Male Sweat Makes Women Happy

guacamolefoo writes "CNN reports a study by the University of Pennsylvania that involved applying to the upper lips of women a solution containing underarm sweat from men who had not used deodorant in four weeks. It apparently elevated their moods and increased their fertility. Use this knowledge at your own risk."

Comments

Re:

[dankjones]

Other male fluids do this as well.

Are they kidding?

[darkov]

a solution containing underarm sweat from men who had not used deodorant in four weeks.

This solution, if it came from my body, would rednder women unconcious, if it didn't kill them straight up. Even after one day my body odour is so powerful, the American militrary would declare it a weapon of mass destruction. Even thinking of the smell of my unwashed armpit after four week makes me woosy. What are these people thinking?

Re:Are they kidding?

[fobside]

It doesn't say they don't shower or wash their underarms. It just says they don't wear deodorant. Does that mean deodorant does something to the smell even after you've washed under your arms? Still, I know where you're coming from here. One day without deodorant is not a pleasant thing with myself either.

Re:Are they kidding?

[zulux]

a solution containing underarm sweat from men who had not used deodorant in four weeks.

My girlfried and I do a lot of distance hiking ~ 90 miles in a week, and strangly enough, after about the third day of hard, sweaty hiking without deoderant, you stop stinking like a rancid kitchen towel.

When friends come an pick us up at the end of out hikes - we've asked them if we stunk like limburger cheese, and never once has anybody piped up that we stunk. (They could be horribly polite)

In our slacker civilisation though, I stink like cat puke if I don't slather on some deoderant every day.

Re:Are they kidding?

[PeekabooCaribou]

Several years ago, I gave a lift to a pair of Appalacian trail hikers. They had started in Georgia, and I met them in New Hampshire.

"Rancid kitchen towel" isn't quite strong enough to describe the smell. They might as well have been decomposing in the back of my car.

On a different note, my last girlfriend enjoyed my underarm smell very much. To each her own, I guess.

Re:Are they kidding?

[zulux]

Several years ago, I gave a lift to a pair of Appalacian trail hikers. They had started in Georgia, and I met them in New Hampshire.

"Rancid kitchen towel" isn't quite strong enough to describe the smell. They might as well have been decomposing in the back of my car.

We see a few hikers here on the Pacific Crest Trail that stink like rotting tuna mixed with fermenting brussel sprouts - the're usually the hippy weed-hikers that roll their own feces into their hair.

Nice pepole, from about 100 feet away.

Also, stay away from the crazed skinny camo hikers - they usually smell like the rotting human flesh of their last victem.

Re:Are they kidding?

[iggymanz]

We see a few hikers here on the Pacific Crest Trail that stink like rotting tuna mixed with fermenting brussel sprouts

So that's what the patchouli oil I see in these online hippie shops smells like

Re:Are they kidding?

[Ozymandias_KoK]

They're being nice to you. I remember coming back after being out in the field (with my Uncle Sam) for a month or so. Several of us had gotten clean -- green scrub pads work good for that deep down dirt -- and were going out to eat. Another guy hadn't had anyone pick him up so we took him to his place. He stank soooo bad. We had to roll all the windows down and open the sunroof and could still barely stand it. And in early Colorado springtime, that can be rough...

You are also prolly mistaking the fact that you tune your own smells out, and any that you are constantly exposed to also. You just get desensitized.

Re:Are they kidding?

[You're All Wrong]

Stop using deodorant, wash several times a day with the simplest soap you can find (not scented). Your body will eventually stop trying to _fight_ the artificial situation you're currently exposing it to. You are over-producing the hormones and scents currently, and the mechanism your body takes to overproduce these is to over-sweat.

Shower in the morning, and have a freshen up - just with plain water or minimal soap - after lunch-time, and have another light wash after work. Within a month you'll start missing out the lunch-time wash as it won't be necessary any more. Wear cotton rather than man-made fibers, for improved breathability and wicking.

It's not _sweat_ that smells, it's _stale sweat_. Fresh sweat, as this study indicates, is not unpleasant to most people. However, some of the hormones it contains, such as androsterone, are smelt differently by different noses. To some it's like flowers, to some it's sweet, to others it's like a jock's jockstrap. So don't expect everyone to think that you smell divine.

I've not used an aftershave or deoderant for about 10 years, I simply make sure I keep good personal hygiene, and my girlfriend loves my smell. (She's one who likes androsterone)
This article isn't news to me at all - hell, my girlfriend always nuzzles up to my armpits when going for a hug! However, I have a very sedentary lifestyle, and a cool flat (I'm exothermic), so I sweat very little on the whole.

YAW.

Re:Are they kidding?

[Mxyzptlk]

It's not _sweat_ that smells, it's _stale sweat_.

Not quite - the human have different kinds of sweat glands, which we have over all of our bodies. The greatest concentration of sweat glands are on the palms of our hands and soles of our feet.

The watery kind of sweat is secreted by eccrine sweat glands; this kind of sweat consists of mostly water and some dissolved salts.

The smelly type of sweat comes from the apocrine, or specialized, sweat glands. The reason that the sweat smells is that the apocrine sweat glands in the armpits and genital-anal areas produce sweat that 1) stimulates bacterial growth, and 2) is oilier and is broken down into smelly components.

As a sidenote: yes, we "sweat" in our ear, but the apocrine sweat glands there produce earwax instead of normal sweat.

Re:Are they kidding?

[unitron]

"It's not _sweat_ that smells, it's _stale sweat_."

I thought the smell was supposed to be from the waste excretions of the (mostly anaerobic) bacteria living and multiplying on the areas of your skin that get the least exposure to fresh air.

Re:Are they kidding?

[You're All Wrong]

Yes, you're right, I was over simplifying to the point of inaccuracy.

If I'm 'oily' sweaty, then I will usually have a cup of hot Masala Tea (indian tea with spices, including ginger and black pepper), which causes the 'wet' sweat to start. I find it easier, or at least more refreshing, to wash after I've added the wet sweat.

Your 'broken down into smelly components' is what I meant by 'stale'.

Eugh, was a lovely subject matter.

YAW.

Re:

[darkov]

Other male fluids do this as well.

And on any part of their face, too.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

oh definitely.

I never knew women could have an orgasm simply by having someone ejaculate on their face.

however, i've noticed that the women i've dated usually make a face like i just asked them do drink ocean water mixed with raw eggs. they obviously were frigid or had emotional problems, which is why i didn't mind them cheating on me or dumping me.

see, porn is highly educational! now, if i can just find a bitch who likes to wear dog collars...

My Guess

[DarkKnightRadick]

Is that it has to do with pheremone's present in sweat. I'll assume they used underarm sweat as we have a lot of sweat glands there.

non-bully women

[Anonymous Coward]

common sense implies the sweat samples were provided by men who are computer geeks - just ask yourself "what class of society wouldn't shower for a month?"

additionally - lisa simpson has taught us that the sweat of geeks sets off some nerve in bullies.

conclusion - the women in this study were not bullies. which is good for us men - it means there are women out there who beat the sh*t out of us before we say hi.

Deodorant is a capitalist conspiracy!

[neuromortis]

I thought everyone knew that?

If it turns out...

[deglr6328]

...that the reported effect is real (the sample size of the experiment was ridiculously small), it would be interesting to see if the reverse situation would have a similarly involuntary and detectable effect in males. Also it might be interesting to do a double blind test to examine any biological origin of homosexuality since the presence or absence of sweat in a sample would be (consciously) undetectable(or presumably easily masked judging by the article) by the subject.

What an eye-opener

[seinman]

Well, now I finally know how my buddy Adam Snider got laid!

one page fact sheet

[g4dget]

Here is a one page fact sheet on human pheromones from a bio class at UIUC. As you can see, this is not exactly news.

Pheromones

[arvindn]

Smell and pheromones play very important roles for many species. Though it is less in humans, it is still significant.

The study says there is no evidence for sexual arousal, but that this could be because the tests were done in a sterile enviroment. Biologically, however, the primary function of pheromones is sexual communication. Here is an article on pheromones in humans and animals. Relevant portion:

Smell has a dramatic effect on sexual desire for several reasons. Firstly, particular smells recall mental images that reduce anxiety, making a person more receptive to sex. Secondly, some odours stimulate a link in the brain.Scientists have ascertained that all animals produce pheromones (quite aptly translating from Greek as 'to transfer excitement') or scents in the form of a chemical substance, designed to stimulate behavioural responses usually some form of attraction or repulsion within the same species.

...

Pheromones are found naturally in minute amounts in the perspiration of all guys and we can recognise pheromone-power in cultural, historical trends and habits. Members of a tribe in New Guinea actually say good-bye by putting a hand in each other's armpit and rubbing themselves with it! In medieval England, lovers exchanged 'love apples' - peeled apples were kept in a woman's armpit until it absorbed her odour then given to her lover so he could inhale her fragrance while they were apart - supposedly the anticipated effect was that of an aphrodisiac confirming the true strength of pheromones (not forgetting that Medieval Europeans never washed, this was a sure test of love!). It is even reported that Napoleon sent a message to Josephine prior to his arrival home "Home in three days, don't wash"

I don't know if the Napoleon story is an urban legend and if it is related to the myth that Frenchwomen don't wash.

Poor methodology?

[CarlDenny]

I wish they had a more complete pointer to the study, it sounds deeply flawed, like they're just trolling for an interesting sound bite.
Where's the comparison with women's sweat, dog's sweat, floor wax, nothing? I don't here any mention of a control group, etc. I bet sitting most women down in a sterile environment for 10 minutes would elevate their moods without smearing anything on there noses.

This strike me as a very weak experiment, scientifically, with more vague and ill-formed conclusions drawn from there because it deals with sex.

I hope the actual study proves me wrong, but it sound like overblown crap to me, and if it is, the "researchers" should never be given public money again.

Semen works too!

[MrWa]

According to this study, semen works to make women happy as well!

I can't even begin to record here all the things this combination brings to mind...

Re:Semen works too!

[MrWa]

ARgh...posted to fast. Correct link here.

Re:Semen works too!

[chrisseaton]

New Scientist had an article about the effect of semen on women. The gist of it was that "ingestion" reduces the unwanted immune system reaction to the stuff when you need it for impregnation.

As I recall, the front cover was a milk style carton with "Semen" written on the side.

I am *not* kidding.

Speaking from Experience

[jeramybsmith]

I have been to linux conferences where the collective BO was peeling the paint off the walls. I didn't see a single booth bunny who was happy.

I can already imagine the spam

[jpkunst]

jpkunst, discover the SECRET of male sweat! 56yyegjhhf

This explains

[s4ltyd0g]

why the chicks in Paris are so hot... (-;

I've read about this some time ago

[tankdilla]

Supposedly if you leave a hankerchiff under your arm (without deoderant of course) for awhile, and then put the hankerchiff in your shirt pocket, you'll attract more women. Something to do with pheromones I think.

And that's how stinky men get laid.

This experiment was done 15 years ago!

[juushin]

I was surprised to read this CNN article from a team at Penn who have apparently done nothing more than to reproduce a set of experiments that were carried out in 1987 by Martha McClintock's group (http://cns.bsd.uchicago.edu/faculty/mMcClintock.h tml) at the University of Chicago. You can read the gist of their experiments in a Newsweek article dated 1/12/87 (http://www.athenainstitute.com/mediaarticles/news week.html)

Addendum

[juushin]

The correct URL for a previous description of McClintock's work is the following 1998 ABC article - http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/living/DailyNe ws/pulse_sexsmells0328.html.

There is nothing more pleasing to a woman...

[Anonymous Coward]

Than to see a man sweating his ass off to try make her happy.

Left out diet.

[TomorrowPlusX]

I should say right now my experience has been 100% identical. I haven't worn deodorant in years; my current girlfreind and previous ones have never said "you stink" and a couple have even said they like my smell. One was a fanatic for it -- but she was peculiar ;)

But you left out the one, singularly most important aspect -- diet. You MUST eat properly if you're going to stop using deodorant.

Stop eatinng fast food.
Stop eating processed food.
Stop drinking soda, drink more tea.
Eat fresh veggies, lean meats. Etc etc.

You'll find that along with smelling like a clean human being (which is, if you think about it, better than smelling like chemicals), if you're overweight -- you soon won't be. I dropped 20 pounds in a year. I've kept it off too. Amazingly, the effect of clean lifestyle is enough that I don't even need deodorant after riding my bike to work or going to the gym.

It's amazing what good can come of the most obvious changes in habits.

Fits with history

[willpost]

Roman gladiators would scrape the sweat off themselves and women would buy bottles of it.