Katherine Templar Lewis examines the rise of pheromone dating parties:
The concept is simple: Bring along a slept-in T-shirt and quite literally hang out your dirty washing for all to see. Eager daters (70 men, 70 women) take it in turns to open the numbered bags and sniff the contents. If you find one that smells alluring, you hold it up for a cheerful snap which is then projected onto a screen. Then it’s a matter of casually waiting for the number on said bag to materialize in human form and reveal themselves to you.
The theory is that various animals are attracted to potentially viable partners by their smell, and the same may be true for humans. We subconsciously pick up on pheromones, chemicals secreted in sweat, which could affect our response to the person emitting them. Some studies suggest, for instance, that an attraction to someone’s pheromones could indicate reproductive suitability (though quite what role, if any, pheromones play in human sexual attraction is controversial).
One idea holds that the body odours correspond to a person’s set of genes called the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC), which plays a role in the immune system. Evolutionary theory suggests that finding a mate with a complementary immune system would increase offspring’s resilience and thus increase their chance of surviving. … Interestingly, another study found that women taking the oral contraceptive pill actually chose males with a similar and therefore non complementary immune system. Highly disadvantageous!
The Dish 