The Times of London 12th May 1998 Medical Correspondent.

Sex ? It’s like a chemistry set.

An aftershave lotion that really attracts women has been confirmed by scientists. And far from the powerful smelling lotions whose scents are supposed to lure the opposite sex, the key ingredient in the test was odourless.

The discovery that the chemical pheromone added to an aftershave seems to be universally attractive to women takes sex even closer to the chemistry set, following recent reports of the new American pill, Viagra that can increase male potency.

Pheromones imitate the properties of a substance secreted by men’s armpits, which animal behaviourists have long felt is important in attracting mates at a subconscious level.

To test the theory, 38 volunteers, aged 25 to 42, were recruited by researchers from the Department of Health and Nutrition Sciences, Brooklyn College, New York, and the Department of Psychology, San Francisco State University.

After tests for adequate social skills, and a two week run-up period in which the men recorded their sexual activities, 17 unknowingly had the synthetic pheromone mixed in with their aftershave.

During the course of the trial, they experienced significantly more sexual episodes than men who did not have the extra ingredient. They were also more likely to engage in petting and kissing, or to have informal dates.

A total of 41% of men in the pheromone group experienced wide increases in sexual behaviour involving a female partner, compared with 9.5% in the other group. Six out of seven men who had not been dating before the study showed significant increases in sexual behaviour.

The results were published in the peer reviewed journal Archives of Sexual Behaviour and were presented at a meeting of the American Society fro Reproductive Medicine in Seattle. In the paper the authors write:

“Human male pheromones caused a statistically significant and distinct increase in the two most intimate behaviours: sexual intercourse and sleeping with a woman. These are Socio-sexual behaviours in which the willingness of a female partner plays a major role”