I’m gonna have to disagree with you there, my friend.
Evolution and Human Behavior 27 (2006) 259–269
Male steroid hormones and female preference for male body odor
Markus J. Rantala, C.J. Peter Eriksson, Anssi Vainikka, Raine Kortet
Abstract
It has been suggested that human scent works as a signal in mate selection, but the empirical evidence is scarce. Here, we examined whether women’s olfactory preferences for a man’s scent could be correlated with his testosterone, estradiol, or cortisol concentrations, and whether these preferences change along with the menstrual cycle. In line with previous studies, women in their most fertile period gave the highest attractiveness ratings to all men. However, the intensity ratings by women at different menstrual phases did not significantly differ statistically. Interestingly, we found that cortisol concentration in saliva correlated positively with the attractiveness but not with the intensity ratings of male T-shirt odor by all women’s groups. However, neither testosterone nor estradiol was significantly associated with the ratings of attractiveness or intensity. Thus, our study suggests that there could be a novel mechanism for odor-based selection in humans.
I believe I can identify with this. I am a large, muscular guy with a deep voice. I gain muscle rather quickly when I work out. And I do it regularly.
But I can get away with quite a bit of androstenone, as well. I have yet to truly OD on it (although I haven’t really tried), and have gone as high as 3 sprays of The Edge. A lot of people can’t even get away with 1.
What does this study have to do with me? Simple… I’m never stressed. Although I haven’t seen any bloodwork numbers (I’ve been meaning to do that) I would say that my cortisol production is on the low end of the spectrum. Even though my testosterone is quite high.
However, I’ve also noticed that if I’ve been very busy or active recently, I get better hits with girls, pheros or no pheros. Not even necessarily stressed… just active. Personally, I think cortisol is an “activity” horomone, not just a “stress” horomone, but that’s another topic for another day.