Scientists Find Tears Are the Anti-Viagra

An anonymous reader writes "The male test subjects didn't know what they were smelling, they were just given little vials of clear liquid and told to sniff. But when those vials contained a woman's tears (collected while she watched a sad movie), the men rated pictures of women's faces as less sexually attractive, and their saliva contained less testosterone. Is this proof that humans make and respond to pheromones? The researcher behind the study doesn't use that controversial word, but he says his findings do prove that tears contain meaningful chemical messages."

Comments

So how do we explain make-up sex?

[rsborg]

I remember lots of tears and well, it still happened every time.

Perhaps not all generated tears are the same (maybe this explains why guys avoid chick flicks?)

Rapists.

[queazocotal]

An interesting test would be to do a similar study on violent rapists.
(excluding those in pre-existing relationships with the victim).
Are they less affected, or even aroused, by the same signals?

Re:Rapists.

[jamesh]

Maybe that's the secret. Rapists have nasal congestion problems!

I wonder how much of it is learned too... sure our brains can 'smell' tears, but the response could still be a result of conditioning rather than anything hardwired.

Re:Rapists.

[khallow]

The motivation behind rape usually is not sexual in nature; it's about power.

Seriously, what does that even mean? My view is that sex and power (for either sex) aren't something you can easily split up.

The confusion gets even worse when all coercive sex is categorized as rape. A boyfriend or husband whining that they aren't getting enough sex is not what I view as an exercise of power.

OTOH, why do people pursue power over others? I think that urge is closely related to sex. This leads not only to rape, but also males in leadership roles maintaining lovers (of either sex) on the side and on the female side a strong pursuit of powerful males. It also explains how some people can enjoy killing other people.

Anyway, as a result, I don't support the claim that rape is about power not sex, because I don't think the two behaviors/goals are separable (especially given that the rapist is having forced sex with the victim, that doesn't seem an "either/or" choice to me). There also seems to me to be plenty of evidence that sex and power-seeking behaviors are commonly intertwined in many human activities.

Anyone who has ever dated a manipulative crier

[Lord Kano]

should already know this. A woman who cries to win an argument, then you lose all interest in romance, then she cries because you don't want to touch her, then you are even less interested. It's a vicious cycle that ends up in either broken or sexless relationships. I know.

LK

Seriously

[MrQuacker]

Do some actual science. Toss some tears into a gas chromatography analyzer and see whats in them.

If something is there concentrate or synthesize it and test it one by one.

Re:Because

[mug funky]

an ex of mine had bipolar, and would often have an attack of intense depression during the night.

if you've ever woken up at 4am to a crying girl trying to hump you, you may find evidence to the contrary of TFA.

Re:Meaningless.

[misexistentialist]

Which is a pretty useless hypothesis to prove since crying women look repulsive. I think the study misses the point and that the scent is supposed to help trigger the nurturing response of fathers.

There is a reason for vaginal odor

[Anonymous Coward]

has to do with an environment that is especially conducive to strains of bacteria that produce smelly (sulfur?) compounds.

My ex-wife traded her friend for all his sex books. One of them was titled Guide to getting it on. I flipped it open to a random page one day, and one aspect of the vaginal odor quandary was revealed to me: soap.

Most soaps are very basic, while a few are "pH balanced" to be slightly acidic. When a alkaline-pH soap is used, smelly bacteria thrive (because the skin is supposed to be slightly acidic). When a pH-balanced (slightly acidic) soap is used, the bacteria are much more balanced.

There are more considerations, of course. But this is a good start. If I wasn't posting anonymous so I can moderate myself, I'd post a link to my e-book.... :)

Re:Women get the short end of the stick

[inviolet]

In even earlier (bust still recent) history, say prior to the 1900's, women were not allowed to vote or own property in a marriage, and they were usually not able to live on their own due to the fact that few people would hire them for any job, and without anti-discrimination laws in place employers were free to systematically deny women employment, or even to pay them a lower wage just because they were female.

You had me until the "lower wage for the same work" rant.

If that rant was true, why would anyone hire a male? If females have the same productivity, yet 25-50% less labor cost... greedy money-grubbing capitalists will eschew males, not females. And since labor costs are such a large part of total costs, a 25% savings in labor can triple the profit margin... and so greedy money-grubbing shareholders will get into the act too.

Except that isn't happening. Hmmm. Must be a giant worldwide conspiracy to drastically cut profit margins. Yeah, that's it.