Sexual chemistry: smell and sensitivity

Sexual chemistry is more than just a way to talk about attraction. The subtlety of certain chemical cues are one more component that determines who we fall in love with or who we are sexually attracted to. The bad news is that our current lifestyle may be harming our natural sex appeal.

Psychologists Rachel Herz and Estelle Campenni have analyzed sexual chemistry in depth and how it works. The two were getting to know each other, exchanging stories about their lives while having coffee, when Campenni confessed something unexpected: she was living proof of love at first smell.

“I knew I was going to marry my husband the moment I smelled it,” Herz said. “His smell made me feel safe and active at the same time, and I’m talking about his actual body odor, not cologne or soap. I had never felt like this with the smell of a man. We have been married for eight years and have three children, and the smell of him is always very sexy to me.”

Couples have always testified to how smell affects their relationships. “One of the most common things women say to marriage counselors is: I can’t stand your smell,” Herz says.

Sexual chemistry factors

Sexual attraction remains one of life’s greatest mysteries. Some researchers think that smell could be the cosmological constant hidden in the sexual universe, the missing factor to explain why we choose our partner. It can even explain why we feel “chemistry”, “sparks” or “electricity” with one person and not with another.

So, physical attraction itself could be based on smell. We often dismiss the importance of communication through scent just because it operates on a very subtle level.

“This is not something that jumps out at you, like smelling a good grilled meat,” says Randy Thornhill, an entomologist, biologist and evolutionary psychologist at the University of New Mexico, who adds that “The capacity of aroma is there and it is not surprising to find the power of smell in the context of sexual behavior.”

As a result, we can find ourselves attracted to any stranger in an everyday situationbut not having any idea why, or, on the contrary, feeling disappointed on a date with someone who seemed promising but not feeling attracted to that person even though everything may seem perfect.

The smell and its unconscious imprint

People are not aware of the weight that smell has on sexual chemistry. What’s more, on our dates we do not hesitate to use the most sophisticated perfumes without knowing that the smell of our skin, hair and our body in general is the most powerful of allures.

We are those creatures who think that smell is not part of sexual attraction or social life. However, our brain is highly receptive to these signals, even more so, Smells are also those direct doors to our emotional world, to desire and attraction.

Thus, the zoologist Michael Stoddart, author of The scented monkey, biology and culture of smells, tells us that Humans have denser concentrations of scent glands in their skin than almost any other mammal.

Furthermore, as mammals that we are, We also send chemical signals that make other people notice us. and may feel sexually attracted.

So, How can we be so well equipped in this regard and overlook it? It must be said that we did not overlook it. Our unconscious mind and our senses are very receptive to that universe of smells..

In this case, pheromones play an important role. These are chemical substances secreted by living beings (including humans), in order to provoke specific behaviors in other individuals of the same species.

Let’s delve into it.

How do pheromones work?

Pheromones are chemicals secreted by specific body glands –located in the genitals and armpits, so they tend to appear in fluids such as saliva, sweat and semen.

In this sense, transmit volatile signals produced in liquid form, which are then dispersed through the airreaching long distances.

Now, the biochemical process by which sexual compatibility is established consists of the sense of smell detects molecules scattered in the airwhere nervous sensors in the olfactory epithelium carry information to the brain.

Then, a pleasant smell will interact with the genetic information of another individual and will be essential for choosing the partner you want to be with. Thus, They are fundamental in sexual attraction.

The smell and the courtship

Although we may remain partially oblivious to the olfactory signals we are sending and receiving, new research carried out by Johanna Bendas of the Technical University of Dresden suggests that not only we are prepared to choose a partner whose smell is pleasant to us, but this decision has profound biological implications. Because the sexual chemistry is acting.

So, For example, it has been discovered what type of chemical compounds are the ones that arouse the most attraction and sexual desire in us.. There are two types of male pheromones known: 5α-androst-16-en-3-one (MP1) and 4,16-androstadien-3-one (MP2). As far as the type of female pheromone is concerned, it would be 1,3,5(10),16-estratetrael-3-ol (FP).

In the complex courtship rituals, many of them installed deep in our brain, Scent-based signals help us focus on the positive qualities of others.

At first glance, the idea of ​​scent-based attraction may seem hypothetical and ephemeral; But when you unknowingly interfere with the transmission of subtle olfactory messages operating below the level of consciousness, the results can be both concrete and devastating.

When we let go of what our nose tells us, We can find ourselves mired in associations that fuel sexual discontent, infertility, among others. For example, one study found that people with greater olfactory sensitivity report more rewarding sexual activity; and that women with a better sense of smell tend to experience a greater frequency of orgasms during sexual relations.

Therefore, we should never ignore the signals that our sense of smell sends us. You have to be attentive to sexual chemistry.

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