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Interesting Scientific Discovery: Sex and Smell

Posted Feb 26, 2012

NOTE: This is a repost of an article I had up on a now dead forum I made. I first posted this June 28 2005:

There's been lots of scientific study involving sex lately. (The creation of Viagra and so many other similar drugs is of course a huge hint of this fact) However, these studies are often showing us things that many just wouldn't have suspected.

I heard about this little discovery on the Dr. Dean Edell radio program. I don't remember the specifics, so I'll sketch out what I do remember.

In studying the changes in the hypothalamus (the part of the brain involved during sexual attraction) a study involving testosterone, estrogen and smell in an attempt to understand the whole "aphrodisiac" thing, found this out.

Something involving smell and testosterone lit up particular parts of the brain in women but not men. As would be expected, the opposite was true when estrogen was used. I.E. the men were stimulated, but not the women.

EDIT: I found the references to the tests. They can be found here and here.

So what happens when a homosexual male was exposed to these scents?

His sexual reaction was similar to the women, NOT the straight men. Meaning the smell of testosterone arouse both women and gay men.

The reverse was also true. The smell of estrogen aroused both straight men and gay women.

I've always said people can't decide who they're going to fall in love with. Turns out I've been right all along.

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