Scientists say that body odour is manliness

MEN who want to appear more manly should consider how nice they smell, new research has found. Scientists at the University of Stirling say that applying deodorant can increase the perceived level of masculinity among men not usually counted as the most rugged among the population. However, this is not the case for those who already have high levels of masculinity, meaning that personal odour counts. The study, which investigated what effect wearing deodorant has on assessing masculinity and femininity, asked 130 female and male participants rate the traits using photographs while a further 239 men and women rated odour samples of 40 opposite sex individuals. The research found that women appear to be more sensitive or attentive to odour cues than males, and men rated low from their photos could increase their masculinity by applying a deodorant Dr Caroline Allen, Psychology researcher at the University of Stirling, who led the study, said: “Our study found that when women apply a deodorant it does increase their rated body odour femininity, as would be expected. "Though it seems as though something else is at play when it comes to male body odour and male deodorants. Only those men who were rated low in masculinity to start with showed a significant increase after applying their deodorants, and the men who were highly masculine initially showed no increase after deodorant application." She added: “This means that men are able to use deodorant to artificially raise their game so to speak, levelling the playing field by making themselves comparable, at least as far as odour is concerned, to more masculine men. "Our evolutionary preferences have likely shaped this difference in fragrance design: research findings show that we actually don't like high levels of masculinity which are often associated with aggressiveness and hostility, but we show no upper limit on our femininity preferences.”