[Joel Sammallahti]

Why is the smell of sweat considered offensive? It's understandable that the odor of excrement should be instinctively alerting, because many infectious, parasitic and food-ruining animals and microbes live in it. But why sweat?

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Name : Joel Sammallahti, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 18, City : Helsinki, State : NA Country : Norway, Social class : Middle class, 

[c.t.]

... are all states associated with strong sweating. feverish illnesses, some of them fatal, also make people sweat. so do some forms of death, when the body over-exerts itself finally in a panicked and futile attempt to prevent a collapse of the organism. maybe that is why sweat is instincively just as alerting and revolting as other 'offensive' smells, indicating extreme physical states and maybe contagious diseases.

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Name : c.t., Sexual Orientation : Straight, Religion : Atheist, Age : 32, City : Munich, State : NA Country : Germany, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, 

[Stephanie-V]

I've often wondered the opposite- why do some people NOT consider sweat to be offensive? I met some European immigrants when I was in school who didn't wear deodorant, and the rest of us found the resulting smell disgusting. In Canada and probably the States, we think it's inconsiderate to have body odor since it's easily prevented. The general norm is that people bathe every day, use deodorant sticks, and keep their breath fresh as a matter of politeness. We think it's disrespectful and gross to foist your body odor on other people. We find that sweat is usually associated with people who have bad personal hygeine. What I wonder is, how do Europeans stand the smell? There's nothing worse than getting on a crowded elevator with someone who has smelly armpits or bad breath. Are you just so used to it that it doesn't bother you? Or do you not even notice?

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Name : Stephanie-V, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 23, City : Rather Not Say, State : NA Country : Canada, Occupation : Website Developer, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class, 

[S29534]

Nowadays most urban people, especially in Finland, have become used to a world without smell at all. We try to hide any smell or cover it with perfume. You may not be considering that this country has extremely high standards of cleanliness and hygiene (visit any south European country to notice this), and that the odor of sweat is perceived as telling others you don't wash yourself as often as you should, i.e. that you are dirty.

It has also something to do with the fact that few people nowadays have to do anything physical during the day, which means they don't sweat that much. It is rare to smell like sweat, and people are not used to something like that. That's why it's so irritating.

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Name : S29534, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, City : Helsinki, State : NA Country : Finland, 

[Jahny]

I wouldn't considered attractive either. I believe that many of the compounds found in urine are also found in persperation. So it's kinda like pissing through your skin

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Name : Jahny, City : Chestnut Ridge, State : NY Country : United States, 

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