“Negrids have strong and disagreeable odours, irrespective of the amount of axillary washing.” (Stoddart, 1990).
“When white men and black men bathe together in the ocean, the black men, who smell more strongly than the white, are more susceptible to the ferocity of sharks.” (Lacepede, in Budker, 1971).
“Australids have an odor of ‘phosphoric character’; central African women a slight ‘gout de noisette’” (Ellis, in Stoddart, 1990).
“[The specific odor] of the Caribs is reminiscent of kennels.” (Virey, in Stoddart, 1990).
Regardless of the possible validity of such claims, the concept that specific odors characterize different races was probably propagated as a means of setting certain races and cultures apart from others. Notice that each of these comments seems to be a derogatory assessment of the body odors emanated by members of other groups. This suggests that the idea of culturally specific odors may be a product of racially separatist ideals. While Classen et al. (1994) state that there is no validity to claims that different races differ in their characteristic body odors, a physiology textbook last revised in 1968 claims, “In humans, there are characteristic racial smells” (Davson and Eggleton, 1968). The paragraphs that follow describe possible mechanisms by which human social groups may develop characteristically different body odors.
Each individual is thought to have a genetically determined odortype, or personal odor, which is determined by genes located in the major histocompatability complex (Stoddart, 1990; Wysocki, pers. comm.) This genetically determined odortype may be affected by certain factors. Several such factors include an individual’s diet, sweat gland distribution and activity, and application of scented products to the body.
For example, the types of food which are consumed by an individual may affect that person’s body odor (Wysocki, pers. comm.) Typical food items consumed may vary among cultures. Food consumption may contribute to a characteristic odor exuded by members of cultures or social groups in which all members share a common diet. For instance, the body odors of groups whose diet consists of very spicy foods may be recognizably different from the odors of a social group whose diet consists of bland foods. However, there can be immense variation in the types of food consumed both within a culture and within a region. For evidence of this, one only has to look as far as central South Carolina alone, which both vegans and hard-core “meat-and-potatoes” advocates call home. Clearly, it is unlikely that these individuals, though they may be members of a common culture, have similar body odors based on diet.
However, among cultures or social groups which are wedded to a generally unchanging diet staple that differs from that of other groups, such a claim may be valid. For example, Corbin (1986) writes that in nineteenth century France, “Regional populations exhaled specific odors . . . as a result of the kind of food they ate.” Howes et al. (1995a,b) also write of Amazonian rain forest tribes:
The Deseana, who are hunters, are said to exude the musky smell of the game which they eat. Their neighbors, the Tapuya, on the other hand, live by fishing and are thought to smell of fish. The nearby Tukano are agriculturalists and they, in turn, are said to smell of the roots, tubers and vegetables which they grow in their fields.
Such characteristic odors, however, may also be the result of the food preparations undertaken by members of each tribe. Fishermen, for example, are likely to smell of the fish they catch and handle; likewise, hunters may aquire the smell of the game they hunt as a result of preparing the animal after a kill.
Another potential factor affecting human body odor is the scent-producing glands found in the skin. Variation among cultures and geographic regions in the number, arrangement, and activity of scent-producing sweat glands has been suggested (Stoddart, 1990; Davson and Eggleton, 1968).
Like most mammals, humans have two types of sweat glands. One type is the eccrine, or sudoriferous, glands, which serve a cooling function. The sweat secretions which pass through the lumen of eccrine glands are never accompanied by cell secretions. Thus, scent-producing substances which are byproducts of cell metabolism are not secreted by these glands (Stoddart, 1990; Davson and Eggleton, 1968). The second type of sweat gland found in humans, called apocrine glands, are responsible for the production of body odor. Portions of secretory cells found near these glands enter the gland’s lumen along with the sweat secretions. These cells secrete a substance which contains fats and proteins. When apocrine sweat, combined with cell secretions, reaches the skin’s surface, the normal flora of the skin act on the sweat to produce body odor (Davson and Eggleton, 1968).
While eccrine glands are distributed more or less uniformly across the skin, the densest collections of apocrine glands in the human body occur in the axillary organs (armpits). Clusters of apocrine glands are also found in the suprapubic region, circumanal region, perineum, face, scalp, and umbilical region of the abdomen.
It has been suggested that distribution and abundance of apocrine glands within the axilla of different races produces a characteristic racial body odor (Stoddart, 1990; Davson and Eggleton, 1968). One study generalized that among Africans and Europeans, axillary organs are quite large and well-developed, with highly active apocrine glands. Mongolians, conversely, have weakly developed axilla. This study estimated that one-half of the Korean population has no apocrine glands in its axillary organs, and of the half that does, the glands are quite sparse. This study also estimates that ten percent of Japanese and only two to three percent of Chinese have an axillary odor (Stoddart, 1990).
In his treatment of this subject, however, Stoddart (1990) points out that most of the data supporting this claim appears to have been collected before 1930. Perhaps lack of attention to this topic in recent years is an indication that the search for physical characteristics which set races of people apart is no longer as important as it has been in the past.
Furthermore, individual odor is affected by the types of scented products an individual applies to his or her body. Use of scented products may also vary among cultures; members of cultures which use scented products liberally are likely to smell differently than members of cultures who rarely apply such products to their bodies.
Clearly, personal body odor is affected by any of several factors. The types of food consumed, use of scented products, and even the distribution and abundance of scent-producing glands in the skin may vary from culture to culture. The interplay of these factors may result in a body odor which is specific to a culture or geographic region. However, the variation of each of these factors within a culture or geographic region can be tremendous. Likewise, descriptions of body odors remain somewhat subjective. As a result, systematic study of such a phenomenon is difficult to attain.
Corbin, A. 1986. The Foul and the Fragrant: Odor and the French Social Imagination. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Classen, C., D. Howes, and A. Synnott. 1994. Aroma: The Cultural History of Smell. New York: Routledge Press.
Howes, D., A Synnott & C. Classen (1995a) Essence: the history, sociology and anthropology of odour. In Compendium of Olfactory Research 1982-1994. (ed. A. N. Gilbert) pp. 107-110. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co., Dubuque IA. ISBN 0-7872-1417-5.
Howes, D., A Synnott & C. Classen (1995b) The anthropology of odour. In Compendium of Olfactory Research 1982-1994. (ed. A. N. Gilbert) pp. 111-118. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co., Dubuque IA. ISBN 0-7872-1417-5.
Davson, H. and M. G. Eggleton. 1968. Principles of Human Physiology. Philadelphia: Lea and Febiger.
Stoddart, D. M. 1990. The Scented Ape: The Biology and Culture of Human Odor. New York: Cambridge University Press.