Gender Dysphoria: Brain Reaction To Male Odor Shifts At Puberty

Men with gender dysphoria, commonly called gender identity disorder, are born as males but behave as and identify with women and want to change sex. Around puberty, the testes of men start to produce androstadienone, a musky-smelling steroid produced by men as a breakdown product of testosterone. Men release it in their sweat, especially from the armpits. Its only known function is to work like a pheromone; when women smell androstadienone, their mood tends to improve, their blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing go up, and they may become aroused.   read more

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