Human sex pheromone myth engineered by (...wait for it...) a corporation
March 17, 2015 2:33 PM   Subscribe

As Smithsonian.com notes, researchers have found hints that human pheromones exist: The smell of tears, for example, seems to tamp down men’s sexual arousal and testosterone levels. Despite decades of research, a true human sex pheromone has yet to be found. Perhaps you thought otherwise. You are not alone. Tristram Wyatt, an Oxford biologist, explains how one corporation successfully created a scientific myth .

In the land of pheromone research, not all is bad news. An actual sex pheromone emitted by male goats was discovered in 2014. (Scroll down for the boffo "intact male" vs. "castrated male" gas chromatograph illustration.)
posted by Bella Donna (11 comments total) 22 users marked this as a favorite
 
"Although I might be laughing loud and hearty
Deep inside I'm blue
So take a good look at my face
You'll see my smile looks out of place"
posted by clavdivs at 2:41 PM on March 17, 2015


The Guardian talks about the US corporation EROX, but when I think of sketchy marketing for human pheromones, I think of the Athena Institute and their magazine ads.
posted by exogenous at 2:46 PM on March 17, 2015 [5 favorites]


60 percent of the time it works every time.
posted by adept256 at 2:47 PM on March 17, 2015 [4 favorites]


Hey exogenous, thanks for linking to the Athena Institute, "a biomedical research organisation founded by Dr. Winnifred Cutler, the biologist who co-discovered human pheromones in 1986." Guess Dr. Cutler didn't get the memo yet. Yikes!
posted by Bella Donna at 3:09 PM on March 17, 2015 [1 favorite]


Yeah, I assumed this was about the Athena Institute, too!
posted by ocherdraco at 4:15 PM on March 17, 2015


Oh yeah! That 'ol goat did smell pretty fly!
posted by Oyéah at 5:49 PM on March 17, 2015


Ah, super-secret human sex pheromones. Flashes of the unapologetically silly, unabashedly sexist, and very adult Roald Dahl novel My Uncle Oswald.

You GUYS. There's literally a character in this book called Yasmin Howcomely. I mean. Come the fuck on.
posted by duffell at 5:53 PM on March 17, 2015 [2 favorites]


You mean there's really not actual pheromones in Axe spray?
News flash!
posted by BlueHorse at 6:03 PM on March 17, 2015


What about the cologne "Andron" from Jovan? That was early 80s. Looks like there are still some imitators out there.
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 8:16 PM on March 17, 2015


Humans don't have functional vomeronasal organs. The few people who have a bit of tissue where you might expect a VNO don't have any neurons present to detect a pheromone, should one drift by.

We might be producing pheromones. Evolution is often slow to catch up with itself. We're not detecting them.
posted by Combat Wombat at 6:29 AM on March 18, 2015 [2 favorites]


What about the cologne "Andron" from Jovan?

Hah! I was just thinking about that -- one of the would-be lotharios in our group of university friends back in the early 80s wore that reeky crap (SEX PHEROMONES GETS TEH GURLS) and we mocked him for it, constantly.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 9:15 PM on March 18, 2015


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