I am not an expert on pheromones at all so I will not be the best at explaining it, but here goes...
It's about smell (sort of). We inhale scents that our frontal lobe doesn't seem to be able to distinguish but other, older parts of our brains can still react to.
So a pheromone is a chemical that elicits a natural response from a member of the same species (we can smell the musk from a female fox, for example, but we don't have the same reaction that a male fox might have). We have fear pheromones, sex pheromones, etc. Females release pheromones to indicate they are ready for breeding (this happens in lots of species not just ours) and males have similar things go on. But, since we as a species get to decide when we will procreate, we don't always jump in the sack when those pheromones are released. However, that doesn't stop them from being released. So, even if you are not sexually active, you are still likely producing/releasing those pheromones because you are of the right age, physical maturity to do so.
Again, I am not an expert on this so ymmv and others may have different opinions/views.
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ninetydegrees
no subject
on 2007-12-05 03:29 pm (UTC)It's about smell (sort of). We inhale scents that our frontal lobe doesn't seem to be able to distinguish but other, older parts of our brains can still react to.
So a pheromone is a chemical that elicits a natural response from a member of the same species (we can smell the musk from a female fox, for example, but we don't have the same reaction that a male fox might have). We have fear pheromones, sex pheromones, etc. Females release pheromones to indicate they are ready for breeding (this happens in lots of species not just ours) and males have similar things go on. But, since we as a species get to decide when we will procreate, we don't always jump in the sack when those pheromones are released. However, that doesn't stop them from being released. So, even if you are not sexually active, you are still likely producing/releasing those pheromones because you are of the right age, physical maturity to do so.
Again, I am not an expert on this so ymmv and others may have different opinions/views.