Smells Like Queen Spirit

A new study says gay men and straight women sniff out sex the same way. Our odor expert tries to make scents of it.

by Daniel Radosh

When Swedish researchers announced this week that, like straight women’s, gay men’s brains may be wired to become sexually aroused by the chemicals in male sweat, Christopher Brosius for one, was not surprised. Brosius, the creator of the famed Demeter Fragrance Library—those refreshing colognes that smell uncannily like dirt, rubber, or gin and tonic—has long observed the differences in the odors that turn on (and off) men and women, gays and straights. “The people I work with want a sexy scent with fragrances that have chemicals that are virtually identical to human hormones,” says the Fragrance Foundation award winner, who recently combined the essences of cigars, leather, mud, and whiskey to create gay actor Alan Cumming’s new signature scent—called, yes, Cumming. Here, Brosius breaks down the most and least sexual scents for every orientation.

WOMEN SEEKING MEN

TURN-ONS:
• The sensuous (though somewhat passé) smells of traditional perfumes—amber, frankincense, myrrh—are obtained from trees whose resin contains chemicals virtually identical to human hormones. “It’s like a trigger that says, ‘Hello, I’m ready.’”
• The clean scent of the ocean—a current favorite among urban sophisticates. “Straight men really respond positively to that smell.”
• Traditionally masculine tones, such as leather, tobacco, and Scotch. Men don’t necessarily respond to it, but many straight women love it on themselves. “I think it’s a daddy thing.”

TURNOFFS
• Floral scents. “A lot of men will accept a woman smelling like a flower, because culturally that’s how women are supposed to smell.” But it doesn’t really drive them crazy.
• Vagina. “Men may love the scent of a woman’s vagina during sex, but if you isolate it and put it in a bottle, they get totally freaked out.”

MEN SEEKING WOMEN

TURN-ONS:
• Women pay a lot of attention to what men think of their perfume, but they don’t actually care much what kind of cologne men wear. Just what kind of car they drive.

MEN SEEKING MEN

TURN-ONS:
• The same ancient incense smells that women use to attract men also work for men seeking to attract men. “Think back to the Fahrenheit years. When that came out, every gay bar in New York stank of Fahrenheit.”
• Women’s perfume. “I’ve run into more than a few men over the years who have worn women’s fragrances. Some of them wear Chanel No. 5 or Chanel No. 19.”
• Violet—a scent that until the 20th century was considered unisex. “The gay men I know who really love violet definitely pick the girlier varieties, even though they may not be really girly themselves.”

TURNOFFS:
• Ocean scents. Although many gay men have an affinity for poking around sand dunes, apparently most gays don’t have the same response to the fragrance of the sea.

WOMEN SEEKING WOMEN

TURN-ONS:
• Floral scents. “Thanks to my many years in fashion, I’ve dealt with a lot of supermodels. Those who preferred girls were often extraordinarily elegant and not at all the stereotypical butch dyke by any stretch of the imagination.”

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