Tears of sadness contain a chemical turn-off for men. Like animal tears, human tears may influence the behaviour of others by smell alone.
In a pilot experiment Noam Sobel and colleagues at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, asked a group of men to sniff tears before filling out a mood questionnaire. "To our surprise, we found no change in the area of positive or negative mood, but there was a decrease in sexual arousal," says Sobel.
— From The scent of a woman's tears wards off men at NewScientist.
Interesting! I wonder if this is a hard-wired genetic attempt at protection from assault?
Gosh, maybe. But I’m not sure the title of the article is warranted by the study…showing that the smell of tears lessen chemical signs of sexual arousal in a laboratory setting does not, to me, mean they “ward off” men.
The exact conclusion is not quite as general as the article’s sensationalist title, but it does seem statistically significant. I think it could be related to men being attracted to signs of well-being, shiny eyes, hair etc in women who would be more likely to carry their baby to term.
I am reminded of a study that determined that the most sexually arousing scent for men was pumpkin pie (!)
I remember that one
Well, we know one fragrance that the perfume makers won’t try to incorporate into future products…I get teary-eyed when I think of paying for some of these perfumes ($200+ per oz.).
LOL!