Human pheremones stimulate sexual response in the opposite sex.
Pheromones are chemical signals naturally secreted from multicellular organisms in the body. While hormones, also internally produced, affect a human or animal's behavior, pheromones activate sexual, territorial or alarming responses in another member of the same species. For humans, a female's pheromones sexually attract a male, and a male's hormones sexually attract a female. With the help of hormones, pheromones stimulate a range of impulses and attractions.
Sexual Pheromone Basics
In humans and animals, sex pheromones, in the most literal sense, indicate the availability of the female for breeding. Part of human attraction relies on pheromone secretions to gather sexual information from the opposite sex. In human men, the primary pheromone a male releases is called androstenone. Copulin is the female pheromone.
Homosexual Pheromone Reactions
In a 2005 New York Times article, a report by The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm Sweden found that homosexual men respond to male pheromones like a woman. The homosexual men responded to two chemicals -- a testosterone derivative produced in men's sweat and an estrogen-like compound in women's urine, both of which carry pheromones. The gay men responded sexually to the men's sweat as women did in the test. The primary researcher, Dr. Savic, reported that it was as if the hypothalamus response to the pheromones was not determined by biological sexual chemistry but by the male's sexual preference.
Natural Scents
Natural scents, such as sweat and saliva, carry pheromones with have a role in sexual communication and attraction, according to a Bellarmine College pheromone and human nature report. Pheromones are also secreted in saliva and tears. The aromas in these pheromone secretions inform a woman about the mood, status, drive and health, subconsciously, of the man to whom she is attracted.
Androstenone and Copulin
Androstenone is male's primary pheromone secretion. In women, androstenone is also secreted, but it her secondary pheromone. Her primary pheromone, copulin, causes a increase in testosterone levels in men when it spreads into the air. Hormonal changes, such as birth control medication or decreased estrogen levels, may cause differences in natural levels of copulin. Anti-perspirants and deodorants clog pores in the armpits, which limits or blocks the amount of pheromones released.
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