Garrett Kelly, Tonganoxie senior, and Chris McGillivray, Overland Park senior, are sitting outside the Ambler Student Recreation Fitness Center on a late Saturday afternoon. Cooling down from their workouts, they start to discuss the weird sexual tension that lingers in the air while everyone is sweating through their shirts.

 They think that the rec center can sometimes feel like going to a junior high dance because all the men and women tend to separate. The guys are almost always on the weights directly behind the girls using the treadmills and stair masters. “I feel just like a pervert because obviously I’m forced to look at booties,” Kelly says. “I mean, the stair master, it’s like a butt machine.”

 Both guys say that there are a multitude of factors that play into the sexual tension at the rec center. They say that everyone is wearing less clothing and lots of bodies are moving as opposed to sitting still like they would in a class.

 This is all true, but something else at the rec center may make us feel a little frisky as we sweat as well. They’re called pheromones.

SMELLING ATTRACTION

 Pheromones in humans are a mystery because scientists have yet to identify a chemical as a human pheromone. But scientists are certain that pheromones in animals exist. When you see dogs “making their mark” or sniffing another dog’s bum, they are communicating with pheromones. Animals and insects have the ability to produce substances that can signal many things, such as danger, a trail of food or a potential mate. After the pheromones are secreted, they are carried through air currents and received by another member of the same species. In other words, pheromones are very much like an airborne communication system.

 While humans are not blatantly sniffing each other’s bums, many studies and surveys show we may be subconsciously smelling pheromones to sniff out potential partners. But unfortunately hard evidence has yet to be discovered.

 Although scientists haven’t pinned down the facts about pheromones, they speculate the presence of pheromones could be picked up with the vomeronasal organ (VMO) when another person sweats or secretes pheromones. This organ is located in our septums and is a part of our olfactory systems, which enables us to smell. Some say that we no longer use this organ and we must have inherited it from an ancestor, but some believe we actually do use the VMO.

 Two kinds of pheromones that the VMO may be able to pick up are releaser and primer pheromones. Releaser pheromones can trigger an immediate behavioral response from another person, such as when a person becomes instantly attracted to another person for no apparent reason. Primer pheromones cause a physiological response, such as women synchronizing menstrual cycles.

ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE

 The most popular primer pheromone evidence involves the synchronization of menstrual cycles. Martha McClintock, professor and director of the Institute for Mind and Biology at the University of Chicago, was one of the first to question the mystery of synchronized menstruation. In college, she noticed that she and other women in her dormitory were having their periods at the same time, and in 1971 she published her theory of primer pheromones causing the synchronization.  

 In 1998, McClintock wanted more proof of her findings. Because pheromones are thought to be released from the hairier parts of our bodies, such as the armpits and genitalia, she swabbed odors from the underarms of women who lived with each other. After swabbing, she put the odors under their noses, and two days later, the women were starting to synchronize cycles.

 Women are not the only ones who might be able to pick up on pheromones. Men also can catch whiffs of information from women, and a prime place for this is at a strip bar. A lot of releaser pheromones may be produced from the erotic dancers and men may be able to smell them. According to a study published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior, erotic dancers naturally work their magic on men when they are ovulating, or in other words, when they are more fertile and when their bodies are ready to reproduce. In this study, researchers found that dancers averaged a total of $70 per hour when they were ovulating and $35 when they were on their periods. This all may be because of mood changes and being comfortable, but the same thing seems to be happening at a local strip bar.

 Tori, a local erotic dancer who asked to use her stage name because of privacy issues, says most of her coworkers make more tips when they’re within a week of starting their periods. “I’m not a huge believer in pheromones,” Tori says. “I think a lot of it has to do with attitude and mood, but I do remember making more money when I got off birth control.”

 Birth control chemically tricks the body into thinking it’s pregnant. Therefore, according to the theory from the study, it would make sense that Tori wouldn’t make as much money as she would producing releaser pheromones for the man shelling out the bills.

INFUSED SALES PITCHES

 While men and women smell each other in strip bars and dormitories, some companies are trying to convince the public that we can actually take the effects of pheromones into our own hands by putting on a pheromone-infused perfume or cologne. Pheromones are said to be made up of compounds of different chemicals. Some scientists say chemicals can then be separated and put into products to sell. “Scientists can figure out the chemical that makes something odorous and then put that chemical into the products. Predominantly it’s done by chemists who synthesize compounds or separate chemicals based on different properties,” says Brian Ackley, professor of molecular biosciences.

 Google the word “pheromone” and you’ll find about a half of a million sites pitching sales. The advertising might be witty, but you can never be certain which compound of chemicals are going to attract the majority of people. Every person has his or her own scent and chemical compounds. Therefore, the certainty of a pheromonal perfume and cologne effect actually working is pretty slim.

 “There’s no universal scent. Even if you had every known odor, you still wouldn’t be able to figure it out. It’s all part of the beauty of being individuals,” Ackley says. “Although I don’t have empirical evidence to prove it, I sincerely doubt that a purchased pheromone would do much good. First, it’s non-directional. If you put on a ‘pheromone’ to attract someone, you run the risk of attracting many people you’d rather not. Second, it’s much more straightforward to use other means of communication. Finally, because people have conscious control over whom they choose to have sex with, it would do no good.”

 Yet the market is still milking the phenomenon for all it’s worth. Pherlure, a top-selling pheromone cologne, may rely on advertising skills to get your money. At pherlure.com, visitors are greeted with a video of a model who doesn’t look like she’s wearing a shirt. From her bare shoulders to her perfectly placed hair, the video screams sex. With her overly sultry voice, she says, “Remember, women don’t base their choice of men on looks. We choose which guys we date based on a real gut-level attraction. It’s called chemistry. You either have it or you don’t. Pherlure will help you gain that chemistry and increase your confidence around women.”

 On the site below the video it continues to talk about that “gut-level” attraction. By using Pherlure’s product, “you can make ANY woman feel that powerful attraction.” As amazing as that sounds, you probably won’t be able to attract any woman you want. So save your money and work on some decent pick-up lines instead.

CHEMISTRY PLAYING ITS PART

 When the model on pherlure.com speaks of chemistry, she’s being misleading because releaser-pheromone effects are uncertain. We don’t actually have a lot of control over what another person finds attractive. Although animals are able to use pheromones, we are left with other chemicals in our brains that help us determine whom we are attracted to. Among these are phenylethylamine and dopamine.

 Phenylethylamine is a natural chemical that causes sweaty palms, restlessness and nervousness when it’s released in the brain. It’s caused by those subtle glances and slight touches from someone we’re attracted to. Along with this chemical, there is also something called dopamine, which has been dubbed “the pleasure chemical.” This is what makes us feel happy and as if we’re on top of the world when we meet someone we like. This powerful chemical can seem addictive, in the sense that when you don’t produce enough of it, or when you break up with your partner, you have withdrawal-like symptoms.

 Dennis Dailey, professor emeritus of social welfare and sex educator, says he doesn’t believe in pheromones. He is more partial to the effect the chemicals in our brains have on attraction.

 Dailey says we are much more advanced than animals and that most of us are initially interested in another person based on their looks and not what they smell like. “When you walk into a room, and scan the people there, you’ll know who you’re attracted to within two seconds,” Dailey says. He doesn’t deny that people could wear perfumes that others find erotic, but pheromones are a far stretch for him. He says sight plays a bigger part in attraction than smell.

FOCUSING THE EVIDENCE

 There are many theories about how people become attracted to each other. But what it comes down to is the evidence of those theories. Primer pheromones in humans, such as the synchronization of menstrual cycles, have been backed up by a lot of evidence, but releaser pheromones, the pheromones supposedly used in colognes, have no proof of actually existing in humans. Although this ability may seem like a sixth sense, pheromones may never be completely identified.