I posted this back on the Love Scent forum back in 2002 and I think it sparked some serious, productive discussion. What brought it to mind was a recent posting where a male of the age of majority (23) was planning to test out some andro pheromone mixtures. Well and good but he planned on going onto a high school campus and try them on cheerleaders, aka minor females.
As the father of a cheerleader, I don’t support this plan. Neither would law enforcement nor the courts.
There are few rules for pheromone use for us to follow so we’ll have to make them up as we go along. This is a first shot.
The Ethics of Pheromone Use
We buy pheromones, we use pheromones, we hope for results. Sometimes those results are an improvement of our own mood or self-esteem or self-confidence. But, frankly, most of us most of the time want to change other peoples' behavior. Where are the limits? Where are the pitfalls? Can pheromone usage be unethical?
Let's look at three intentions - sexual attraction, business performance, social ease, starting with the latter. This one is the most positive and least self-interested - we intend for others to be socially at ease around us and to let down some reserve that is common in our increasingly crowded societies. This is generally a win-win situation and I'd use pheromones without ethical hesitation.
Business - in sales, business seems willing to stoop to anything. Ideally, the buyer rationally chooses to buy or not based on their own needs and resources but in the real world, the charm and persistence of the salesman plays a big part. Walk through a mall and you're bombarded with all sorts of aromas - cinnamon, perfumes, etc. Caveat Emptor seems the rule of the world. Making an ethical argument AGAINST using pheromones in sales is blowing in the wind. I predict that Victoria's Secret stores will be wafting copulins over their female customers before long. Sometimes sales are win-win and sometimes it's zero-sum. I would draw the line at in-home sales - your pheromones can very well disrupt any children in the home negatively - they're innocent bystanders.
In the general business world - not direct sales - one is really selling oneself. If you're ambitious, you're probably working harder. But better packaging is a useful adjunct - nicer clothes, polished shoes, sophisticated cologne etc. That is generally agreed to be fair. On the other hand, using sex or the prospect of sex to advance oneself is clearly unethical and might just backfire. Still, a big advantage of pheromones is just in GETTING the attention of decision-makers.
The reason most of us are interested in pheromones is to improve our sex lives by upgrading the frequency, quality, and maybe quantity of sexual partners. Sex is also a marketplace of sorts, each individual seeking the best "deal" he or she can arrange. That's nature's way of getting the best genes into the next generation of homo sapiens - its worked so far, maybe too well.
So what's "best?" It's purely functional. If it works, its good. In that brutal evolutionary framework, exogenous pheromones are a triumph of the forebrain over the endocrine system. Just like make-up and push-up bras, important mental qualities of initiative and inventiveness are hidden behind the deceptions. Plus, success has its own smell so there is a positive feedback loop at play.
However, ethics is the defense of the good of the whole against the self-interest of the individual. So is using your smarts to be a better sexual competitor wrong? In the long run, it will make for a smarter species - the guy who knows the science will get the girl at the expense of the dumb side of beef that plays football (we hope.) Smarts will select over meat and that better prepares us (we think) for the new world of the 21st century.
There are limits - don't use pheromones to seduce underage girls, for example. I am a bit distressed when I see 14 year olds seeking advice on pheromone use. I doubt they are seeking just social advantage and harmony.
Another ethical problem is that pheromones work best when there they are not apparent to the intended audience. That means an element of deception, or at least concealment is involved. Again, that same deception is part of push-up bras, falsies, and silicone breast implants.
Is there a difference between arranging to get a foreign substance (your pheromones) into the nose of an unsuspecting target and slipping a roofie or 'lude into her drink? In the case of pheromones, no cases of loss of conscious thought or self-preservation has been recorded or are expected - the target retains full mental facilities but is somewhat stimulated but not out of control.
While the old saying "All's fair in love and war" may be a bit too broad, I'd conclude that pheromone use is well within ethical bounds except for the exclusions about. Maybe a better test would be, would you be upset if exogenous pheromones were used on you? I can't think of an example that I could legitimately say yes.
I'd welcome further discussions and other perspectives.
