The infamous smelly T-shirt experiment
Feb. 25th, 2007 12:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kirisutogomenIn "MHC-dependent mate preferences in humans," Wedekind et al. report on an experiment with two interesting findings. First, that human females exhibit preferences for male odors that depend on the degree of dissimilarity between major histocompatibility complexes. The implication would be that female mate selection is biased towards greater diversity in immune system components, either for broader protection against infections, etc., or just to control inbreeding. So, if there are any human females reading this who do not find me stunningly attractive, I suggest you get yourself tested for HLA-B27.
The second interesting finding was that preferences were reversed in females on hormonal birth control (oral contraceptives). This has some unfortunate implications for pairings based on an initial attraction while on oral contraceptives. First, that children resulting from such a pairing would have a higher risk of impaired immunity, and second, that once the female went off the oral contraceptive, they might fight their mate much less attractive. So, if you are a human female on oral contraceptives who does not find me startlingly attractive, that would probably change if you stopped messing with your hormones.
The second interesting finding was that preferences were reversed in females on hormonal birth control (oral contraceptives). This has some unfortunate implications for pairings based on an initial attraction while on oral contraceptives. First, that children resulting from such a pairing would have a higher risk of impaired immunity, and second, that once the female went off the oral contraceptive, they might fight their mate much less attractive. So, if you are a human female on oral contraceptives who does not find me startlingly attractive, that would probably change if you stopped messing with your hormones.
