Keep your clean sweat to yourself and go take a shower.

[rheasilvia]

Dear writers,

what is this pleasing scent of clean sweat that I've been stumbling across in so many sex scenes? Perhaps I am simply not enough of a connoisseur of perspiration, but I can honestly say that I have never smelled anything that I would consider both a clean scent and a sweat scent. So far, every time I personally have smelled sweat, it has been because it was laced with the pungent waste products of bacteria. In fact, I believe that perspiration itself has no scent, and it is only ever when it is not clean that it smells like anything at all.

Perhaps some women find the odor of sweat sexy, in moderation? Or certain strains of sweat-scents...? Or perhaps the "clean sweat" trope is merely intended to show that the character in question is athletic and/or physically active, and is not intended to allude to any actual scent at all?

Whatever the reason for the sudden infestation of clean sweat in my reading material, I am not a fan. I have a very sensitive nose and a very active imagination, so when I read something like, say, "Chad's athletic physique was redolent of soap, clean sweat and cologne, and Dirk sucked down deep draughts of air laden with the overpowering odor"...

Ugh. Instant mood killer. Go take a shower, Chad, you sweaty brat! Then we'll talk.

Comments

[onyxlynx]

Ah! Now here I must disagree. Just a little.

(I had forgotten that years ago ['86 or '87] I was unaccountably turned on by someone redolent of Scotch, smoke [I think pipe smoke; I'm no longer sure], and sweat; the combination at that moment was seriously arousing, and only my shyness saved that person. I would not have called that "clean sweat," though. Au contraire. Now you know.)

Some people just emerging from a hot shower have working sweat glands and little bacteria and so have interesting under-the-radar pheromones going on. Mind you, half an hour later it can get funky.

Absent the shower-or-bath, though, I do agree with you. Moderate sweatiness, athleticism, personal aromas... Either that, or they think they have to.

[rheasilvia]

I see! So in some situations and some olfactory combinations, it seems some women do indeed like the smell of sweat. :-)

Generally, the fictional situations in which clean sweat occurs are not directly after Chad has taken a shower. Mostly he's been hanging with Dirk playing video games, or they're at a party, or they've been shooting hoops or enjoying some other lightly athletic activity.

I suspect the clean sweat is an unfortunate and not particularly well thought-out descriptive shortcut for "hunky manly man who doesn't stink".

Either that, or they think they have to.

That is an unfortunate situation that can indeed sometimes occur, but then I would expect Dirk to be less enthused about the scent and more resigned. ;-)

[extempore]

Das fällt möglicherweise in die selbe Kategorie, wie kommentarloses bzw. begeistertes und völlig selbstverständliches Rimming bei einem unvorbereiteten (sprich: ungewaschenem) Partner. Noch dazu durchgeführt von einem 16jährigen, jungfräulichen Teenager (ja, Teenwolf Fandom, ich schaue *dich* an...). -_-

[rheasilvia]

Yikes. Das habe ich zum Glück noch nicht lesen müssen. Ich hoffe aber, das zumindest der zu vermutende Geschmack unerwähnt bleibt und nicht blumig umschrieben wird...