# Do women have a better sense of smell than men?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-have-a-better-sense-of-smell-than-men/300625>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 22, 2005, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-have-a-better-sense-of-smell-than-men/300625 "2005-04-22T16:40:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-have-a-better-sense-of-smell-than-men/300625/1 "2005-04-22T16:40:16Z")

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From my own experience, it seems as if women will pick up a scent much more easily than a man. Is there any biological evidence to this?

I have also heard that women sometimes get fluctuations in their sensitivity to smell when they are on their period or pregnant. Do hormones play some part in this?

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**Author:** ![Gaudere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gaudere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaudere)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-have-a-better-sense-of-smell-than-men/300625/2 "2005-04-22T17:05:42Z")

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Yes. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1796447.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1796447.stm)

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**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-have-a-better-sense-of-smell-than-men/300625/3 "2005-04-22T18:09:11Z")

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Anecdotal evidence has limited usefulness.

But once in Kentucky I was in the kitchen cleaning and slicing some ramps (a very potent wild-growing onion relative, beloved of certain Appalachian folk). I didn’t notice much of an odor, but Mrs. J. called down from upstairs to find out what had died.  
This may be true for dogs as well. Last weekend I had occasion to rescue a garden snake that had gotten wedged in a flower pot, and it exuded some sort of stinky musk. My male spaniel seemed mildly interested in the odor, but the female Labrador was instantly repelled.