researchers claim that androstadienone, a chemical compound found in male sweat, resembles a human pheromone since it can alter a heterosexual woman’s psychological and physical state. Noam Sobel, associate professor of psychology at UC Berkeley and director of the Berkeley olfactory research program, found that exposure to the male compound can brighten a woman’s mood and even lead to sexual arousal. Similarly, scientists in Pennsylvania have found that a mere whiff of male sweat can reduce tension and increase relaxation among women, while having a direct effect on the release of a hormone that stimulates ovulation.
Gerald Buchanan, chancellor’s professor in Carleton’s department of chemistry and also Jean-Guy Godin, former Dean of the Faculty of Science and Chancellor’s Professor in the Department of Biology state that “…the most compelling studies in this area involves sweatsoaked T-shirts.” In the most reviewed study, Swiss researchers had male participants wear T-shirts long enough to sweat in them before presenting the shirts to women who were asked to rank each shirt’s smell in terms of how “pleasant they found each scent.”
Interestingly enough, the most highly rated scents were the ones that differed the most from the woman’s own scent.
Body odor types are determined by genetics and so the hypothesis is that women instinctively choose men with dramatically different genes from their own.
“…
the hypothesis is that women instinctively choose men with dramatically different genes from their own
…”
Couples with dramatically different genes are extremely unlikely to produce inbred children with serious genetic defects. There’s also a chance that introducing new genes into the mix will stimulate a stronger immune system or other desirable traits.
What’s more, Godin has explained that a variation on the original T-shirt study revealed that women taking birth control pills (or simply not ovulating) were more likely to choose similar scents to their own.
It follows that sex hormones in the pill (birth control pills simulate pregnancy) may interfere with a woman’s natural choice in men based on their bodily odors as she’s subconsciously declaring she’s less interested in mating.
And in fact:
“Masking natural body odors with artificial perfume or cologne may well have similar consequences.”
Does this mean you should toss out every scented product in your bathroom if you’re the type who loves to lather on the cologne?
Well, not really. Because it could be that pheromones also signal a bad fit to women. As in, having the “wrong” pheromone acting as a turn-off to a woman?
Just to make up some numbers, if my pheromone tells 1% of women that “I’m a good choice” and 99% of women that “I’m a bad choice”, perhaps I’m better off masking my true scent before going out to party (and then relying on my other tools, such as my red sports car, to do the heavy lifting for me).
“…
perhaps I’m better off masking my true scent before going out to party …”
And so from a non-scientific perspective, the information in this study has value only if possibly-“good” pheromones will let you get laid more often, more easily or more cost-effectively. Will they? Probably not.
Here are some ideas why:
If by some fluke spraying on pheromones would get an otherwise undesirable guy laid (and if that led to lots of previously undesirable guys adopting pheromone sprays), it would (as they say in Las Vegas) “move the line” (the betting line, that is).
Everything in life is relative
And so if most guys sprayed on pheromones, it would create a 100-million-way tie and women would have to look to other factors to narrow the field to a manageable number by using other factors (tall, good looking, high six-figure income, red sports car).
So ultimately, pheromones and sex would be analogous to steroids and sports. If a few athletes take steroids but the large majority don’t, then the ones who do will have an advantage (they may perform 1% better than they otherwise would and that’d enough to make a notable difference in a very closely matched sport).
But if everybody on every team took steroids, it’d be a wash. Each player would be 1% better but their relative performance to each other would stay the same. So if many guys got on pheromones, all that would ultimately change would be that their wallets would shrink (a side effect from paying $$$ for pheromone sprays).
Now let’s look more closely:
Pheromones are a “category” of chemical signals, not a single signal. They vary from one person to the next … otherwise, they’d have no value as signals. And it isn’t that some work and some don’t, it’s that certain ones work best with this girl, certain other ones work best with that girl, and so on.
It all depends on the particular woman’s biology, as evolution’s goal seems to be genetic diversity by encouraging women to sleep with guys with a different pattern than their own).
“…
the fact that some guys can’t get laid (despite the fact that their natural pheromones presumably mesh well with some women) suggests that other factors are more important …”
But any pheromone sprays that would be put on sale would be a “one size fits all” and that wouldn’t work. It might fit, for example, 0.25% of the women out there … which would not be all that different from what your natural pheromone – the one you have already – would attract.
And the fact that some guys can’t get laid (despite the fact that their natural pheromones presumably mesh well with some women) suggests that other factors are more important to getting laid.
So ultimately it’s much more important to work on your game (a.k.a. your flirting and seduction skills) and/or start making more money than to worry about scents.
-Mack Doppler
