Topic: birth control pills weaken your sense of smell & lead you to love stinky jerks?

[FerminaDaza]

http://humrep.oxfordjournals.org/content/16/11/2288.short

A University of Catania study found that women who did not take the pill had the most sensitive sense of smell around the time of ovulation. But, after just three months of going on the pill, women showed no increased sense of smell at the time they were most fertile.

But, when we think about how smell is tied in with sexual desire, the effects are alarming. Jill Blakeway, a renowned New York-based acupuncturist and author of Sex Again: Recharging Your Libido, says that this *could potentially lead us to pick the wrong mate.* Indeed, another study by the University of New Mexico showed that when women were on the pill and most fertile, they showed no particular preference of the smell of men with symmetrical features vs. asymmetrical features, while those not on the pill clearly chose the scent of men with symmetrical features.





Aww, fellow womyn! It's a slightly alarmist stance to argue that taking birth control leads to diminished sense of smell during peak fertility leads to possibly picking the wrong mate FOR LIFE (alarming!).