gay men smell different

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Irvine511

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Gay Men Respond Differently to Pheromones

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, Associated Press Writer 20 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Gay men's brains respond differently from those of heterosexual males when exposed to a sexual stimulus, researchers have found. The homosexual men's brains responded more like those of women when the men sniffed a chemical from the male hormone testosterone.

"It is one more piece of evidence ... that is showing that sexual orientation is not all learned," said Sandra Witelson, an expert on brain anatomy and sexual orientation at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada.

Witelson, who was not part of the research team, said the findings clearly show a biological involvement in sexual orientation.

The study, published in Tuesday's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was done by researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

They exposed heterosexual men and women and homosexual men to chemicals derived from male and female sex hormones.

These chemicals are thought to be pheromones — molecules known to trigger responses such as defense and sex in many animals.

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.

The Swedish study was one of a series looking at whether parts of the brain involved in reproduction differ in response to odors and pheromones, lead researcher Ivanka Savic said.

The brains of different groups responded similarly to ordinary odors such as lavender, but differed in their response to the chemicals thought to be pheromones, Savic said.

The Swedish researchers divided 36 subjects into three groups — heterosexual men, heterosexual women and homosexual men. They studied the brain response to sniffing the chemicals, using PET scans. All the subjects were healthy, unmedicated, right-handed and HIV negative.

When they sniffed smells like cedar or lavender, all of the subjects' brains reacted only in the olfactory region that handles smells.

But when confronted by a chemical from testosterone, the male hormone, portions of the brains active in sexual activity were activated in straight women and in gay men, but not in straight men, the researchers found.

The response in gay men and straight women was concentrated in the hypothalamus with a maximum in the preoptic area that is active in hormonal and sensory responses necessary for sexual behavior, the researchers said.

And when estrogen, the female hormone was used, there was only a response in the olfactory portion of the brains of straight women. Homosexual men had their primary response also in the olfactory area, with a very small reaction in the hypothalamus, while heterosexual men responded strongly in the reproductive region of the brain.

Savic said the group is also doing a study involving homosexual women but those results are not yet complete.

In a separate study looking at people's response to the body odors of others, researchers in Philadelphia found sharp differences between gay and straight men and women.

"Our findings support the contention that gender preference has a biological component that is reflected in both the production of different body odors and in the perception of and response to body odors," said neuroscientist Charles Wysocki, who led the study.

In particular, he said, finding differences in body odors between gay and straight individuals indicates a physical difference.

It's hard to see how a simple choice to be gay or lesbian would influence the production of body odor, he said.

Wysocki's team at the Monell Chemical Senses Center studied the response of 82 heterosexual and homosexual men and heterosexual and homosexual women to the odors of underarm sweat collected from 24 donors of varied gender and sexual orientation.

They found that gay men differed from heterosexual men and women and from lesbian women, both in terms of which body odors gay men preferred and how their own body odors were regarded by the other groups.

Gay men preferred odors from gay men, while odors from gay men were the least preferred by heterosexual men and women and by lesbian women in the study. Their findings, released Monday, are to be published in the journal Psychological Science in September.

The Swedish research was funded by the Swedish Medical Research Council, the Karolinska Institute and the Magnus Bergvall Foundation. Wysocki's research was supported by the Monell Center.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/homosexual_brains





my response: duh.

i think sexual attraction has lots to do with smell.
 
Lately I must be putting off an 'older women pheromone' for I can't go out without some woman at least 8 years my senior hitting on me.

Not that I'm complaining.:wink:
 
irvine, something i just thought of -

has there every been a poll of gay men asking them why they believe they are homosexual. you know: by choice, biology, or environment?
 
BonoVoxSupastar said:
Lately I must be putting off an 'older women pheromone' for I can't go out without some woman at least 8 years my senior hitting on me.

Not that I'm complaining.:wink:

Interesting :wink:

That's fascinating Irvine, it definitely seems to support the biological component of homosexuality. I have always believed that it is innate and one is born gay or straight.

I think it's definitely true that "smell" is a factor in all of that. I often wonder if it's that attraction you have for someone that you can't quite explain. Sometimes it's so powerful when you don't even know them all that well, and it's not really that strong physical attraction.It's those damn pheromones, remember when they came out w/ a perfume w/ pheromones in it? Does anyone know where you can still get that? :wink:
 
Se7en said:
irvine, something i just thought of -

has there every been a poll of gay men asking them why they believe they are homosexual. you know: by choice, biology, or environment?



not one that i could cite.

i can't think of a single gay person who "chose" to be attracted to the same gender -- they might "choose" to stop lying to themselves and to others and live honestly, but most gay people would say that their attraction to the same gender came into being around puberty and is as complex as your attraction to the opposite gender.
 
Irvine511 said:
not one that i could cite.

i can't think of a single gay person who "chose" to be attracted to the same gender -- they might "choose" to stop lying to themselves and to others and live honestly, but most gay people would say that their attraction to the same gender came into being around puberty and is as complex as your attraction to the opposite gender.

i was not trying to insinuate that it was by choice.
 
Wow..thats really interesting!
I do believe that a person can either be driven to homosexuality by events in their life OR they can be born that way, so this kind of confirms what I thought.
It would be interesting to do a study of homosexuals who did and did not suffer sexual abuse in their lives and see if theres any difference.
 
Se7en said:


i was not trying to insinuate that it was by choice.



i didn't think you were.

sorry if my response came off a bit confrontational -- there's no such thing as "tone" in posts on a message board -- it wasn't intended to be at all.
 
u2bonogirl said:
It would be interesting to do a study of homosexuals who did and did not suffer sexual abuse in their lives and see if theres any difference.



would you want to study heterosexuals who had been sexually abused as well?
 
u2bonogirl said:
Wow..thats really interesting!
I do believe that a person can either be driven to homosexuality by events in their life OR they can be born that way, so this kind of confirms what I thought.
It would be interesting to do a study of homosexuals who did and did not suffer sexual abuse in their lives and see if theres any difference.

Do you think people are driven to be heterosexual by events in their life, too?

edit: I guess my question is confusing because of course gay people lead hetero lives because they don't feel they can come out, but that doesn't mean they are straight. But I'm asking if you think people genuinely choose their sexual orientation.
 
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joyfulgirl said:


Do you think people are driven to be heterosexual by events in their life, too?
Yes I do. I think that in more cases than just sexual orientation, a traumatic event in somebodys life can leave really bad scars.
Kind of like somebody being trapped in an elevator for a really long time and almost dying. Theyre really not going to have an easy time getting back into that elevator. But the stairs!
Im not comparing homosexuality to elevator trauma :wink: I was just making an illustration.

Another reason I have for believing this is because it happened to a person close to me
 
u2bonogirl said:

Yes I do. I think that in more cases than just sexual orientation, a traumatic event in somebodys life can leave really bad scars.
Kind of like somebody being trapped in an elevator for a really long time and almost dying. Theyre really not going to have an easy time getting back into that elevator. But the stairs!
Im not comparing homosexuality to elevator trauma :wink: I was just making an illustration.

Another reason I have for believing this is because it happened to a person close to me

But that doesn't mean they have changed their genuine sexual orientation. It means they are traumatized and in denial. I, too, know people who fall into this category.

p.s. I saw you dance with Bono in Denver. I was 2 or 3 people to your right. :)
 
joyfulgirl said:


But that doesn't mean they have changed their genuine sexual orientation. It means they are traumatized and in denial. I, too, know people who fall into this category.

p.s. I saw you dance with Bono in Denver. I was 2 or 3 people to your right. :)

On point #1: Im not claiming to be an expert on sexual orientation or anything like that. Im just using what Ive seen and experienced.
All I know is that a few of my friends "knew" and just waited to come out.
And the person close to me told me flat out that she was damaged by her father and brother and now chooses women over men as companions. But she told me shes still attracted to men, just doesnt want to deal with them anymore...

On point #2: :rockon: Sweet! you were there? That was my first show, I was in rapture :D
Did you see me freeze in the beginning? :rolleyes:
 
u2bonogirl said:



But she told me shes still attracted to men, just doesnt want to deal with them anymore...

Which is exactly the point I was making. Her sexual orientation hasn't changed but she's made a choice from a trauma. I know a number of women in this situation. But women are also more likely to make that choice than men because women seek emotional gratification in relationships more than sexual gratification (lesbians have less sex than anyone else, so the stats report).

u2bonogirl said:

On point #2: :rockon: Sweet! you were there? That was my first show, I was in rapture :D
Did you see me freeze in the beginning? :rolleyes:

Yes, and then I saw you take control of the situation much to Bono's surprise. :wink:
 
joyfulgirl said:


Which is exactly the point I was making. Her sexual orientation hasn't changed but she's made a choice from a trauma. I know a number of women in this situation. But women are also more likely to make that choice than men because women seek emotional gratification in relationships more than sexual gratification (lesbians have less sex than anyone else, so the stats report).



Yes, and then I saw you take control of the situation much to Bono's surprise. :wink:

I agree with what you say about women seeking emotional satisfaction from a relationship. :yes:
For some reason its always appeared to me that more men "come out" and more women make the decision because of trauma. But that could be for other reasons too. I know more lesbians that have chosen not to tell anybody that they prefer women (not by choice) and live their lives in secret.


:wink: I got some guts somewhere between Bono kneeling to kiss me and him getting back up
 
u2bonogirl said:


I agree with what you say about women seeking emotional satisfaction from a relationship. :yes:
For some reason its always appeared to me that more men "come out" and more women make the decision because of trauma. But that could be for other reasons too. I know more lesbians that have chosen not to tell anybody that they prefer women (not by choice) and live their lives in secret.


:wink: I got some guts somewhere between Bono kneeling to kiss me and him getting back up

Just one more point, a man who was abused as a child by a woman (hey, it happens) would be highly unlikely to then choose to be with a man as an adult (unless he were genuinely gay, of course). The damage would reveal itself in other ways.

The dance was cute. I enjoyed it and was glad it was you and not me!
 
joyfulgirl said:


Just one more point, a man who was abused as a child by a woman (hey, it happens) would be highly unlikely to then choose to be with a man as an adult (unless he were genuinely gay, of course). The damage would reveal itself in other ways.

The dance was cute. I enjoyed it and was glad it was you and not me!

I didnt know that...kind of strange the way women and men react to things differently.
But if a man's brain is telling him to basically mate mate! Populate the earth! Then he might have different responses to sexual abuse. He might try and control his wife or something like that.

Youre nuts! You wouldnt want to have a spin with bono? He smells so good :D
I cant believe you were so close to me though. It was great having Bono and Adam by us so much
 
u2bonogirl said:
For some reason its always appeared to me that more men "come out" and more women make the decision because of trauma. But that could be for other reasons too. I know more lesbians that have chosen not to tell anybody that they prefer women (not by choice) and live their lives in secret.

It's because a woman can "fake it" in a marriage. All you need is the man to be sexually aroused, and the woman can lay back and pretend to be interested. Then voila! You have a baby.

Men, however, are in a much much more difficult position to "fake it." It happens, yes, but I would imagine that it is a lot more difficult.

Melon
 
melon said:


It's because a woman can "fake it" in a marriage. All you need is the man to be sexually aroused, and the woman can lay back and pretend to be interested. Then voila! You have a baby.

Men, however, are in a much much more difficult position to "fake it." It happens, yes, but I would imagine that it is a lot more difficult.

Melon
I dunno what women youre talking about but it sure isnt me! :laugh:
*ahem*
:reject:

Irvine...do you really wanna know about Bono? :sexywink:
 
yes.

he's my "trauma" ... the video for "one" ... in the bar ... the blue eyes ... the smoldering i-am-a-tortured-irish-warrior-rock-star-poet looks ...
 
Irvine511 said:
yes.

he's my "trauma" ... the video for "one" ... in the bar ... the blue eyes ... the smoldering i-am-a-tortured-irish-warrior-rock-star-poet looks ...

:lol: you sound like a PLEBAn!

He smells gourgeous :drool: I think he was wearing dune by dior :scratch:
And I got Bono sweat on me :combust: (still havent washed the shirt I was wearing)
His hands are thick and strong...he had a tight grip on me when we were running together.
And he was rubbing my back and holding me cloooooose.
I put my fingers in his hair too :D

Enough of that in FYM. This is PLEBA talk :rolleyes:
 
maybe i should poke my head in there one of these days ... i emailed your description to a friend of mine.

her respopnse: "holy crap. that's hot."

i will now only purchase Dune, by Dior.

anyway ... one thing i find interesting about sexual abuse (ew, can't believe i wrote that, but i will make a point) and homosexuality is that many people try to point to a correlation between the two, and it is true (i believe ... can't cite a study right now) that gay teenagers are more likely to be abused. but this comes down to a chicken-and-egg question: does being abused "make" someone gay, or is someone more likely to be abused because they are gay.

i think with boys, in particular, some of the signs that might lure a pederast are characteristics that many gay teenagers have: feeling/looking/acting notably different from his peers, shy, quiet, sensitive, etc. basically, being vulnerable. this is not to say that the strapping captain of the football team isn't gay, but that gay kids, in general, are more likely to be social outcasts in high school whether or not they are out.
 
I think you have a really good point about gay teens being more likely to be abused.
They might have lower self esteem as well, that makes them more vulnerable and eager to be accepted (if they are keeping their preference secret)
:sigh: That sucks

http://forum.interference.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=124379&perpage=20&pagenumber=1
heres a link to the story I told after I danced with Bono. I remembered more as time went on but you might like this :up:
 
Re: Re: gay men smell different

BonoVoxSupastar said:


I think you're absolutley right, at least for me it does.

It brings up interesting questions about those who date online.

ask my fiance, I go NUTS over smells. Every time I smell a yummy cologne I get all giddy :rolleyes:
But I met him on interference and fell in love with his personality...we had to meet in person for me to make up my mind but I honestly did fall for him as a person before anything physical came into it.
And then I realize hes totally adorable and its some delicious icing on the cake :mac:

*edited to say* that he sent me some stuff for christmas that smelled like him :hmm: so maybe Im full of shit :wink:
 
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when i say smell, i'm talking about more than a good cologne.

of course, good hygene is expected (at least for me ... i brush my teeth 3x a day and often shower twice a day), and it's nice when someone has nice smelling soaps or whatever (dated someone for a while who had *the best* shower gell ... he imported it from England, and just the smell of it :drool: ), but i also think that some people's bodies just smell right to you. you might not even notice their scent, as it were, but you'd notice if some people don't smell right to you (they might smell right to someone else). it's very subtle, perhaps subconscious, but i really do think that has a lot to do with attraction, especially once you're past the initial stages of attraction and moving on to real intimacy.
 
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