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A woman friend of mine recently commented about her guy: “He’s such a boy. His towels are stinky. And he doesn’t seem to notice!” Well, maybe he can’t smell the stinkyness. According to recent research from the Monell Chemical Senses Center, women have much sharper noses.
Scientists collected microdroplets of perspiration, and had men and women sniff the vials. According to both, the odors were equally rich. Subjects were then asked to rate odor strength when sniffing the sweat mixed one by one with 32 different fragrances. Only two of the fragrances stopped women from smelling the sweat. But 19 fragrances successfully blocked it from male noses.
Body odor is special—the authors note that in previous studies men’s and women’s scent detection did not differ when it came to other aromas. The researchers also concluded that men’s odor is harder to mask than women’s, regardless of who sniffs. Only a fifth of the fragrances could cover up male odor. But half of the scents masked female odor. The researchers suggest that for women there may be important biological information contained in male sweat. So maybe don’t wash those towels just yet.
—Christie Nicholson
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14 Comments
Add CommentIs there a risk of bias unforeseen in the execution of the experiment? If you ask a man about the sweat smelling, he usually says no. But for women, they have this prejudice about body smells, may well smell without any real source of odour. I would like to ask if there is any placebo test done about this experiment. I guess women would be inclined to say yes it smells sweat, to placebo stimulators.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisToo right they certainly do. Armen to that.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPlacebo tests are often instructive, and I think this might be a good place to employ one. But I was thinking, Why would you think that women are prejudiced about body smells? Is it that in your personal experience women have smelled BO where you have smelled none? Couldn't the explanation of that be the very results of this study?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn the headline for this podcast is says "...that women have keener senses of smell than do men". In the body of the podcast it says "... in previous studies men’s and women’s scent detection did not differ when it came to other aromas."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am sure that if enough aromas were tested they could find one that men were more sensitive to. What would be the point of this study? To prove that women think that men stink or to prove that men don't think they stink?
Duh!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisyeah,it's totally true, i just don't understand why my gf always figure out my foot odor, hahahaO()_))O
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think everyone is missing the point of the article. what the research suggests is that women are more sensitive to male body odor, which makes perfect biological sense. It could have evolved as a method of females detecting males first as a defensive measure, or a way of helping to choose a mate as an incredible amount of research has associated human scent to. (males don't need the sense for defense or choosing a mate, prehistory males and most modern ones would probably care less about choosing a mate so long as they just get to mate.)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnd as far as the placebo tests and such, its likely the author of the article (Christie Nicholson) just didn't include every minute detail of the test, as the results are what is important given this is a news service and not a peer reviewed journal.
to answer Stephoenix, the purpose of the study was to determine if one sex was more sensitive to human odors (specifically hormone/pheromone<Endocrine> and digestive <think eating onions> excretions) than the other. The test was apparently conclusive, if you have doubts about the quality of the tests call the Monell Chemical senses center and ask for someone to return your call about testing conditions.
I would not be surprised if woman's brains recognized male scents when a male otherwise would not. especially when being masked by other non-human scents. Maybe the female consciousness is more attentive to male scent when its being masked for the purpose of detection... Just some thoughts...
That's true. Women are sensitive in many aspects of life then men.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThat's true. Women are sensitive in many aspects of life then men.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI recently watched a documentary which stated that men excrete an odor in their body sweat which is repulsive to women while they are not ovulating but is actually attractive during ovulation. The purpose being that men will only attract women more likely to present an opportunity for them to procreate and spread their genetic material. This would definitely influence the outcome of such a study as this one.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisVery true, but unless thats an indesputable and proven find they cant factor that into the test, they would have to conduct an entirely different test to see if the secretion was present in all men and then do the primary test....THats interesting, ill keep an eye out for research along those lines...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI agree with this. The study apparently lacks a control group.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://allwomenaredumb-thejudgement98.blogspot.jp/
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNo, that is not true, women often deny the truth, but they have little to no common sense, and are dimwitted.
http://allwomenaredumb-thejudgement98.blogspot.jp/
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