The underestimated power of scent

Naturally Selective: Female Orgasm and Female Sexual Selection,

However, the strongest predictor of female sexual response was none of these—it was attractive partner smell.

This will come as no surprise to, say, Jennifer Aniston, who is on record as saying that there is no better smell than that of the man you love, but it was an interesting finding to us. This is because smell appears to advertise your genome to potential partners. The science is complex, and some of it is in dispute, but there is credible research that immune system compatibility—what would make your baby healthy if you were to have one together—is signalled (both ways) by how attractive you find your partner’s smell. That women’s olfactory bulbs, the part of the brain that processes smell, are fully 40 percent denser than men’s would fit well with the knowledge that their decision-making here needs to be keener than men’s.

So, in brief, it seems that Darwin was right when he said “The power to charm females has been more important than the power to conquer other males in battle.”

Most men and women image match, that is, find someone who is fairly like them, in terms of obvious sexual market value (SMV). Sometimes, though, there's no image match in a couple... if the higher-value partner is a woman, she might really like the man's scent. Sounds minor but might not be. If you get a woman who's preternaturally into you, your scent might drive her mad. Contrastingly, if she seems keen but doesn't like the first kiss, you might be getting the reverse. That is one reason why a woman you've been flirting with might back away after the first kiss, she finds the fullness of your scent unappealing, through no fault of your own, unless you are fat or otherwise not taking care of yourself.

You don't know until you try. Online dating is often rubbish because if the woman takes the time to match, banter, meet you in real life, and then doesn't like your scent, she's wasted a bunch of time, as have you. Hormonal birth control can affect a woman's scent preferences, and some divorces stem from the couple marrying, the woman getting off BC to conceive, and then finding herself less attracted to her husband... and more attracted to her colleague Greg, yes, what is it about him that's so different than it was a few months ago? She doesn't know, she only feels "something has changed." Her husband isn't the same man any more.

There is a very large amount of randomness in the game, I and many others have written, and noticed. Scent compatibility is one small, yet critical, variable in the mix. I've also been more "scent compatible" with some women than others: women's scents can range from intoxicating to arousing to neutral to so-so, and occasionally to negative, although that's rare on an otherwise attractive, healthy woman.

The ignorant learn only from slow experience, the wise learn from augmenting experience with reading.