I was thinking about the social function of non-team sports - why there is such a stigma attached to ‘cheating’ even by non-harmful means, and why mens’ athletics are so much more highly valued than womens’. It’s usually thought to be so as it serves as an honest way to signal reproductive fitness.
What do people think of pheromones in this context? I understand that the sleazy dishonest spam-style advertising has tarnished the idea of using such a product. But I wonder more generally as people start to understand how they actually do function what the social attitude will tend to be.
(Cos against the sports analogy, all is fair in love and war)…
this is an interesting point. and one i’ve bene thinking of. But as a woman, and we all come fully equipped with a bag of tricks and that one killer lipstick, i see it as jsut part of the arsenal. are implants unfair? or hair dye? or mascara? or high heels that poke our butts and chests out?
it’s all supposed to speak to reprodcutive fitness, isn’t it?
it will be considered cheating the way someone with the funds can dress to the hilt (i dont mean nice. i mean with bling and all) vs the generic “i blend until i can get you to hear me”.
i dont believe its cheating the way i dont believe im decieving someone when i wear eyeliner.
im drawing attention to my eyes but it doesnt make my eyes better.
pheromones then draw attention to reproductive fitness, but i dont think anyone actually discludes all other characteristics of a person because of them, and so i dont think it will be a big deal.
Not specifically. (Testosterone is unambiguously harmful when used for athletic enhancement, though I can understand why some people might choose to pay that price). But it seems to me that anti-doping policy might at heart be more about fairness than harmfulness.
yes, I have made the same argument in discussion with friends. seems to me that pheromones are perceived to, and do in fact operate at a deeper, more powerful level than current female cosmetic enhancement. when it comes to the visual sense, all cats might be black in the dark but cosmetic enhancement does not influence the other, perhaps ultimately more powerful senses. there just isn’t the direct wiring to the limbic brain that the sense of smell has.
for whatever reasons that is considered a fair honest signalling mechanism whereas i don’t think that if people were to understand mones properly that social perceptions would view them as similar to that case.
My moral intuition is that it is okay to wear mones and keep it a secret, but I haven’t fully persuaded myself of the logical reasons as to why.
i understand what you are battling with. i go though it myself. But to be fair, at least for myself, I’m just as affected by what i’m wearing as someone else may be, and i feel oftentimes that I’m just more of the me that’s on the inside, on the outside. I’m presuming it’s the same for those that are affected by what I may be wearing. So is it a bad thing to strip away some of the guardedness we’ve learned to build up and be more geniuine with each other, whatever hte case may be.
Is that really unfair to the people around you? I think of being able to show people the real me, as a gift. But i also tend not to have sketchy intentions for folks in general, so there’s no shame in my game on that count.
This subtle shift in my perception is based on using Beta Androstenol on myself for the first time. It allowed me to just be real and straightforward. I didn’t feel any sort of compulsion.
I guess there’s still the issue of manipulating other people’s reactions one way or the other. tailoring other people’s personalities to fit your mood. but at the same time, good tailoring brings out the best of one’s form doesn’t it?
okay well the bottom line is that pheromones signal reproductive health.
they signal alot of other things, but where someone may not see this as fair is that part of them that does not understand that all sex does not lead to babies.
guys/girls do what they can to get more or better quality according to their genes.
so will people think its unfair they got tricked into acting on feelings that were already there (after all,pheromones dont twist arms)?
or are you believing it can be construed as cheating because phermones are controlling their behaviour?
i personally think the part of you that thinks its okay is the part that doesnt think you are completely controlling anyone.
