The smell of masculinity

Deodorant helps less masculine men in the eyes of women.

There is a lot to be said for the values and life practices of earlier times in our history. Our ancestors were probably mostly far more physically active than we are today and their foods were certainly less processed (although with a little thought it is far easier these days in the developed world to achieve good nutrition). There were of course, downsides to the lives of our ancestors. For one thing, aside from life being “nasty, brutish and short”, our predecessors, whether from hunter-gather, Roman, or Tudor times, were a bit whiffy. Yes, our ancestors would to our modern sensibilities have been on the nose. In contemporary times of course we clean and preen to a magnificent degree and according to a new study at least part of that preening, the use of deodorants, has a significant effect on how we are perceived by others.

The new study had male and female subjects rate photographs of women and men for their femininity or masculinity. An additional group of subjects then rated the photographs after also being given odour samples to go with them. Some of the odour samples used deodorant while others did not.

The result for women was straightforward. Men rated all women who were wearing deodorant as more feminine than those who wore no deodorant. No surprises really, as that is the aim of deodorant.

For men however, the result was more nuanced. Men who scored low on facial masculinity were rated as more masculine when they were linked to deodorant. However, men who scored high on facial masculinity showed no increase in masculinity ratings after application of deodorant.

The reasons for this are rooted in our evolution. High levels of masculinity are not particularly appealing as they are often associated with aggression and hostility. So it seems there is a cap on our perceptions of masculinity whereas our perceptions of femininity know no bounds.

For those less masculine guys out there though, it seems that deo is the go.

Source: Evolution and Human Behaviour