Just Because I Smell Good, Doesn't Mean You Can Eat Me
Green speaks on the scent of women throughout the Proverbs and the Songs, two scriptures that place an emphasis on the beautiful and erotic scents of women. Women's scents are characterized pleasantly; they are gardens, they are alluring, they are full of spice. Green equates the simultaneously sexual and sensual effect of women on men with the effect of the smell of food on hunger. This becomes a microcosm of how women and smell are connected in everyday life. Women are expected to smell pure- their perfumes and deodorants are advertised as "beautiful", descriptions of white linens and erotica are utilized, they are desirable. Men however, are "supposed to smell of sweat, whisky and tobacco"- when they are being marketed to, masculinizing terminology is employed resulting in the socialization of gender. The power roles and dynamics we have embedded into our lives are emphasized further through this- women are meant to serve men no matter how pleasant or powerf...