Human female pheromones adversely affecting my masculinity (NOT JOKING)

[Leto-Atreides]

How plausible is the idea of human female pheromones (airborne or otherwise) mitigating the testosterone levels and/or testosterone action of the men they live with?

 

I'm just paranoid living with four other females with only one brother and a male cat. Are they (the women) releasing some type of pheromone that inhibits testosterone levels and/or action which prevents me from realizing the full potential of masculinity coded for in my genotype.

 

Thanks for entertaining my inquiries.

Edited August 5, 2011 by Leto-Atreides

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

I'd be more concerned about social changes, like the women convincing you to watch romantic comedies or stay up all night painting your toenails. As far as I know there's no pheromone linked to testosterone changes.

[Leto-Atreides]

I'd be more concerned about social changes, like the women convincing you to watch romantic comedies or stay up all night painting your toenails. As far as I know there's no pheromone linked to testosterone changes.

 

It's somewhat comforting that hitherto they haven't found it but I'm not totally relieved because I'm thinking what if we simply haven't catalogued it yet? That's why I'm interested specifically in plausibility of its existence. Is it necessary for human females to adapt it in the first place and if it is in anyway necessitated then is it even possible for it to be gradually created?

 

Anyways, me and my brother have the social aspect covered, I think. Living with women necessitated a greater awareness of our own masculinity in contrast to their femininity. We're extra careful to indulge in masculine activities because that's the social identity we're comfortable with.

[Ringer]

Well, AFAIK, there hasn't been conclusive evidence that humans actually have functional pheromones. There is evidence both for and against but, again this is so far as I'm aware, it isn't entirely accepted. If there pheromones that are released from women they should increase testosterone levels. Most pheromones are used for communication; since we have language the only thing I would think pheromones would be useful for in our species is finding a mate. Even then it wouldn't be really helpful because we don't use scent to detect other people for the most part.

 

Short answer, there's no reason to think you are going to be feminized.

[PhDwannabe]

Leto:

 

I'm certain that your loyal band of Fish Speakers shall not, with their pheromones, sway you from your Golden Path.

 

In all seriousness, the evidence for human pheromonal communication is currently mixed. There are a few examples which seem more likely than others. The most methodologically advanced evidence does seem to point towards the possibility of menstrual synchrony in groups of women, after a few decades of research that seemed to go either way. There's also evidence that we have some sense of potential mates' genetic differences. One well-known study showed that women were more attracted to men they'd never met (yet smelled items of clothing from) whose major histocompatibility complexes (a big immune marker) were most different from their own. This would seem to help achieve the lofty evolutionary goal of getting together genetically different partners to create hybrid-vigorous offspring. Finally, males' sperm counts do go notably up when their partners are absent (make sure you've got lots of little guys ready in case she's been with another man). At least some of this may be pheromonally mediated, since the effect appears to be mitigated if the males regularly smell clothing articles during her absence.

 

So, is it "plausible" that living with a bunch of females might have some effect on you through pheromonal means? Yes, it's plausible. But the effects of pheromones--which, let me be clear, are as-yet not well-understood--do not appear to be so crude as "living around a bunch of girls kinda turns you into a girl." Rather, they seem to be centered around specific, subtle evolutionary goals. Although my own ignorance is by no means an argument in itself, I fail to imagine how your reproductive fitness would be served by your body responding to the presence of females by decreasing the presence or influence of masculinizing hormones. I'm furthermore not aware of an empirical research on the topic which would suggest as much.

 

Interestingly, the non-developmental influence (that is, immediate influence in adults, which doesn't have to do with effects on growth in a gross anatomical sense) of testosterone is not what people thing, anyway. Testosterone has enormous effects during critical periods like puberty and during fetal development, and large amounts of it can certainly masculinize a grown female in some ways (e.g., it'll put hair on her, enlarge the clitoris, etc., but it's not going to grow a penis and testicles). However, what we think of as testosterone's behavioral effects have often be found to be fairly mythical. Meta-analytic studies do not find strong associations, for instance, between high testosterone levels and aggression in males, for instance.

 

Bottom line, the hormonal-pheromonal effects of your current environment are, if present at all, completely blown out of the water by social factors.

[Fuzzwood]

It basically sounds like you are afraid of "catching the gay"?

[Joatmon]

Surely, if female sex pheromones exist and are acting in the way nature intended they should make you feel more masculine? I thought they were believed to arouse, or at least increase the interest of, males in the vicinity. (and believed to be more effective around the time of ovulation)

Edited June 14, 2012 by Joatmon

[Phi for All]

Your testosterone is safe. It's far too mighty to be compromised by anything emitted by mere women.

 

Intellectually, however, you may find yourself expanding your POV. Women tend to see the big picture better than men, whose focus is usually more narrow. You may eventually understand that pillows on a couch make it look better when no one is sitting on it, which is actually more important than what you do with them when you are sitting on it.

 

Your tastes may become more refined. You may actually learn the names for colors outside the usual blue, green, red, orange and yellow. It's possible you may learn the difference between how gardenias and lilacs smell, and more importantly, you may develop an appreciation for that difference.

 

Don't worry, though. You will never understand that when a woman tells you her problems, she's not always asking you to fix them for her. That's beyond mere male comprehension. At best, you may figure out that you just need to listen and nod, and actually wait for her to ask for your help before jumping up and taking care of everything.