The Nose Knows

There is still a lot of debate in the scientific community as to whether humans can detect pheromones or not and if we can, exactly how much influence they have over our behavior, but according to some scientific research, when women are ovulating, we generate pheromones called copulins, which when a man smells them causes his testosterone level to rise. In reaction to this, the man produces androstenone, a pheromone which women who are not ovulating find undesirable. The Discovery Channel offers excerpts from its documentary on this subject titled “The Science of Sex Appeal” (http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/science-of-sex-appeall-sexy-secretions/) that is required viewing for a deeper understanding of this fascinating area of human attraction.

Of course if you are on the pill, this switches up the dynamic considerably, “An interesting exception to the MHC attraction is for women taking the pill. Wedekind found that pill-takers responded in almost the exact opposite manner than would be expected. Because the pill tricks your body into thinking it is pregnant, it chemically alters your sense of attraction. Instead of finding the scent of genetically dissimilar men attractive, women on the pill found the scent of men with MHC’s similar to their own to be attractive.” (divinecaroline.com) But according to Discover Magazine, “While mounting evidence suggests that having one’s hormonal levels smoothed out in this way alters some of the laws of attraction between men and women, scientists hasten to add that hormones aren’t everything.” In other words, despite the fact that we are greatly influenced by our biological urges, we still have a reasoning mind that makes decisions and ultimately decides whom we choose.
 

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