Singles Try to Sniff Out Love at Pheromone Parties: Reasonable or Ridiculous?

Sick of online dating? Maybe it’s time to sniff your way to love. Yes, you read that right! Many singles across the country are trying to pick future partners based on scent at “pheromone parties,” the latest craze in matchmaking.

Guests at these get-togethers are asked to sleep in a cotton T-shirt for three nights, in a row in order to capture their “odor print,” and to then bring the shirt with them in a Ziploc bag. At the event, the bags are color-coded based on gender and numbered by guest. Participants only know the number assigned to their own shirt.

The bags are then placed on a table where guests can sniff them at their leisure throughout the party. If a participant finds a scent particularly attractive, he or she can take a picture with the bag at a photo station. These pictures are then projected or posted on a wall so that a shirt’s owner can step forward and meet his or her odor’s admirer.

As strange as these pheromone parties sound, they may actually have some scientific backing. According to the Associated Press, “Research studies using similar T-shirt experiments have shown that people prefer different human scents. But whose smell they prefer is dictated by a set of genes that influence our immune response — which researchers say is nature's way of preventing inbreeding and preserving genetic adaptations developed over time.”

So, what do you think SodaHeads? Are pheromone parties reasonable or ridiculous?