Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences - This topic has 25 replies, 26 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 8 months ago by
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- Why does it seem that many black people smell so bad (to me) when they come out in the sun?
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Name : Laney-C, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Bisexual, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 23, City : San Diego, State : CA Country : United States, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Lower class,All black people smell nasty -- it's so blind people can hate them too!User Detail :
Name : Mr-Knowitall, City : Los Angeles, State : CA Country : United States,I had never noticed that B.O. from the sun exposure was race-specific. Personally, I can stink up a room after a day in the sun as well, and I'm about as white as wonderbread. Of course, being white as wonderbread, I come inside a bit sooner because I burn.Take a good, long snort of the next white person you see who's being active; no deodorant in the world is going to cover an afternoon of activity in the sun.
I don't think it's racial. I think you may just notice more becuase you are already noticing the person.
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Name : Onewanda, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Bisexual, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 27, City : NYC, State : NY Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I feel that what you say you smell has nothing to do with whether the people are black. I am sure you will find many other people from a variety of backgrounds with the same "smell." Perhaps you have not been exposed enough. Travel to a different town, city, state or even country, and perhaps your view of things such as the different smells people have due to chemical makeup may change. I believe human hormones called pheromones play a major part in human scent.The only major difference between blacks as opposed to whites is the amount of melanin in the skin. Despite that, some people of color have the same skin color as whites. Not even the white race is monotonous.
Please reevalute your claim that black people have a certain smell when out in the sun, and try and think about the train of thought you went through to come to the question. I urge you to reply to me if you have questions or feedback about my response.
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Name : Shannon C., Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Caribbean/West Indian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 19, City : Brooklyn, State : NY Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Lower class,I've heard that what a person eats can affect their natural body odor. I worked with a man who had fought in Vietnam, and he claimed that he found the Vietnamese people to have a very offensive (to him) body odor. He said that he asked one of his college professors about it when he got back to the United States and was told it was probably because the Vietnamese diet was mostly fish. His professor told him that Americans probably smelled equally offensive to the Vietnamese because our diets are so high in red meat.User Detail :
Name : Rachel30202, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Baptist, Age : 36, City : Lansing, State : MI Country : United States, Occupation : Manager, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,If you're coming out of the sun, chances are you are probably sweating. And sweat on anyone, whatever the race, doesn't necessarily smell good. I used to write sports for a newspaper and went into many a locker room. Trust me, a sweaty 330-pound white lineman does not smell good when he comes out of the sun.User Detail :
Name : Ken, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Catholic, Age : 32, City : Chicago, State : IL Country : United States, Occupation : marketing, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Everyone has a unique scent. I think we are so used to our own smell that anything else smells bad. What you could be smelling are our hair products, which can smell when the sun hits them. White people have a "funny" smell to us, too. My daughter came home from daycare with the wrong jacket one day. I could tell it belonged to the little white girl in the class just from the way it smelled. White people's hair smells like wet dogs when the rain hits it. I bet you never noticed it. Much like we don't recognize that our hair care products smell to others.User Detail :
Name : RG30161, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Age : 27, City : Richmond, State : VA Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College,Hair products are not supposed to smell bad. If they do, either the bottle is too old or you should switch products. I don't hang around a lot of wet dogs, so I really can't comment on that particular smell, but as far as I can tell, the way white people smell comes down to how they take care of themselves, just as it does with black people. Every human has that natural "body smell" that most of us don't find particularly pleasing because we are so used to covering it up. When some people don't choose to cover it up or don't have a chance to, they smell "bad," and that's all there is to it. There are no racial, gender-specific, socioeconmic or other demographic considerations. However, a rule of thumb: If a bunch of people around you seem to smell bad, it might be you.User Detail :
Name : Amanda31519, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Baptist, Age : 19, City : Boston, State : MA Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I've heard that what a person eats can affect their natural body odor. I worked with a man who had fought in Viet Nam, and he claimed that he found the Vietnamese people to have a very offensive (to him) body odor. He said he asked one of his college professors about it when he got back to the United States and was told it was probably because the Vietnamese diet was mostly fish. His professor told him that Americans probably smelled equally offensive to the Vietnamese because our diets are so high in red meat.User Detail :
Name : Rachel30203, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Baptist, Age : 36, City : Lansing, State : MI Country : United States, Occupation : Manager, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,When I was a kid in New Orleans, I once asked my mom why black people smelled like chicken-noodle soup. Mom was PC before PC was cool, and refused to talk to me about it. But I always wondered. I've never noticed this particular aroma in other cities I've lived in, so the diet theory makes sense to me. Maybe creole food makes one smell like chicken-noodle soup.User Detail :
Name : Christy, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 37, City : Fort Worth, State : TX Country : United States, Occupation : editor, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,It's a scientific fact that every race, including people of European descent, have a certain smell. I have a family relative who was in the Vietnam War, and he said they used dogs to 'sniff-out' the Vietnamese in the war. And they have done this in many wars.User Detail :
Name : WiccaIrish, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Gay, Race : American Indian, Religion : Wiccan, Age : 15, City : Lakeland, State : FL Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : Less than High School Diploma, Social class : Middle class,In the course of my job - emergency medical services - I have been in thousands of homes. Some people bathe daily, whereas some do not. Clean people of all races seem to smell the same. However, in my experience, there is a different odor to people of different races if they have not bathed in a few days. Odor is very subjective, and trying to describe it cannot be done, at least by me. I'd just say UNBATHED people of different races smell different.User Detail :
Name : Johnnyboy, Gender : M, City : Hamilton, State : OH Country : United States,You'll get less honesty from people on this subject than just about any other. I am not saying all people of a certain race have a distinctive odor, nor that such an odor is confined to a certain race. But here's what I've noticed from a 'lifetime of smelling': many black people have a strong, rich, almost pungent smell; many white people have either a sickly sweet smell or even kind of a fatty scent (some overweight white people smell like mustard!); a lot of elderly white people have almost a decayed-like smell. It's not diet. I refuse to believe that all people who smell a certain way have been eating the same foods. Politically incorrect as it may be to say, various races, ethnicities and possibly even age groups smell different. But who's going to be honest and say anything about it in public? Scientists wouldn't dare touch a subject like this.User Detail :
Name : Brigitte, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 30, City : Richland, State : SC Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,People from different cultures and races smell different because of what they eat. White people eat a lot of dairy products, as opposed to black people, who generally do not. This results in a different smell. If you stop drinking milk, your smell will change. This is why Indians smell of curry, and other races smell of things like garlic. Smell is not a race issue; it has to do with what you eat and drink.User Detail :
Name : Djedma, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Baha'i, Age : 19, City : Roseau, State : NA Country : Dominica, Occupation : Student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Upper class,I don't think we have a certain 'smell,' as you say, when we come outside. It may be the people who you were around didn't wear deodorant to keep them fresh the whole day.User Detail :
Name : Stacey, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Methodist, Age : 27, City : Birmingham, State : AL Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class,
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