I Can't Smell Away!

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          After reading Carolyn Korsmeyer’s Savoring Disgust, I had a different understanding of why people are attracted to things that they should find repulsive. In her book, Carolyn talks about the “paradoxical magnetism” of disgusting objects. This is the idea that an aversion to something can inspire a person to linger on the thought of it longer or be unable to look away from it. Korsmeyer analyzes this phenomena in great detail in her book, however the element of her take on disgust which I find most interesting has to do with odor. In the world of perfumes and cologne, it is widely known that some of the grossest smells are the most attractive. Korsmeyer seeks an understanding of why humans have this behavior, and claims that the original reason we developed the disgust response to odors is connected to our evolutionary inclination to avoid non-edible foods. Many of the traits of disgust within food are actually signs of expiration and decay, so the scents we associate with those things have come to evoke disgust. But this doesn’t account for other smells we come to find disgusting for which there is no evolutionary explanation.

          An article on nationalgeographic.com introduced me to the corpse flower; An exotic plant whose pollination is performed by dung beetles, flesh flies, and other carnivorous insects, and whose smell is world renowned for it poignant grossness. It only blooms for up to a day each decade, and during this blooming it releases an odor that smells something like a “heady mix of rotten fish, sewage, and dead bodies”. Apparently, when one of these flowers blooms, people with gather from all walks of life to experience the smell of this disgusting flower. Here again, we see examples of humans seeking out extremes of disgust. The author of this article draws a different conclusion than Korsmeyer about why people have this strange behavior. She believes that the root of the phenomena is “benign masochism” as in the thrill of seeking of danger and self harm, within what is actually a completely safe environment. She makes comparisons between the voluntary smelling of this disgusting flower and the voluntary participation of amusement park goers in rollercoasters. This concept is very interesting to me, and I continue to examine the aspects of my own life in which I may not choose the most ‘pleasant’ option, out of attraction to something repulsive.

Article:

Corpse Flower:

Photo Credit:
https://manoa.hawaii.edu/lyonarboretum/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Lyon-Corpse-Flower-Open-6.18.17.jpg, https://www.google.com/

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