I remember seeing the movie ‘The Smell of a Woman’ starring Al Pacino as a blind retired US Army colonel. If I recall, Al Pacino makes a comment that he wishes he had a woman in bed and waking up in the morning with her scent permeating the bed. Does smell have a meaning when it comes to sex? Even more so for a man, the smell of a woman can be intoxicating.
The theory of smell or to use the scientific terminology of pheromones is nothing new. Basically, it is a chemical secreted by certain animals, such as insects, that often works as an attraction for the opposite sex.
Can this also be extended to humans? Scientists aren’t quite sure, but some people feel that it influences a relationship. It is not an outlandish thought that humans can subconsciously use the scent of the opposite sex partner to forge a closer relationship. This is realized by some enterprising people in the US and India who organize meetings that help people choose partners based on scent. These parties are different from the normal parties that feature men and women for friendship and marriage.
Now many parties are being organized in New York, Los Angeles and Mumbai, where the party takes on a revolutionary tone. I attended one of those parties where the girl’s sweatshirt or t-shirt is placed in a plastic bag and handed to prospective men. The men smell the sweatshirts of several of them at a table and decide which one they prefer.
In case any man likes the scent emanating from a particular shirt, he will inform the party organizer. The next involves a photo of the man with a brief projection on a screen. Now it’s up to the girl to accept it as a date. Such parties require good organizational skills and a lot of pre-party work. I smelled a particular sweatshirt and liked the smell and signaled my acceptance. I was delighted when I was introduced to the girl who was from Assam, the “Far East” of India. Whatever the scientific basis for this, the fact is that these meetings take romance to a volatile level. It is like going back to the primordial age.
Research studies have shown that the reaction of men and women can be dictated by a set of immune response genes. The human nose is capable of picking up this incredibly small chemical signal. However, I will admit that while scent is a powerful aphrodisiac, relying on scent alone is not the end of life. It is just another part of life’s varied experience.