# Poll: Can you smell when a woman is menstruating? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 12, 2008, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-can-you-smell-when-a-woman-is-menstruating/467570 "2008-10-12T07:46:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2015, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-can-you-smell-when-a-woman-is-menstruating/467570/41 "2015-11-29T02:21:49Z")
I could certainly tell from a certain odor in the bathroom when my wife was menstruating. But I expect that I was probably smelling the discarded rags. I cannot smell whether a random woman is otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2015, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-can-you-smell-when-a-woman-is-menstruating/467570/42 "2015-11-29T04:16:02Z")
Interesting post/username from the OP. ---
**Author:** ![scootergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@scootergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scootergirl)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2015, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-can-you-smell-when-a-woman-is-menstruating/467570/43 "2015-11-29T23:27:07Z")
Years ago when I lived in Corrales New Mexico, I worked closely with a woman who did not wear panties. Not ever. She usually wore long “hippie-style” skirts. Hell yes I could smell when she was menstruating. Enough that I had to say something to her about it one month. I could put up with her raging PMS, but not the odor. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2015, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-can-you-smell-when-a-woman-is-menstruating/467570/44 "2015-11-30T10:41:47Z")
Straight male, married for 24 years. Nope. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2015, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-can-you-smell-when-a-woman-is-menstruating/467570/45 "2015-11-30T15:36:20Z")
Apparently in some cultures women still have a fear of bathing during their periods. Yes, I can tell when they are menstruating. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2015, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-can-you-smell-when-a-woman-is-menstruating/467570/46 "2015-11-30T18:01:25Z")
This is a dumb question. Of course you can smell it. It’s like armpit odor. The question is “from what distance can you smell it?”, and that depends mostly on the cleanliness of the one being smelled. Usually, for most women most of the time, the answer is “not from any reasonable distance”. If you’re sticking your nose right into her crotch, it’s a different story. Once in the Army, we were on a field exercise and a woman in my squad started her period a few weeks early. She had no pads, no tampons, and I think she used shop rags or something temporarily until night time when we could sneak our humvee outside the wire without the commander knowing and drive back to the PX to buy her some. She smelled pretty rank after a few hours, but even then it was only when we were working in the trailer together. Outside, in the wind, even this heavily menstruating woman without modern hygiene products wasn’t offensive to the nose. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-can-you-smell-when-a-woman-is-menstruating/467570.md?page=2)