Women who wore perfume
with synthesized female pheromone were more attractive
to their male partners, conclude scientists at
San Francisco State University.
Pheromones are odorless chemicals excreted from
the body that affect reproductive interactions
among both animals and humans. They are picked
up by a special organs or tissues in the nose,
and then conveyed to regions higher up in the
brain.
The new study, appearing in the journal Physiology
and Behavior, found that women who had pheromone
added to their perfume reported a more than 50
percent increase in sexual attention from men:
they were involved in more sexual intercourse,
kissing, heavy petting, affection, and slept closer
to their partner or date.
Women wearing perfume with a placebo also experienced
an increase in these activities, though not as
great as the pheromone group. The authors say
this increase can be explained by the effect that
results from "just thinking" you are wearing a
sexy pheromone.
"The most highly significant difference between
the placebo and the pheromone group was actually
sexual intercourse," says Norma McCoy, lead author
and professor of psychology at San Francisco State
University. "It is clear that there is something
that is odorless and is being exuded from reproductive
age women — that affects male behavior — that
makes the women attractive."
Pheromones and Attraction
The pheromone used in the study is what its maker,
Athena Institute for Women's Wellness Research,
believes is a generic substrate, a substance that
when put on someone's skin reacts with that person's
own chemistry to achieve its effect.
Adds Winnifred Cutler, institute founder and president
and a reproductive biologist and co-discoverer
of pheromones in humans, "When it works for a
woman, it doesn't seem to matter what perfume
she wears."
Research has also shown that significantly more
men who wore aftershave with a synthetic version
of a male-excreted pheromone engaged in sexual
intercourse and sleeping next to their partner
than those who wore aftershave with placebo.
The institute is offering the pheromone for sale,
using the proceeds to fund pheromone research.
The company also sells a pheromone that can be
worn by men.
Beyond Sexual Attraction
There is more to pheromones than sexual attraction,
according to Cutler.
"If you divide up the research on pheromones into
what type of behaviors are shown to be affected
by them, you can organize them into four different
classes," says Cutler: mother-infant interaction,
territorial marking, reproductive synchrony, and
sexual attraction.
While most studies on the topic use animals, there
have been intriguing human findings, too.
Studies have shown, for instance, that babies
as young as three days old are able to distinguish
the odor of their mother from that of other nursing
mothers. Babies will turn their faces toward lingerie
that has been worn by their own mothers — and
ignore other women's — when the garments are waved
over their heads.
Other research on reproductive synchrony has shown
that women living together in dorms or working
together have synchronized menstrual cycles. Interestingly,
one study of women working in pairs found that
women who said they disliked each other did not
cycle together.
Future Pheromone Research
In addition to providing interesting insight into
the roots of human behavior, pheromone research
may have some therapeutic uses.
The Athena Institute is currently exploring uses
of attractant pheromones to improve social interactions
of people who may experience subconscious shunning
by others, such as people with cerebral palsy.
In addition, infertility groups have expressed
interest in doing research on women who are undergoing
infertility treatments to see the effect that
these chemicals have on the outcome.
Attractant pheromones may also be useful to women
who have undergone hysterectomies.
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