In “More of the Straight Dope” page 364, some guy (well, I assume it was a guy)
asks about different vaginal odors or tastes and Cecil dismissed the question
like he was a nut. Well, I do have scientific curiosity about these things.
The question is more than 12 years old and still unanswered.
Until some time ago all my girlfriends had the same characteristic (how else
can I describe it?) smell but recently I have had a succession of Asian
girlfriends and discovered they have no smell. This has aroused my curiosity.
All the girls in the first group were of European descent and had the same
characteristic smell while all the girls in the second group were Asian and had
no smell. Luckily I have not come across any of the third type mentioned with
foul smell, I assume this may be a temporary condition caused by infection.
I have no experience with women of other races.
From my limited sampling it would seem vaginal odor is hereditary and probably
caused by a single element which may be present or not. I am now curious to
know if all European women share the same odor and all Asian women do not
have it and what is the cause.
From my limited experience I have to say that my experiences have been different from yours.
I’ve cum across “foul”, “sushi-like” and “odorless” smells in vaginas of the same persuasions.
I would imagine that it has more to do with yeast infections, bacteria, personal hygiene, rather than race. What do you mean by “Caucasian” anyway? Sicilian, Finnish, Slavic, Armenian, Spanish are all loosely termed Caucasian yet their lineage would be widely different. Same with “Asian” which would encompass Ainu, Philipino, Korean, Cambodian, all of which can be found here.
I’m going to go with the Major and add that diet also has a lot to do with it. It could be that the Asian girls you knew had a much different diet, and that could have affected the way they tasted.
Likewise. Although all my partners fall into the “loosely Causcasian” category (pun unintentional) they all had widely differing odor/taste. One of them was odorless/tasteless, while one was faintly cinnamony, and the rest ranged in between.
Never noticed a dietary link. The ladies were all different despite similar diets in some cases, and seemingly drastic dietary changes in one girl wouldn’t necessarily cause any change.
Sure, I’m all for moderation – as long as it’s not excessive.
Lest we forget, a quiescent vagina smells differently (none or slight) than a fully aroused one (the best smell on the planet). The question is whether this is just juices that are already there being stirred up, or freshly produced juices?
>> What do you mean by “Caucasian” anyway?
I do not recall using that word. I have had experiences with women who descend from very different parts of Europe so the sample is diverse enough in that sense, and they all had the same common, characteristic smell, not dependent on diet or other factors.
The asian girls were also from very different parts of Asia and had no smell/taste. This is my experience (which seems to be different from yours).
I just wonder if there is some some scientific study that would clarify the agent causing the smell and if it hereditary as I suspect.
To sailor: Sorry, I hit the reply button already and thought you said Caucasian. Anyway, I’m married now. The only thing I can do to further this investigation is to ask my wife to go eat Chinese food, Dennys, Italian food, and curry for a week, go down on her and see if she tastes any different each week. I’ll be back in 4 weeks to post the results.
The questioner in question was dismissed by Cecil as a nutcase because of his insistence the odor comes in only three varieties. Any connoisseur knows the bouquet has as many subtleties and variations as a fine wine.
In any case, Cecil has not dismissed this subject entirely, to wit:
Well this too, was asked before. Frankly I don’t think the biology of a woman’s private parts has changed since then.
In short, men & women have the same bacteria down there & the environment down there controls the smell & taste of these regions.
Well, Im not about to go around smelling foreign women down there just to see if there is any regionalism. Ill just say american women all have their own smell, some have no smell. ah, what does it all matter anyway?
Yes, handy you did mention that before. Unfortunately you’re still flat-out wrong about the bacteria.
The vaginal flora is much different than the flora on the penis. The internal environment of the vagina is completely different from the external surface of the penis. If they were at all similar, I’d never leave my apartment.
That, and the flora of Any Given Vagina changes based on pH, hormone levels and the age of the woman. The flora changes drastically between birth, prepubescence, adulthood and menopause.
The bacterial flora on your johnson is much different.
Gypsy: Tom, I don’t get you. Tom Servo: Nobody does. I’m the wind, baby.
Hey man im no expert but I have 1 rule. I never go down on a woman within the first 6 months. You just never know who you’ll be tasting.
From my experiences I have had black, native american, white, mexican, italian, and german girlfriends.
The girlfriends I have had, did not have any particular smells or odors due to the color or ethnicity, except black women. They (the juices) always seemed to have a stinging effect on my tongue and the juices almost always make my stomach tighten up.
Hey man im no expert but I have 1 rule. I never go down on a woman within the first 6 months. You just never know who you’ll be tasting.
From my experiences I have had black, native american, white, mexican, italian, and german girlfriends.
The girlfriends I have had, did not have any particular smells or odors due to the color or ethnicity, except black women. They (the juices) always seemed to have a stinging effect on my tongue and the juices almost always make my stomach tighten up.
Apparently, when Napoleon was coming home from battle, he’d send a letter ahead to Josephine reading “will be home in one week, don’t wash”. Now we know why he said “not tonight…”
It means he’s amazed at what a putz I am at not getting his never leaving his apartment statement. (I kinda like this-I wanna play a game now,“Just what exactly did Alphagene mean by saying _____??”)
How 'bout we sing ‘Kyle’s mom is a stupid bitch’ in D minor?
flora? Interesting word there:
flo•ra "flor-e, "flor-\ noun pl floras also flo•rae "flor-'e, "flor-, -'i\ [NL, fr. L Flora, Roman goddess of flowers, fr. L flor-, flos] (1777)
1 : a treatise on or list of the plants of an area or period
2 : plant or bacterial life; esp : such life characteristic of a region, period, or special environment <fossil flora> <intestinal flora>
Just what we need a bunch of plants to eat.
