# Does semen really have a smell? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 19, 2007, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-semen-really-have-a-smell/430634 "2007-12-19T23:10:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SanibelMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-semen-really-have-a-smell/430634/21 "2007-12-20T18:23:21Z")
[QUOTE=diggleblop] Came in here to say that my ejaculate smells of chlorine or bleach after it’s been in my uh…“used sock” for a few hours. [/QUOTE] That’s a hell of a thing to call your wife. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-semen-really-have-a-smell/430634/22 "2007-12-20T19:07:43Z")
Well, either J.G. Ballard smoked odorless hashish, or Vaughan has some insanely powerful-smelling semen. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-semen-really-have-a-smell/430634/23 "2007-12-20T19:31:11Z")
I worked with a guy who used to claim that his bedroom smelled like a goldarn bleach factory. He was bragging about the amount of tail he’d been getting lately. Yes, it does have a somewhat bleachy smell to it. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-semen-really-have-a-smell/430634/24 "2007-12-20T19:47:45Z")
[QUOTE=diggleblop] …my uh…“used sock” for a few hours. [/QUOTE] Or, as Scott Thompson calls it, his “dreamcatcher.” ---
**Author:** ![King\_Friday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@King\_Friday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_Friday)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-semen-really-have-a-smell/430634/25 "2007-12-20T21:58:55Z")
I think it smells like chlorine. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-semen-really-have-a-smell/430634/26 "2007-12-21T02:00:49Z")
Technically, doesn’t everything have a smell, but the question is whether the odor is perceptable or not? And, I’d say semen smells sweet and perhaps bleachy as has been said. ---
**Author:** ![Charger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df788c/32.png) [@Charger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charger)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-semen-really-have-a-smell/430634/27 "2007-12-21T03:28:40Z")
Semen has been around a lot longer than Clorox. So it is the Clorox that smells like semen, not the semen that smells like Clorox. Interestingly, with time, semen and Clorox have opposite effects on socks. ---
**Author:** ![tonedef](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@tonedef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tonedef)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-semen-really-have-a-smell/430634/28 "2007-12-21T03:58:38Z")
I’ve never smelt my semen. So i didn’t think it had one. I remember someone I know used to live on student housing for awhile and he was telling us one day when when he lived there everytime he had sex or rubbed one out he would just do it on the same general area of the floor. He wasn’t a very hygenic person and he said he didn’t give a shit because it wasn’t his room! Now I think back to when I had been there to visit him with some friends and i don’t recall anyone being able to smell semen. So the smell cant be very potent. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-semen-really-have-a-smell/430634/29 "2007-12-21T10:25:28Z")
Another vote for bleach. It’s not exact, but there’s a definite bleachy smell. Since this is chlorine bleach we’re talking about, I presume that everybody here saying “It smells like bleach” and “It smells like chlorine” are describing more or less the same smell, right? ---
**Author:** ![from\_a\_to\_z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5fc32e/32.png) [@from\_a\_to\_z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/from_a_to_z)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-semen-really-have-a-smell/430634/30 "2007-12-21T22:35:05Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] …Does semen indeed have a smell?.. [/QUOTE] One’s cyclic memories return: [I want to get my nipples pierced. Are there health risks? Plus: Sperm trees of Los Angeles](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_363.html) ---
**Author:** ![essell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/34f0e0/32.png) [@essell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/essell)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2007, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-semen-really-have-a-smell/430634/31 "2007-12-22T16:20:04Z")
Always reminds me of [Digestive Biscuits](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digestive_biscuits). After reading this thread I gotta wonder if there’s something wrong with me! ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2007, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-semen-really-have-a-smell/430634/32 "2007-12-22T16:41:34Z")
There’s a thread somewhere about masculine smelling shampoo. A link may be a kindness. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2007, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-semen-really-have-a-smell/430634/33 "2007-12-22T18:42:21Z")
I seem to be the odd one out here: Ever since I very first introduced Rosie Palm (or maybe it was Rosco–I’m not sure) to her BFF, I’ve thought it to have a distinctly sweet smell. Sort of like sweet corn, actually, but a bit sweeter than that. Not once have I ever detected anything even vaguely Clorox-like about it. I’m kinda glad–I’d find it rather hard to eroticize the scent of Clorox. ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2007, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-semen-really-have-a-smell/430634/34 "2007-12-22T21:17:02Z")
[QUOTE=LawMonkey] I seem to be the odd one out here: Ever since I very first introduced Rosie Palm (or maybe it was Rosco–I’m not sure) to her BFF, I’ve thought it to have a distinctly sweet smell. Sort of like sweet corn, actually, but a bit sweeter than that. Not once have I ever detected anything even vaguely Clorox-like about it. I’m kinda glad–I’d find it rather hard to eroticize the scent of Clorox. [/QUOTE] Yet the smell of erotic sweet corn is ok? Here ya go, then. [http://www.amazon.com/Outrageous-Passion-Produce-12000-Vibrator/dp/B000EBONU8](http://www.amazon.com/Outrageous-Passion-Produce-12000-Vibrator/dp/B000EBONU8) ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-semen-really-have-a-smell/430634/35 "2007-12-23T00:56:29Z")
Next question: If you eat a lot of Flintstones Vitamins grape flavor, can you flavor it? ---
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-semen-really-have-a-smell/430634/36 "2007-12-23T03:27:45Z")
I’ve never picked up on any chlorine smell. To me is smells a lot like copper pennies. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-semen-really-have-a-smell/430634/37 "2007-12-23T04:21:53Z")
It smells like victory. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-semen-really-have-a-smell/430634/38 "2007-12-23T05:50:09Z")
I am surprised by the number of bleach references. Never noticed that myself. Doesn’t sound particularly healthy. My own contribution: back in the day, during frat rush, I was shown a room that had a definite “Play-Doh” smell to it, and I immediately thought of ejaculate. Must be a lot of variability out there. Anybody volunteering to receive samples and perform a statistical analysis? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-semen-really-have-a-smell/430634/39 "2007-12-23T05:58:59Z")
Wasn’t it _Naked Lunch_ (the book) where they mentioned a room smelling like ‘rancid jissom’? ---
**Author:** ![KP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a9adbd/32.png) [@KP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KP)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-semen-really-have-a-smell/430634/40 "2007-12-23T05:59:12Z")
Might I suggest eating more pineapple – daily, even? Mine has rarely smelled of rarely to begin with (but the aroma is very noticeable and surprises me on those rare occasions) but I’ve noticed that diet has a definite effect, and it behooves a gentleman to attend to the niceties, doesn’t it? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-semen-really-have-a-smell/430634.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-semen-really-have-a-smell/430634.md?page=3)