PHILADELPHIA, May 9 (UPI) -- A study by the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia suggests sexual orientation may influence one's response to various body odors.
"Our findings support the contention that gender preference has a biological component that is reflected in both the production of different body odors and in the perception of and response to body odors," said neuroscientist and study co-director Charles Wysocki.
Wysocki and his colleagues asked 82 people to indicate their preference for the odors of underarm perspiration collected from 24 odor donors of varied gender and sexual orientation.
The team found gay men were strikingly different from heterosexual men and women and from lesbian women in terms of which body odors gay men preferred and how their own body odors were regarded by the other groups.
The researchers found gay men preferred odors from gay men and heterosexual women, whereas odors from gay men were the least preferred by heterosexual men and women and by lesbian women.
Co-director Yolanda Martins said: "We need to understand how the biological mechanisms responsible for production of body odor differs in these groups of people, who are defined by gender and gender preference. We also need to identify the factors that lead men versus women and heterosexuals versus homosexuals to perceive body odor differently."
