What Women Want & Men Need

[Jessterw]

http://norfolk.craigslist.org/bts/377786121.html

[Elie]

How about a nice shower before and after sex? That would do hehe

[Brian Ellis]

You forgot during sex, as well!

Actually, mild genital odour is a turn-on (pheremones) for both sexes.

[Mehen]

There are no human sex pheremones, or at least not any that have been discovered. Closest thing to my knowledge would be the McClintock effect.

Odours/chemicals can affect the opposite sex, but not really in terms of sexual arousal.

A more likely reason for being turned on by smell is the association of olfaction and memory.

[Brian Ellis]

There are no human sex pheremones, or at least not any that have been discovered.

I wouldn't be quite so categorical. I agree the evidence is weak but nevertheless, there is some evidence of olfactory gender-specific reactions, albeit with controversial results. The link has a good reference list of the subject.

[Sasq]

pheremones sheremones...
there is no guy here, who can not say he has not experienced his partner is 'ready' just by smell.

[NetSnake]

From:

J R Soc Med 2007;100:268-274
© 2007 The Royal Society of Medicine
Review

Sex and the nose: human pheromonal responses

Mahmood F Bhutta

.......
Somewhat analogous to the studies in laboratory mice, axillary extracts from men make the ovulatory cycles of women more regular.44 It has also been shown that the same extracts advance the release of luteinizing hormone in women by around 20%;45 this is the hormone that causes ovulation and the finding could therefore explain the observed effect on ovulatory cycles. Savic has demonstrated that androgenous odours stimulate the ventromedial hypothalamus in women (but not men)46 (Figure 7). This is an area that is known to be associated with copulatory functions in primates;48 it is interesting to note that gonadotropin releasing hormone, which stimulates luteinizing hormone release, is released from neurones in the basomedial hypothalamus nearby.


These findings suggest a direct effect of androgenous odours on ovulation in female humans, possibly through the release of gonadotropin releasing hormone and consequently luteinizing hormone. It is interesting to also note the finding that levels of androgenous odorants are linked to perceptions of sexual attractiveness by women,49 and that women say they feel more relaxed in the presence of male axillary extracts.45 Furthermore, there are variations in the sensitivity of females versus males to masculine odorants: women can smell the musk-like compound exaltolide at a concentration 1000 times lower than men50 (some men may be unable to smell it at all51), and the sensitivity is highest in the pre-ovulatory or ovulatory phases of the menstrual cycle.52

There are other effects too, on men from the odour of women, and also intra-sex pheromone responses. In his studies of brain activation, Savic also showed that the dorsomedial and thalamic nucleus of men (but not women) was activated by the smell of the oestrogen based compound EST46 (Figure 7), an area regulating penile erection in primates.48 Men rate the odour of both axillary53,54 and vaginal55 secretions of women as more pleasant when secreted during the pre-ovulatory or ovulatory phase of their menstrual cycle, perhaps a means of detecting fertility. McClintock noticed whilst a student that her menstrual cycle synchronized with her co-habiting female friends, an effect she proved56 and was subsequently shown to be due to female axillary extracts.57 It is thought that there is a ‘driver’ female58 to which cohabiting women either accelerate or retard their menstrual cycle to synchronize,57 although this is debated.59 Furthermore, odorants from the breasts of lactating women have been shown to disrupt the menstrual cycle of nulliparous women (the breast is itself a modified apocrine sweat gland).60 The reasons for these effects on the menstrual cycle are uncertain; perhaps these responses are of competing biological fertility between women.

Humans can also distinguish an individual from their odour rather than just whether they are male or female. Again using sweaty T-shirts, research has shown that people can recognize their own odour42 and that of their own kin.61 Several studies in babies of only a few weeks old have demonstrated that they can identify, and are attracted to, both the axillary62 and the breast odours42,63 of their own mother but not of other mothers, and that this is not based upon memory of that odour. Mothers too can recognize the odour of their own baby.64 This suggests a mechanism of recognition of kin in humans, and from animal studies MHC-based olfactory signalling would be the plausible mechanism.

If humans can detect an MHC-specific odour, then do humans—like other animals—utilize this in mate selection?65 The answer is that we probably do. Several studies have shown that humans rate the axillary odour of MHC dissimilar people as more pleasant than those who share MHC alleles.66,67 This effect is not found in women taking the oral contraceptive pill, implying this ability is linked to fertility. One study suggested that it was variance from paternally inherited MHC alleles that was most important for women when choosing a mate,68 but this has yet to be confirmed. These are not theoretical determinants of mate choice: research corroborates that we are more likely to choose a mate that is dissimilar in MHC expression than would be expected by chance alone.69

Furthermore, several studies have shown that women are far better at odour detection than men.70,71 It is biologically more important for a woman to choose the correct mate than a man, as women have a much larger parental investment;72 their better sense of smell may reflect this.
.....

Figure 7:
Differential activation of the brain by human sex analogues. Activated areas are shown in white. Adapted from Savic47 A: Activation of female anterior hypothalamus by 4,16-androstadien-3-one (AND). This activation is not seen in males. B: Activation of male hypothalamus by oestra-1,3,5(10),16-tetraen-3-ol (EST). This activation is not seen in females

see attachment for picture

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Savic I, Berglund H, Gulyas B, Roland P. Smelling of odorous sex hormone-like compounds causes sex-differentiated hypothalamic activations in humans. Neuron2001; 31:661 -8[CrossRef][Medline]

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[Mehen]

I maintain that most of the findings can be explained by the olfaction/memory link. It has been said before that the mind is the biggest sex organ.