Scent

[For the record, I don't like the more common word for the sense to do with your nose. I don't find it particularly aesthetically pleasing, especially when it's pronounced correctly, in which case it makes me feel physically sick. Looking at the word unhinges me somewhat, so for the purposes of this post, I will use the word "scent", which is a much nicer word.]

I recently finished reading Wetlands. It's got a lot of controversy surrounding it and I like to defy everything, ever, so I had to read it. It makes perfect sense. And the controversial bits - that is to say, the bits not about sex or part of the (arguably subsidiary) plot - aren't as controversial as the media are making them out to be. It's just defaecation, people. You likely do it every day yourself, so although it's slightly taboo it shouldn't gross you out too much. (Or maybe that's just me. Given what I do, I'm somewhat unshocked by people writing about shit.) The sexual bits - sexual BEAST as I am - I enjoyed, rather than was repulsed by. In fact, what I found most offensive was the fact that the translator used American English.

Anyway, that's not what I wanted to write about, particularly. Wetlands makes a good deal of the scents that can come about through various bodily functions, and that includes sex, although the scent that actually comes from sex - now that isn't mentioned. And it should be, if not in Wetlands then somewhere. Why not here?

The scent "of sex" is a unique one, and although it probably varies according to who you're having sex with (it also seems to make its presence felt during masturbation), there are constants associated with it, and you know it when it's there, too. Essentially, it is a mixture of sexual fluids and sweat, so when you put it like that, it actually sounds pretty repulsive and not something I'd kill to bottle and spread á la Perfume. (It's also very similar to the scent of a penis; not that I go around sniffing penises, but in my time I've masturbated enough to know that.) But in another way, because of the scent itself and what causes it, it's actually very alluring. Let's assume that extreme pleasure - and, let's face it, orgasm - happen at the same time as said scent is created. Psychosomatically, the barin registers the link between the scent and the pleasure, ergo it can, in many cases, turn you on. It becomes less offensive, anyway.

Then there's the fact that it's a dead giveaway. You know you've had a lot of fun when you feel like you have to open a window because anyone going into your room will know there's been some sex going on recently. In fact, entire houses can have this - well, according to one person I know who told me she was de-sexing her house after she held an ill-advised house party - and air-fresheners aren't really the best at hiding it, so openng the wndow is the best technique. You also know that the power-hungry cock whore who works in your office has been getting her dose of action if she comes back after lunch wth the scent of sex clinging to her clothes. (Disclaimer: May not happen. I don't work in an office, so I've no idea. I just like to assume. At least, I think I do.)

I'm not saying one should actually embrace the scent of sex. It's not something anyone I know actively tries to generate - someone's going to correct me on this, I know it - but it's a side-effect of sexual intercourse which affects the environment, rather than the people involved, which is unique (unless you're pointing the wrong way during orgasm, but I don't want to think about that!) in many ways, and it's not so unpleasant after all - even if you don't find it overly pleasing, it shows - apart from anything else - that you've been putting some effort in... isn't that what it's all about?