Love is in the smell.When it comes to sex it appears that lesbians follow their nose. A new study published in the May 16 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences scanned the brains of 12 lesbians as they smelled both a male-oriented and female-oriented substance. In each subject the female substance activated a part of the hypothalamus hy po·tha·lam ic (-th -l m believed to be involved in sexual behavior. Previous research investigating the existence of human pheromones pheromone /pher·o·mone/ (fer´ah-mon) a substance secreted to the outside of the body and perceived (as by smell) by other individuals of the same species, releasing specific behavior in the percipient. pher·o·mone (f has shown a similar olfactory olfactory /ol·fac·to·ry/ (ol-fak´ter-e) pertaining to the sense of smell. ol·fac·to·ry ( l-f k response in straight men, while gay men have been shown to respond to male-oriented aromas, just as straight women seem to do. But the response isn't aphrodisiacal, researchers said. None of the women reported sexual arousal. |
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