On Tue, 3 Mar 1998, Kaiden Fox wrote:

> And even though we may, as
> human (co-domesticated) animals, deny many of the judgements based on this
> sense consciously, we still are motivated by our sense of smell just as
> surly as any all-fours animal.  If you are a man, and whish to enchant a
> woman, allow the natural secretions of your body to pervade the atmosphere
> immediatly around you, and work in animalistic contrast to the vestments of
> social politeness that you wear upon your back.

This can work against you as well as for you, however.  For
example, some body odors are carried by evaporating sweat, but
there are two kinds of sweat glands, apocrine and ecrine (I hope
I've spelled that right).  The former is typically the result of
exertion; the latter is the result of fear and stress.  Apocrine
sweat doesn't have much of a noticeable smell, which is why it is
possible to exercise and return to work without showering,
without ruining everyone else's day.  Ecrine sweat, on the other
hand, does have the familiar pungent smell that we associate with
"B.O."  It is the latter sweat that one is likely to accumulate
from working hard in stressful, "civilized" situations, and this
sweat will make you stink.  Ecrine sweat is just as "natural" as
apocrine, but the message it sends is not likely to attract
anyone.  Furthermore, unlike our ancient ancestors, we wear lots
of clothing and spend a lot of time in closed spaces.  Even
apocrine sweat stinks after it has been trapped in fabric so that
bacteria can work on it, as anyone knows who has been in a locker
room.  But even in the short term, clothing can accumulate and
thus intensify odors, compared to what they would be in the wild.

So, there are a number of factors that must be considered before
concluding that one's "natural" odors will enchant anybody.

Todd Moody
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