Vicks Vapor Rub, Tik Tok Pheromone Perfume, and the Lovely, Lovely, Invention of Spearmint Gum

 

  

    As soon as I read the word Vicks Vapor Rub in Diane Ackerman’s, A Natural History of the Senses, I knew exactly what she meant when she spoke about the difficulty of putting smells into words and just how powerful the sense of smell is. It is truly amazing just how easy it can be turned into a memory. I found it heartwarming how Ackerman had familial memories of Vick’s vapor rub when she was sick, and I think of all the stories of my mother's mother and father's mother using Vick’s on them when they were sick, which they continued to do for me and my brothers. And every time I use it now, I am brought back to warm memories of tissues and m favorite Disney movie playing while my mom or dad sat by me. This was one of the first examples of how I understood how the sense of smell is a religious experience and can be seen as a ritual, as it not only creates memories but can bring great emotion.  

Ackerman spent an enjoyable section of her chapter speaking on perfumes and pheromones and the science of attraction, particularly the sexual arousal of men in relation to the ocean, which I found quite amusing. Furthermore, it seems that social media, particularly Tik Tok, has the discourse of the sense of smell and pheromones just as Ackerman did. Just this summer, I found myself thrown into the whirl of Tik Tok creators advertising their phermones perfumes and how powerful they were to everyone around you. Before I knew it, I had a small tester bottle of unisex pheromone oil in my hand, with an orange zest scent as well as sandalwood flavor. Although I am not sure how well this worked, I wish I had read Ackerman’s chapter first, as I found it so incredibly interesting in humans' relationships to smell and phermones. Furthermore, I also learned how gender and sexuality are tied to smell, as scents are coded as masculine or feminine as well as how even the erotic throughout centuries have been described and communicated through scents. 

Lastly, one of my favorite parts of Ackerman’s chapter was her piece on breath within different cultures and time periods. As an anthropology major, I found this incredibly interesting and also enlightening as it reiterates how differences in cultures don’t necessarily mean that they are good or bad- just different. This also leads to the point that our senses are unique and special and that no one is right or wrong, as smells are so unique and powerful to each individual, and it is an experience within itself. Because of this, it is easy to see how smell is so integral to both religions and spirituality, as it creates and reiterates such passionate and illustrative experiences.