Women and Smells

     Green spends quite a bit of time talking about Rabbinic tradition revolving around the perfuming and smells of women. To summarize what I understood of the readings, women perfuming themselves was popular, especially in the context of things like fumigating clothing and personal smells. However, the smells of women were of high debate, as there were various levels of respectability and rules regarding what smells could be used or how various individuals react to that smell. This also has to do with the role of the seductress in Rabbinic tradition, and something about that struck in me and I realized, after thinking of it, that typically attractive or seductive women are usually associated with smells.

            I think primarily of women from the golden age of Hollywood, shown lounging in photoshoots with a cigarette and smoke, giving the cameras lust-filled looks. The animated pink “perfume” that wafts off female characters and is immediately dramatically inhaled by the male characters, who are then drawn under her power. The woman getting ready at a vanity, slowly and purposely applying perfume behind her ears as she gazes at the viewer through the mirror with half-lidded eyes. Perfume advertisements contain attractive, sensual women, meant to showcase the alluring power of the perfume, the edge it gives you over other women in attracting men (an entirely heteronormal idea, but our society largely is). It seems that the idea of the sensual woman, bathed in rich smells, hasn’t died since the Rabbinic tradition explored in Green’s book was discussed and established, and very likely such an idea was not original to these men and was likely a projection from some other culture. After all, some of the artifacts of ancient civilizations we find the most are small bottles that are believed to have contained perfume. Who knows how long perfumes and seductive women have been connected?