The Pheromone Connection

den Otter (neosapient@geocities.com)
Fri, 8 Jan 1999 17:00:22 +0100

Recently I got this interesting piece of spam:



"BOOST YOUR SEX APPEAL AND CHANGE YOUR SOCIAL AND SEX LIFE FOREVER.

Scientists have isolated the natural Human male/female Pheromone attractants and they are NOW available to YOU, legally, in the US.

[snip]

Pheromones are natural chemicals which play an important role in sexual communication.

Animals, including humans release chemicals in tears, saliva and perspiration. These chemicals send signals relating to mood and health to the subconscious awareness. One theory is that the dominant male will exude more of these chemical attractants than a submissive or weaker male. This chemical attracts more females to him. It is similar for woman attracting men. This natural attractant can also contribute to more intense excitement during love making (sexual foreplay and sexual intercourse). Pheromones may also contribute to the dating phrase, "chemical attraction" that we all talk about. WSVN-TV (March 3, 1998)

[snip]

Hi-Octane (tm)

. is made up of PHEROMONES suspended in witch hazel.. This product is designed to be added to your favorite cologne or perfume. .contains both male and female PHEROMONES. Nature never intended for just one PHEROMONE to be present; but two, male and female. Our manufacturering process uses both PHEROMONES in ALL our products. This will not attract same sex; but works as nature intended, attracting the opposite sex.

HI_OCTANE is made with two powerful synthesized human pheromones, Alpha-Androstenol and Alpha-Androstenone."

(complete message available on request -- or did everyone on this list get it?)


I'm not sure about the effectiveness of this particular product, but the underlying idea certainly seems logical: use pheromones to score (this is just one of many potential applications, of course). Very transhuman. Why rely on chance and bother with cumbersome mating rituals when you can simply splash on some pheromones and go stand next to your desired partner. "Ahem".

Well, that's the theory anyway. Obviously there must be a glitch somewhere, or else (synthetic) pheromones would be "bigger" than Viagra by now. Anyone know more about this?