Scent of a man

[differenceblog]

Androstenone, a testosterone derivative present in sweat and urine, can smell very differently (or not at all) to people depending on a single gene, according to Keller et al (2007). It is, of course, stronger in men's sweat and urine. Some smellers report a "sweet, floral" odor, while others report a more logical "sweaty, urinous" odor, and some

Comments

[poeticalpanther]

Smell affects me very strongly - a strong cup of coffee can nearly cause me to lose my breakfast in about three seconds. The metallic smell and taste of aspartame are horrible. And yes, I can usually smell the difference between men and women. I'd be interested to test this with trans folk, actually. To see where my nose puts 'em.

Anyway, count me in your small sample. I've decided not to date people because they didn't smell right.

[differenceblog]

I've decided not to date people because they didn't smell right.

Ditto. This is one of the main reasons that I try to avoid committing to relationships that begin online, because I don't know until we've shared air if I will be able to share space with a person.

[deadkytty9]

Ditto^2. I've decided *to* date people because they smelled right. This sometimes gets me into trouble. :P

[detonate_for_me]

Ditto! People have to smell right in order for me to consider sleeping with them. Actually, I think ... no, I know some relationships have ended because the person started to smell BAD. (To me, not everyone.)

[plumtreeblossom]

In the past, when I have temporarily quit smoking, I've actually found the smells and tastes of the world to be fairly overpowering and largely unpleasant

God, me too. The world reeked horribly during my brief time of quitting, especially people. I could smell things I'd never smelled before, such as other womens' menses at a distance of 10 paces. And people's halitosis -- it filled whole rooms. I never knew that before then. I couldn't use a bathroom stall without smelling the residual odor of the bottom and crotch of whoever sat in the stall before me. There were many reasons why I failed at quitting smoking, but human body odor was one of the big ones.

[differenceblog]

One issue that really bothers me is that I don't like kissing when I'm not smoking - or at least, I like kissing a MUCH smaller portion of the population.

The amount this limits my possible kissing audience is actually more than the limits imposed by other people not wanting to kiss a smoker.

[laurenhat]

That strikes me as sad and depressing. :(

I've only noticed a couple people's smell and/or taste over the years in any kind of adverse way. I'm glad that this doesn't really factor into most of my decisions about dating.

[dawn_guy]

People tend to smell "right", "wrong" or "neutral" to me, in a way I can't define as specific odour components. This aspect of my sense of smell was knocked terribly awry by hormones: when I was on the pill, my scent-sense was an extremely poor predictor of how good a fit various people were with me on a personal (not necessarily romantic or sexual) level; when I have not been taking hormones, there has been a strong correlation between "smells right/wrong" and "good/bad relationship tendencies".

My husband and his (genetically related, demonstrated synaesthete) uncle are the only men I know who share this scent perception.