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Scientists Find Tears Are the Anti-Viagra 207

An anonymous reader writes "The male test subjects didn't know what they were smelling, they were just given little vials of clear liquid and told to sniff. But when those vials contained a woman's tears (collected while she watched a sad movie), the men rated pictures of women's faces as less sexually attractive, and their saliva contained less testosterone. Is this proof that humans make and respond to pheromones? The researcher behind the study doesn't use that controversial word, but he says his findings do prove that tears contain meaningful chemical messages."

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Scientists Find Tears Are the Anti-Viagra

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  • by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 09, 2011 @08:03PM (#34818816)

    90% of their porn involves women crying.

    • by Pax681 ( 1002592 )
      hmmm a drawn together moment!

      Spanky: So was he any good, Mr. Nagasaki?[referring to Ling-Ling]

      Ling-Ling: He cry a lot.

      Spanky: Sorry about that. He's new.

      Ling-Ling: Oh No! I like it! Tears are best lubricant.
    • by jandrese ( 485 )
      Somehow I don't think they get the pheromones on the DVDs though.
    • "90% of their porn involves women crying."

      Those tentacle and eel insertions DO look painful.
      Squid, not so much...

  • by Anonymous Coward

    I can only get it up if she's crying.

  • by uid7306m ( 830787 ) on Sunday January 09, 2011 @08:13PM (#34818890)

    Geez, guys. Mental age should be at least 16, mental altitude should be at least a foot above the gutter.

    • by oztiks ( 921504 )

      Yeah but the editors at /. would know with a story like this the #commentlisting was going to be overly populated with such discourse.

      Its not like /. attracts people with healthy sexual appetites, quite the opposite, considering most of them are buying plastic vagina molds of their favorite pornstar and calling it "their" girl.

    • by syousef ( 465911 )

      Geez, guys. Mental age should be at least 16, mental altitude should be at least a foot above the gutter.

      Why? Being old sucks. And the gutter is nice and warm. ;-)

    • by hduff ( 570443 )

      Geez, guys. Mental age should be at least 16, mental altitude should be at least a foot above the gutter.

      On Slashdot?

      The discourse is usually at basement level, not upstairs with mom.

    • Who let the geek speak up? You're gonna get it at lunch break!

  • by rsborg ( 111459 ) on Sunday January 09, 2011 @08:14PM (#34818896) Homepage

    I remember lots of tears and well, it still happened every time.

    Perhaps not all generated tears are the same (maybe this explains why guys avoid chick flicks?)

    • by ShooterNeo ( 555040 ) on Sunday January 09, 2011 @08:33PM (#34818994)

      Because the man doesn't usually control when a sexual encounter happens, the woman does. Make up sex is when the woman is either trying to induce you to stay in the relationship or is turned on because of how you responded to the argument.

      • by durrr ( 1316311 )
        You seem to be blissfully unaware of our history until a few decades ago.
        • In the animal kingdom, in primates, and in primitive tribes this is still true. Note I said "usually".

          • by justinlee37 ( 993373 ) on Sunday January 09, 2011 @09:34PM (#34819398)

            Throughout most of human history, the man has been the gatekeeper to sexual activity, not the woman. In fact, it was only until very recently that a man could be legally prosecuted for raping his wife.

            In the United States [wikipedia.org], South Dakota was the first state to criminalize "spousal rape." This did not happen until 1975. The last state to criminalize "spousal rape" was 1993.

            In even earlier (bust still recent) history, say prior to the 1900's, women were not allowed to vote or own property in a marriage, and they were usually not able to live on their own due to the fact that few people would hire them for any job, and without anti-discrimination laws in place employers were free to systematically deny women employment, or even to pay them a lower wage just because they were female.

            In the Middle Ages in Europe, and still today in many cultures around the world, marriages are arranged by the parents and children, especially daughters, may have little say in when they get married or to whom. Combine that with a society in which a woman can't have a political voice, can't refuse to have sex with her husband, can't divorce him, and may be legally beaten by her husband, and you'll find that historically, women have had VERY little say in when a sexual encounter happens, or even with whom it happens with.

            Things have began to change recently, which is good, but 1316311 makes an excellent point. It would be a shame if you missed the point, which is why I took the time to compose this message and provide at least one reference. "Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it," blah blah blah, and all that rubbish.

            • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

              You're talking about marriage. ShooterNeo was likely referring to a dating relationship, when the woman often has the upper hand. Man pursues woman, man must conciliate woman.
            • Throughout most of human history, the man has been the gatekeeper to sexual activity, not the woman.

              Having the man be the gatekeeper to sexual activity is about as good an idea as having the woman be the gatekeeper for the credit cards.

            • Actually studies of primitive tribes and/or of primates reveal that rape isn't the majority of the matings. The reason is that primates, like humans, live in tribes. It is thought that a typical human tribe's natural size is on the order of 100 individuals. In such a tribe, there are consequences for rape. In those times, there was no privacy, so it would be obvious if a rape happened and the male family members of the woman might potentially take action.

              These ideas come from a field of science known as

            • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

              by inviolet ( 797804 )

              In even earlier (bust still recent) history, say prior to the 1900's, women were not allowed to vote or own property in a marriage, and they were usually not able to live on their own due to the fact that few people would hire them for any job, and without anti-discrimination laws in place employers were free to systematically deny women employment, or even to pay them a lower wage just because they were female.

              You had me until the "lower wage for the same work" rant.

              If that rant was true, why would anyone

              • If that rant was true, why would anyone hire a male? If females have the same productivity, yet 25-50% less labor cost...

                LOL.

                Because in the same society in which women were presumed so inferior as to not be fit to own property, naturally no employer considered them to be equally productive even if it was demonstrably the case. Of course in this same society, the supply of women trying to enter the job pool was drastically lower as a woman's place was in the home. It wasn't until the 1940s that women enter

                • How many George Washington Carvers did the world miss out on because of prejudice against Africans? The loss of economic productivity from the inventions they would have created is surely tremendous.
                  The plural of anecdote is not data. Secondly, for most forms of physical labor the average man is more productive than the average woman. Until the post war period most jobs were far too physical to allow women to compete equally(obv. exceptions being education and nursing). However, if you want to join the wo
                  • Women did just fine in factories during WWII.

                    But the observation was women were restricted in opportunities and pay in nearly all fields until recently -- education and nursing being counterexamples, yet hardly the only non-physically-intensive professions. I am not and need not blame everything entirely on oppression, however said oppression did demonstrably exist and restrict women. How sadly binary your thinking is, where there's either this acknowledging historical fact and being a "womynist", or craf

    • Why propose that tears caused by a fight might have significant chemical differences from tears caused by a sad movie instead of considering a hugely different state of mind for the male?

      Occam's razor: maybe men who are having a tiff with a lover and see a tear will react differently than men sitting in an experimenter's room, smelling unlabeled vials.

    • If the tears have a chemical message that is aversive to us, we will perhaps take action to remove the unpleasant stimulus, IE comfort the crying person so they stop producing tears. Also don't neglect that the chemical message contained by the tears is only part of what's going on psychologically when you're fighting with your significant other; the empathetic emotional pain you feel when you see them upset is likely a much stronger driving force.

      In short, every crying girl needs a good hot dicking. That i

      • by syousef ( 465911 )

        If the tears have a chemical message that is aversive to us, we will perhaps take action to remove the unpleasant stimulus, IE comfort the crying person so they stop producing tears. Also don't neglect that the chemical message contained by the tears is only part of what's going on psychologically when you're fighting with your significant other; the empathetic emotional pain you feel when you see them upset is likely a much stronger driving force.

        In short, every crying girl needs a good hot dicking. That is, unless she keeps crying during the dicking, in which case you might be raping her and you should probably stop. Unless, you know, you're both kinky and happen to be into that kind of thing.

        Maybe the chemical message in the tears that reduces arousal is part of some defense mechanism against rape?

        So much wrong with your statement...

        First of all not all sex is about love and emotional empathy. People have sex without caring about each other. People stay together when they no longer care too. Not saying it's right but we're not in a perfect world and this is certainly common enough unfortunately.

        Secondly, your assessment of what "every crying girl needs" undoes every positive thing you've said in your other message reminding us of female rights. Personally I think you're over-compensating and are a my

  • Is this proof that humans make and respond to pheromones?

    Anyone can find this out very easily: Just don't shower or apply deodorant for a couple of days, and you will notice everyone around you respond (assuming you leave your parent's basement on a regular basis).

    • by Quasar1999 ( 520073 ) on Sunday January 09, 2011 @08:27PM (#34818962) Journal
      Are you mad??? Asking people on slashdot to shower even less???

      Pheremones don't have a noticable scent/odor... someone not showering AND failing to apply deodorant is gonna smell pretty awful, especially if it's for days.
      • Re:Pheremones? (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Bobakitoo ( 1814374 ) on Sunday January 09, 2011 @09:01PM (#34819164)

        Pheremones from other species dont have noticeable scent to you. You are not rigged to recognize and response to them. To each species, their pheromones has a distincive smell that provoke a specific emotional impuse to act in some way. eg: It smell attractive.

        Deodorant are not natural and are merely masking the human odor. If you think natural odor smell awful, it is only because you are not use to it. Just like puritain are scandalized over the sight of a naked body. Hygiene is important, and restraining too strong odor is also important, but demanding that everyone has the same standardized "aqua fresh" scent is wrong.

        • Deodorant isn't just "masking" odor with another scent -- it's not perfume. (Notice that there are unscented deodorants.) What it does is kill the bacteria which are causing that odor, which seems like a reasonable thing to do.

          • Deodorant isn't just "masking" odor with another scent -- it's not perfume. (Notice that there are unscented deodorants.) What it does is kill the bacteria which are causing that odor, which seems like a reasonable thing to do.

            What it actually does is trap dead skin cells and bacteria under your armpits where they rot and smell like death, so you have to use even more to cover it up. No amount of deodorant or antiperspirant keeps me from smelling like sweat after hard physical exertion, but I smell better after hard physical exertion since I gave up antiperspirant and deodorant. I find that taking a shower and putting on clean clothes every day is all the cleanliness I need. Instead of spraying toxics under my arms, I shower. May

    • by EdIII ( 1114411 ) on Sunday January 09, 2011 @09:30PM (#34819360)

      (assuming you leave your parent's basement on a regular basis)

      But it's scary up there. Full of judgment, people that expect you to pay for things yourself, and an alarming shortage of freely available Hot Pockets.

  • Rapists. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by queazocotal ( 915608 ) on Sunday January 09, 2011 @08:42PM (#34819034)

    An interesting test would be to do a similar study on violent rapists.
    (excluding those in pre-existing relationships with the victim).
    Are they less affected, or even aroused, by the same signals?

    • Re:Rapists. (Score:4, Interesting)

      by jamesh ( 87723 ) on Sunday January 09, 2011 @09:16PM (#34819258)

      Maybe that's the secret. Rapists have nasal congestion problems!

      I wonder how much of it is learned too... sure our brains can 'smell' tears, but the response could still be a result of conditioning rather than anything hardwired.

    • Re:Rapists. (Score:4, Informative)

      by catmistake ( 814204 ) on Sunday January 09, 2011 @11:30PM (#34820004) Journal
      Rape is not a crime of passion and desire. It is a crime of violence. Rape is about (that illusion known as) control. You can't stop a rapist by "turning them off" sexually. There's more than one way to stop a rapist, of course, but I recommend vigorously and repeatedly applying a baseball bat to either head.
      • That also doesn't make it a crime: the changes in child-rape laws, the changes in spousal rape laws, the changes in sexual abuse laws in the workplace (especially in third world countries), and the policies in different countries of what constitutes drug-aided rape involving alcohol or light intoxicant, or even the relationships between therapist and client or priest and worshipper involving sexuality all have had different standards at different times. Throw in rape as a legal punishment or as treatment of

      • Sex, can also very much about power. Power can be highly arousing, and the feeling of being out of control can likewise be arousing. My personal experience is that when a woman trusts you completely, the feeling of a man controlling his partner can be very much a turn-on for both parties.

        So while saying rape is about violence is true, it ignores that violence is often about passion and desire for the people who commit rape. Personally, I think forced castration would probably solve the problem, even if it's

  • What? (Score:5, Funny)

    by santax ( 1541065 ) on Sunday January 09, 2011 @08:50PM (#34819086)
    Man, I love it when they cry. All 7 of em. You know. Here in my basement. Brb, moms calling.
  • by Lord Kano ( 13027 ) on Sunday January 09, 2011 @08:50PM (#34819092) Homepage Journal

    should already know this. A woman who cries to win an argument, then you lose all interest in romance, then she cries because you don't want to touch her, then you are even less interested. It's a vicious cycle that ends up in either broken or sexless relationships. I know.

    LK

  • by Seumas ( 6865 ) on Sunday January 09, 2011 @09:05PM (#34819184)

    This has nothing to do with whether a woman crying is a turn-off (yes, white-knights, we all know crying girls make you so so so so sad). This has to do with a vial of tear-juice impacting your judgement in how attractive women are. I guess this will be completely relevant when women start literally crying buckets. Until then, when do you actually come in contact with enough tears at one time that it could possibly effect you? I'm sure a vial full of ear-wax shoved right under my nose would repulse me, too, and the last thing I'd be thinking about is sex.

    • I'm sure a vial full of ear-wax shoved right under my nose would repulse me, too, and the last thing I'd be thinking about is sex.

      . . . I think that's a valid point for a different reason; I think it's pretty well-settled that a person likes-, and is not offended, by the smells of their lover(-s).

      If that's true then perhaps these guys were not turned on b/c they did not "recognize" the smell and they interpreted the tears as just stinky fluid.

    • Re:Meaningless. (Score:5, Interesting)

      by misexistentialist ( 1537887 ) on Sunday January 09, 2011 @10:23PM (#34819696)
      Which is a pretty useless hypothesis to prove since crying women look repulsive. I think the study misses the point and that the scent is supposed to help trigger the nurturing response of fathers.
  • Seriously (Score:5, Interesting)

    by MrQuacker ( 1938262 ) on Sunday January 09, 2011 @09:17PM (#34819260)
    Do some actual science. Toss some tears into a gas chromatography analyzer and see whats in them.

    If something is there concentrate or synthesize it and test it one by one.

    • by ebonum ( 830686 )

      Winning recipe!
      If you planted an air freshener loaded with this stuff ( see above post - you need to figure out how to synthesize it ) in an NFL team's locker room, think of the competitive advantage!

      If you work for JP Morgan, you would want to load up the Goldman trading floor with this stuff. Take the testosterone out and they will suffer.

    • Problem is there is undoubtedly lots of different stuff in tears - probably many thousands of different compounds. Big job to see which compound is having that effect.
    • Toss some tears into a gas

      Then you can disperse rioters
    • Mod up! This was the only really worthwhile comment in the thread.

    • Re:Seriously (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Kilrah_il ( 1692978 ) on Monday January 10, 2011 @04:34AM (#34821018)

      You mean, you want to analyze each chemical in the tears (or at least each one that is in an abnormal concentration in sad women's tears) to see if it does, what? Oh, I know, to see if it makes men less horny. But how did you know it should make them less horny? By doing a research such as the one in TFA.
      Science has many steps and levels of research. Usually you start by researching a general phenomenon and deriving a basic idea of "what the heck is happening" (i.e. sad women's tears cause men to be less sexually aroused). After that you go into smaller details and try to find what is causing said phenomenon (i.e. chemical X and/or Y cause men to be less sexually aroused). And the last step is using the sum of all the small details to make a theory that can be put to practical use (e.g. let's make product MakeWomenSafe(TM) to chemically castrate too-sexually violent men).
      Not always do we have all of those steps, but it's hard to start at the gas chromatography stage before finishing the first, general step - which is also actual science.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • I used to work with a guy who was such an undesireable date, he had to get women drunk to sleep with him. He bragged about his conquests and more than once described how his dates would hurl at some point during 'the act'. We figured that he had conditioned himself to ignore the puke and keep pumping.
  • Yes, a lap dance is so much better when the stripper is cryin'. Well I find it's quite a thrill, When she grinds me against her will, Yes a lap dance is so much better when the stripper is cryin'
  • It figures (Score:2, Funny)

    by PPH ( 736903 )
    John Boehner becomes speaker of the House and starts bawling right and left. Its all a part of the right wing's campaign against sex.
  • by jav1231 ( 539129 )
    Welcome to three days ago. BTW: Seattle's going to beat New Orleans. Seriously!
  • Since when are pheromones controversial? We are still animals, of course we produce and react to pheromones. I though that was establish science. Hm, a quick Google search shows that there aren't so many studies of human pheromones, how come?
  • where are the studies of the effect of men's tears on women's libidos? very sexist not to study both effects. ;)
    • Far more interesting (and relevant) is the effects of hormonal prevention on women's libidos. I don't recall which studies I'm thinking about exactly, but it is a well established fact that women ovulating find high levels of testosterone (e.g. muscles, dominant behavior, general manlyness) attractive while women on the other side of the hormonal scale (pregnant, menstruating, etc.) find typical "female" features more attractive. If a female body is in "get baby!"-mode, she prefers manly men who can protect
  • He doesn't use the controversial word "pheromones" but he still uses the controversial word "proven." Establishing a link doesn't prove anything, it merely establishes a link.
    I am not a statistician, though; maybe this case is different. I'm still skeptical, however.
  • If you planted an air freshener loaded with this stuff ( you need to figure out how to synthesize it ) in an NFL team's locker room, think of the competitive advantage!

    If you work for JP Morgan, you would want to load up the Goldman trading floor with this stuff. Take the testosterone out and they will suffer!

  • I shudder to think what Israeli army researchers are doing to make women cry.
  • "(collected while she watched a sad movie)"

    I'm glad you said that, I would have wondered how they got the women to cry otherwise.
    • by bakes ( 87194 )

      Women (and men) cry for many reasons. Sadness, joy, pain, anger, ...

      I am interested in seeing the effects of 'happy tears' on the same group of men. And the effects of both happy and sad tears on other women.

It is contrary to reasoning to say that there is a vacuum or space in which there is absolutely nothing. -- Descartes

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