Scent of a Woman

Contrary to what my nickname may suggest, I am all in favour of smelling nice. I am not averse to a few sprays of perfume, or a good scrub in the shower. I change my clothes on a regular basis and I take a toothbrush at hand at least twice a day. Mom raised me well.

However.

For no reason in particular, I thought back of some publication I read a while ago about the role of scents in the game of seduction and attraction. Several studies seem to hint that the scents people produce help us all to attract the genetically most advantageous partner. Our biology seems to drive us to find partners that have MHC genes (major histocompatibility complex genes) not too similar and not too dissimilar to ours. These genes produce proteins that attach to our own cells in our body, so that our immune system knows they are our own and should not be destroyed. Finding a partner with similar MHC genes, though not exactly the same, seems to increase our chances of producing offspring that has a better survival rate in this world.

So that's the science bit.

I now wonder what the effect is of our societal obsession with smelling nice. I assume that our natural scents are covered up by the perfumes, deodorants and soaps we slap on ourselves each day. If scent has such an evolutionary importance, it might determine more than purely a compatibility of genes. Maybe it determines who is most likely to stick with us in the long run (this is a far stretch, but one should never assume). By dowsing ourselves with the latest fashionably hip Eau-de-Cologne, we may inadvertently be confusing our own radars.

In that respect, I am all in favor of a few sweaty T-shirts here and there. If you dig deep in your own memories, and trace back to a moment of intimate passion with someone you loved intensely, I'm sure you'll find that the natural scents you smelt then, were anything but gross. Quite to the contrary. They were enticing, seductive, energizing... I think that's what it's all about.

I have yet to figure out how all of this translates to Gay attractions, for the absolute evolutionary drives to procreate with your partner of attraction are somewhat dust in the wind here. Having said that, as a lesbian, I can only conclude that the scent of some women drives me mad too. There might just be a little more to do with scents than purely the Darwinian principles ;-)