Pheremones, it's why your sister doesn't turn you on.

Pheromone Science Studies & Abstracts
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TalkBack: Pheremones, it’s why your sister doesn’t turn you on. | reader response on| CNET News.com

Although the top ingredients of our pheromone output such as Androstadienone, Androstanone, Androstenol, Androsterone, Estratetraenol, Estratrienol, and estratetraenone can trigger sexual/romantic attractions, the complex undertones seem to carry information about our genetic suitability as a mate.
In researching my book (DNA will Find a Way) I found that the more two people differ genetically, the stronger the pheremonal attraction.
It’s another human foolishness to pretend that the mating chemistry and rituals of other lifeforms are somehow absent in ourselves.
Pheromone based aerosols have been used in pig breeding for many years, and the market success of fragrences such as REALM, which contains Estratetraenol (estra-1,3,5(10),16-tetraen-3-ol)
The reason we have hair on our armpits, groin, and upper lip, is to improve the diffusion of our chemical messengers.
The message is not limited to sexuality. Fear, Dominance, and a range of emotional output is received by the vomeronasal organs in the nose and affects the subconsious areas of the brain directly.

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HI! does anybody have any science?
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But some people ARE sexually attracted to their sister… so what does that say?

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Some other people are OK with abusive relationships, while some others are murderers, and yet a few others are into pain. It says that the human psyche regardless of how many studies there are cannot be put into any one category. That’s what makes us diverse.

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True, and most people are not attracted to their sister, but some are attracted to their cousins or other relatives, and though most people are not actually attracted, the opinions when the topic is under discussion about whether it is immoral to be with a relative, when not including the disabled children factor in the discussion, sways no more towards one side then the discussion about who should be president, the discussion about gay marriage, or the discussion about religion in school. Most people are not attarcted to any blood relative, but it also doesn’t seem to be particularly frowned upon (once you’ve gotten into the discussion about it). (So in that instance, uh… it has some relation to pheromones vs. family I’m just not sure how to explain how.)

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My brother is attractive, I am NOT however sexually attracted to him. I think this is probably a deep seated learned reaction though. Suppose you grow up in a society that dosnt frown upon you being intimate with a family member. You would probably react the same way as you would to anyone else your attracted to.

Some people however have no self control or sense of values or they may just be mentally unstable like steveO suggested. Those people may become and act upon a sexual attraction with a sibling.

pheromones may influence and enhance but again this is another example of them not being able to over come free will.

Same thing with rape and murder. Most learn as children that it is wrong but there are still people who are unable to comprehend those morals or values.

Tisha

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In “polite society” it is considered wrong, but what I meant is that when this topic came up the debate forums of a couple of anime message boards I was on, it was about even - 50% thought it was morally wrong and 50% thought it was okay. But none of them were in love with their family members, and none of them knew anyone who was either. And of course everyone in question was raised in a society that “frowns upon” it, it is illegal anyway.

The idea about pheromones in realtion to this… I’m still not sure. Maybe to say that pheros aren’t actually the ONLY thing that determine this, or maybe to say they “malfunction” sometimes. Or maybe it is just beause there are so many switched babies or people who are never told they were adopted, because of the society thing there are probably adopted babies who do feel attraction but dont say anything about it to anyone because they dont know theyre not related. /shrug Maybe “swicthed babies” is the only time it happens; there is really no way to know.

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Tisha, this is VERY unusual, but I am going to disagree with you here. I have read studies suggesting that women naturally select men with differing immune systems than themselves, so as create stronger and more resilient offspring, and a weighting factor as to why women are not normally attracted to blood relatives for mating purposes is that their immune systems are to closely intertwined.

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About my brother being attractive or about the learned response. (snort) j/k :wink:

Thats quite allright Mark as you can see from my post I was stating a opinion not a fact. Thus the words “I think” and “Probably” . :smiley:

Your anwser is a very good one and now that you mention it I do recall the study or the discussion of that study somewhere.

Tisha

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I’ve seen the immune system thing, too. The first place was in a book about attraction which I subsequently put down, and other places on the internet while researching pheros. I have not read any of these articles in full.

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It says they need to seek psychological help…Hope this helps =D

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Most people aren’t yet aware that there are immune system-related pheromones besides the more commonly known hormone-related pheromones. It’s the immune system-related pheromones that are actively involved in our response to genetic similarity (close relatives) or genetic diversity (others). It is somewhat apparent from both non-human animal and human studies that we adapt to the immune system-related pheromones, and that we typically do not respond to them, sexually. If this adaptation does not occur during the first few years of human life, the stage may be set for what society views as an unnatural response to the pheromones of close relatives–without fully realizing what’s natural and the natural diversity in responses that is possible.

James V. Kohl

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What happens when immune system phenotypes between a male and a female are too similar?

I can tell you from experience: when the woman is impregnated, there is the possibility that her immune system will not recognize the developing foetus as a distinct human being (the combined inherited immune phenotype of the foetus are too similar to the mother’s).

The immune system, instead of labeling the foetus “pregnancy” labels it as “infection.” When the immune system classes the foetus as pregnancy, it produces a growth hormone that helps to protect and stimulate the growth of the foetus. When the immune system classes the foetus as infection, it spontaneously aborts the pregnancy.

Subsequent pregnancies are labeled as infections earlier and earlier, and the immune system develops more comprehensive and robust methods of attacking the “infection” and preventing it’s growth.

There are a handful of doctors who manage pregnancies for “pheno-match” couples. In my case, about twenty vials of my whole blood were processed to produce concentrated injections of ~my~ white blood cells. When our fertility doctor told us “go”, our pheno-match doctor injected my wife with my white blood cells … to send a strong “signal” to her immune system that another organism, not an infection, was present inside her.

The flood of white blood cells “fools” the immune system into recognizing the pregnancy as such, and labeling it as pregnancy.

Apparently, my wife had at least a dozen spontaneous miscarriages … and after the first one, never even realized that she’d been pregnant and miscarried. We were lucky, in that much more unassisted “effort” on our part could have left her completely incapable of having a child with me specifically, no matter what “fool the immune system” signals were sent.

Ultimately, the cost of a long string of such miscarriages is complete infertility with any partner (had we unknowingly continued to try, try again), because the immune system is typically adaptive – the usual sequence is for the immune system to finally install pre-emptive defenses to the class of infection that is actually pregnancy in these cases.

We are glad to now have two very normal sons, ages 15 and 13.

So there is an inherent natural cost to mating between pheno-matches, and the immune phenotype pheromones are, it would seem, usually effective in diverting those with closely matching immune phenotypes into other avenues of attraction and mating.

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Experience is the best teacher, and I am happy to hear of your positive outcome. I wonder how much information you would have received if you encountered the fertility issue in a rural area, or even simply outside the Chicago area, where physicians have access to information provided by the primary investigators. Carol Ober, for example, first presented findings at a 1993 conference, but was not published until several years later. It mayl be many more years before the majority of clinicians become familiar with this aspect of chemical communication in humans and its unconscious affects on the immune system.

James V. Kohl