Lesbians smell like straight guys
Following up on similar research on gay men last year, scientists find lesbians' brains react similarly to straight men when exposed to female pheromones:
Heterosexual women found the male and female pheromones about equally pleasant, while straight men and lesbians liked the female pheromone more than the male one. Men and lesbians also found the male hormone more irritating than the female one, while straight women were likelier to be irritated by the female hormone than the male one.
[...]
In heterosexual males, the male hormone was processed in the scent area, but the female hormone was processed in the hypothalamus, which is related to sexual stimulation. In straight women, the sexual area of the brain responded to the male hormone, while the female hormone was perceived by the scent area.
In lesbians, both male and female hormones were processed the same, in the basic odor-processing circuits, Savic and her team reported.
posted by $!# at 5/09/2006 12:37:00 PM
3 Comments:
The weirder implication of that report seems to be that lesbians are asexual in the way they process pheromones, while straight men, gay men, and straight women all process at least one gender's pheromones in a sexual way. But I'm probably oversimplifying here.
Yeah, i was wondering about that as well. But it sounds like the whole sex/pheromone link is kind of unproven:
Whether humans respond to pheromones has been debated, although in 2000 American researchers reported finding a gene that they believe directs a human pheromone receptor in the nose.
Without reading the actual study ($160 subscription required for online access), it sounds like they're trying to dodge that bit and stick to the "lights go on in similar places" aspect.
Why do I get the feeling the Religious Right will seek to turn this information to its advantage in some way?
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