Experiments Show Women Can Sniff Out Single And Married Men

A recent study found that women can detect a single man.

According to a study in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, married men have a different body odor from single men.

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82 heterosexual women were asked by Australian researchers from Macquarie University to evaluate the bodily odors of 91 men (46 singletons and 45 partnered men). In order to do this, the guys were given a new white T-shirt to wear for no more than 24 hours, or until "large amounts of sweat were absorbed onto the underarm of the T-shirt."

After the T-shirts were gathered, the ladies were given a picture of the man in question and asked to sniff six different clothing items.

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"Consistent with our hypothesis, single men’s BO was rated as smelling stronger than the BO of partnered men," the study authors wrote. "We also found that single men’s faces were rated more masculine than partnered men’s, but only among partnered women."

The smell, according to the experts, may help in women's search for compatible partners.

"From an evolutionary perspective, it may be advantageous for women to detect the chemosignals that connote coupledom and ultimately avoid courting partnered males (especially with offspring) due to the relatively reduced resources they can offer," they said.

Although the participants' testosterone levels were not measured in this study, previous research found that males who are single often had greater testosterone levels than those who are in relationships.

"A stronger body odour could make you more noticeable. It could be an indication of dominance,” One of the study's authors, Mehmet Mahmut, told Newsweek.

Although the scientists were unable to determine the precise cause of this difference, they proposed: "Testosterone is associated with mate-seeking behaviours," Mahmut said. "We know from previous research that higher testosterone is linked to stronger body odour... Potentially single men do have higher levels of testosterone."