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Comment by sametmax | Hacker News Reader

It's also definitely a matter of culture.

I've lived in Europe and Africa, traveled quite a lot in Asia and America, and what people consider offensive is very contextual, including odors.

I noticed there is some link between how the society handle sexuality and the way we perceive odors. In south America and Africa, quite a lot of countries have a very natural approach to sex, and the body in general, and hence the odor of a healthy non-hobbo human is not perceived as such a problem, even after a day of work under the sun.

In the US, despite having a culture very sex oriented, the population itself is not at all liberated. You are a very sexually frustrated society. And body odor is a problem.

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> In south America and Africa, quite a lot of countries have a very natural approach to sex, and the body in general, and hence the odor of a healthy non-hobbo human is not perceived as such a problem, even after a day of work under the sun.

I’ve heard the opposite, that South Americans often complain about smelly European tourists who don’t shower frequently enough.

I’m also not sure I’d choose to use Africa as an example of healthy sexuality, what with the aids epidemic and FGM.

Yes, while I think the link between cultural sexuality and BO acceptance is tenuous and probably unmeasurable, the greater point that the level at which BO becomes unacceptable is culturally subjective is well worth making.

Also, I can't believe that I am actually participating in a conversation about this. Definitely wasn't on my list of things to get done today. Funny the directions in which life takes us.

> I’ve heard the opposite, that South Americans often complain about smelly European tourists who don’t shower frequently enough.

That's completely different. Odors from different ethnies can be easily disturbing. We don't smell the same and we are not used to it.

> I’m also not sure I’d choose to use Africa as an example of healthy sexuality, what with the aids epidemic and FGM.

Actually they have aids epidemic BECAUSE sex is so natural there. There is nothing natural with stopping a sensual escalation and putting a rubber on your penis. Education helped us to do this, and saved us from dying in mass and having unwanted pregnancy, but it has a serious price on the way we handle sex.

I don't know that I would say contraceptives are the source of unhealthy attitudes towards sex in the US. Prudishness stemming from Western religious influences and the like seems more responsible.

You sure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_violence_in_South_Afric... doesn't have anything to do with it?

People from different cultures smell different due to genetic, hygeine, and diet differences. Those differences smell "bad", because people acclimated and lose sensitivity to familiar smells.

This is the exact opposite of my experience. Brazil and Argentina were eye opening for how lax we are in Europe with B.O. . Most people I met showered a hundred times a day , and always managed to smell fresh, in spite of the luck of their climatic draw. I credit that period with my olfactory awakening.

"awakening" == "creating an unnatural neurosis" ?

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