2008-06-03

RNDP 9: Inhale

woman sniffing dirty sweatshirt
Another reason to postpone a shower?
While others are off on solo projects and secret projects with artists from other labels, it looks like I am once again carrying this blog. Fortunately, there is a mountain of material in the quest for an RNDP.

We learn of another new dating paradigm in Welcome to Do Land:

Gifted1: dumb! :-/ you've never heard of IWannaGetChemicalChemical.com? it's a pretty incredible new dating paradigm, they can match you up based on chemistry. they use science.

Karlito: i hear that it's a rip off. my cousin used it and he went on three dates with guys before he realized that he's not gay. n-e-wayz, that's not an issue for me anymore, i am pure mind. i am free of the entanglements of the corrupt fleshy matrix of the world.
4D Analysis: It looks like the folks behind IWannaGetChemicalChemical.com didn't get their venture capital funding. However, there is an outfit called ScientificMatch.com that seem to offer the same service and it seems there is real science behind it. Several studies on pheromones (the most famous of these being the smelly sweatshirt study) have led researchers to conclude that women (who are not taking the birth control pill) are more attracted to the scent of men who share low histocompatibility with them. Histocompatibility is highest when two people have exactly the same immune system genes in the major histocompatibility complex.

In other words, women are more attracted to men who are immune to a different set of diseases than they are. This makes evolutionary sense to the researchers because:

  1. A child resulting from the match would have a broader protection to diseases; and
  2. The more different the genes in the histocompatibility complex, the more likely that other genes are different, therefore the lower the chance of harmful recessives combining.

But what about women taking oral contraceptives? It seems they are more attracted to the scent of men with similar histocompatibility, and not attracted or even repulsed by the scent of men with different histocompatibility.

Maybe it is because the pill tricks the woman's body into believing she is pregnant. Perhaps women have evolved to prefer when they are pregnant having male relatives nearby who will protect the offspring because of their common genetic heritage.

Some eyebrow raising questions:

  • Is this what is up with women who don't want sex when they go on the pill? Their men just don't smell right any more?
  • Should women on the pill stay away from their cousins if they don't want to get into a family scandal?
  • What about women who are on the pill when they meet a guy they like? Say they decide to have a child together and she goes off the pill. Is she going to find his smell no longer pleasant and attractive?

Next: We'll spend some more time on this smell issue. There is a lot of research to delve into. Some of it done here in Canada and even on our friend Megan.

14 comments:

Asteroidea Press said...

Hello Friends - could you use the link to my new blog? - It would make me very happy. - Goodbye Friends.

Asteroidea Press said...

Oh, also, a friend of mine said she started getting a lot more attention when she went to showering every couple of days instead of every day. Interesting, no?

coyote said...

So. Now we know why you're such a babe magnet, Short Guy! When was the last time you showered...?

coyote said...

Oh, and, hi, Megan! The new site looks terrific. I'm sure the ESI widgetmeister will fix that feed problem very soon...

XUP said...

Is there a scientific study to back up your assertion that women don't want sex when they're on the pill?And how does that reconcile with the fact that some women want lots of sex when they're pregnant?

4th Dwarf said...

Megan: That is an interesting observation from your friend. And the link issue should be cleared up now.

Coyote: The last time including mandatory showers at the public swimming pool or not including those?

XUP: Good point! Although I didn't say that all women don't want sex when they are on the pill. Only asking about the ones who have that side-effect. But you're right, plenty of women are happy to get jiggy with their partners after they start taking the pill. What is up with them?

As for the pregnant, I concur. I have anecdotal reports of women who wanted lots of sex when they were pregnant. In at least one case, the woman wanted sex far more often while pregnant than she had before. What I'm now wondering about these cases is whether they'd chosen men with high histocompatibility to them so that it was only when they became pregnant that these men smelled good.

I can see I have far more material to go through before we reach the end of this series.

Woodsy said...

About your pregnancy question, I have been told that some women like sex more when they are pregnant because the fear of an unwanted pregnancy is gone... and there are no messy contraceptives to get in the way of spontaneity... Sorry couldn't find any science to support this comment...

XUP said...

I discovered that the whole pregancy libido thing is all about increased blood flow to your genitals -- it has nothing to do with the smell of your partner at all. Really, anyone/thing will do

4th Dwarf said...

Woodsy, those are good rational explanations. The only problem with rational explanations for how humans behave is that it might be pure rationalizing.

XUP, that is an interesting discovery! You must have had a hellacious time finding research subjects and setting up the various study groups. You needed four groups to get the permutations of pregnant/non pregnant and high-flow/low-flow. But to be really thorough you'd want to find a way to change the blood flow in the women and see what change that would make, right?

Or did you find some other way of eliminating the correlation error problem?

Aggie said...

Megan- Fascinating about your friend and the non-showering thing. I just got back from Europe where they don't shower every day, but they do the BIDET thing, and they wear perfume. Any thoughts on this?

Pandora said...

I read (in the venerable Globe and Mail a few weeks back), of women in the middle ages who used to peel an apple and put it in their armpits for a few hours before presenting it to their lovers.

XUP said...

Yes! It said so on the Internet. I choose to assume they've done all the messy research for me.

4th Dwarf said...

Well, Xup, if it said so on the internet that is good enough for me.

I had been thinking, doesn't a desire for sex lead to increased blood flow to the genitals?

So I was going to ask you for a link, but then I thought, I know how to google and right away I came up with this:

During the second trimester in particular, many feel hot to trot for reasons far beyond their control. The vulva seems to have a mind of its own. Mother Nature is revving up a pregnant woman’s sex drive with increased vaginal lubrication, larger breasts, and increased vasocongestion (the flow of blood to the genitals) for heightened vulval sensitivity and a swollen, often to the point of aching, clitoris. A woman is literally a hot mama passion playground for her — and her partner — to enjoy.

To introduce another metaphor to this discussion, it is tempting to go further down this road. However, because there really are not that many single women in their second trimester out there, and the ones that are will soon be in their third trimester, it is not likely to be a road that will lead to an RNDP.

XUP said...

That's a very sexy quote. I'm feeling a yearning for pregnancy. But since that's not going to happen, perhaps we could check with the Sassy fecund one -- just for confirmation?