Pheromonal influences on sociosexual behavior in postmenopausal women

Abstract

To determine whether a putative human sex-attractant pheromone increases specific sociosexual behaviors of postmenopausal women, we tested a chemically synthesized formula derived from research with underarm secretions from heterosexually active, fertile women that was recently tested on young women. Participants (n = 44, mean age = 57 years) were postmenopausal women who volunteered for a double-blind placebo-controlled study designed, to test an odorless pheromone, added to your preferred fragrance, to learn if it might increase the romance in your life. During the experimental 6-week period, a significantly greater proportion of participants using the pheromone formula (40.9%) than placebo (13.6%) recorded an increase over their own weekly average baseline frequency of petting, kissing, and affection (p = .02). More pheromone (68.2%) than placebo (40.9%) users experienced an increase in at least one of the four intimate sociosexual behaviors (p = .04). Sexual motivation frequency, as expressed in masturbation, was not increased in pheromone users. These results suggest that the pheromone formulation worn with perfume for a period of 6 weeks has sex-attractant effects for postmenopausal women.

Pheromones -Psychosexual Stimulants

“…The animal study done by Mornex [13] [16] studied the phenomenon of humans' sociosexual behavior in post-menopausal women which can be enhanced with the help of sex pheromones. The experiment with duration of 6 weeks was conducted with tested chemically produced formula from underarm excretion from sexually active and fertile women participants.…”

Beyond Emotion: Love as an Encounter of Myth and Drive

“…One reason for this might be the existence of display rules (Ekman, Sorenson, & Friesen, 1969, based on Goffman, 1967) that allow people to strategically display or hide their attraction to potential mates. If we look at the neurochemistry of love, sex-attractant pheromones have been found to influence women’s self-reports of sociosexual behaviors such as petting, kissing, and other displays of affection (McCoy & Pitino, 2002; Rako & Friebely, 2004), but this alleged increase in women’s sexual attractiveness to men has been contested (Hays, 2003). Neuroimaging studies of basic emotions remain contradictory and inconclusive (e.g., Barrett & Wager, 2006; Murphy, Nimmo-Smith, & Lawrence, 2003; Vytal & Hamann, 2010), and most of them exclude the concept of love from their scope, even along with other emotional concepts.…”

A missense polymorphism in the putative pheromone receptor gene VN1R1 is associated with sociosexual behavior

“…It has not been decidedly demonstrated that the effects of putative pheromones translate to behavior, but one study provided evidence for an effect of androstenol on behavior such that women exposed to androstenol overnight interacted to a higher degree with men the morning after. 26 Studies using a secret mixture of putative pheromones as an additive to perfume have suggested effects on sociosexual behavior such that men with additional male pheromones and women with additional female pheromones report engaging in more sexual activities, 27, 28, 29 although see also ref. 30.…”