Smell in Sexuality and Eroticism

This chapter is about body odors, which are important when choosing a partner and influence sexual arousal. They also convey a feeling of safety and trust; they are an important sign of the bond between a mother and her child. Even in non-intimate relationships, body odors convey a variety of important information about others, including health and emotional arousal. It is therefore not surprising that sociability and empathy are linked to the sense of smell. In the past, some scents were considered aphrodisiacs and were the subject of many traditions, folklore, and pseudoscience. Deficits in the sense of smell and taste indicate numerous connections between sexuality and smell. Patients with olfactory deficits can develop a type of sexual dysfunction. People kiss to get closer and smell with their noses, as anthropological studies of different people rubbing their noses instead of kissing show. Or they kiss to taste because most of what we call taste depends on smell. The original meaning of such a greeting is based on the exchange of perceptions of body odor. Bad body odor as a result of illness is also responsible for the divorce of partners.