Hey what's up hello! The internet tells us that our breath can tell us about sexual arousal. We know everything we read on the internet is true, so this week your local aspec podcasters discuss.
Episode Transcript: www.soundsfakepod.com/transcripts/breath-and-sexual-arousal
Donate: patreon.com/soundsfakepod
Follow: @soundsfakepod
Join: https://discord.gg/W7VBHMt
Buy our book: www.soundsfakepod.com/book
Hey what's up hello! The internet tells us that our breath can tell us about sexual arousal. We know everything we read on the internet is true, so this week your local aspec podcasters discuss.
Episode Transcript: www.soundsfakepod.com/transcripts/breath-and-sexual-arousal
Donate: patreon.com/soundsfakepod
Follow: @soundsfakepod
Join: https://discord.gg/W7VBHMt
Buy our book: www.soundsfakepod.com/book
SARAH: Hey, what’s up, hello! Welcome to Sounds Fake but Okay a podcast where an aroace girl, I’m Sarah that’s me
KAYLA: And a bi demisexual girl, that’s me Kayla
SARAH: talk about all things to do with love, relationships, sexuality, and pretty much anything else we just don’t understand.
KAYLA: On today’s episode: Breath.
KAYLA AND SARAH: Sounds fake, but okay.
(intro music plays)
SARAH: Welcome back to the pod!
KAYLA: Is anyone in the market for one to two cats?
SARAH: I’m sure some of our listeners are.
KAYLA: I don’t want mine right now.
SARAH: My roommate’s back so Bogey’s annoying me less.
KAYLA: That’s nice.
SARAH: He splits the annoyance.
KAYLA: He seems like he’s been really in a mood lately.
SARAH: That’s just because I was alone with him for like four or five days, which meant I got 100% of his annoyances, you know?
KAYLA: It must be nice that it’s split between you two rather than my cats who do have an entire father at almost all times
SARAH: Mhm.
KAYLA: and just choose – I guess it’s not worth it to bother him.
SARAH: Yeah. It’s especially bad in the morning annoyances.
KAYLA: Oh, that’s the worst.
SARAH: Because Bogey will be like “it’s 5 AM and I want to be awake” but he sometimes will try and do that to me when my roommate’s home, but usually when she’s home he will only bother her but then he’ll bother me if I’m the only one home. You know what he did the other day?
KAYLA: I don’t.
SARAH: I shockingly fell asleep with all of my lights on.
KAYLA: Oh, I’ve never been so shocked.
SARAH: And I was awoken by Bogey and I was like “oh what time is it? It’s probably like 5 AM or something if he’s waking me up for breakfast.” Would you like to know what time it was?
KAYLA: 3:30?
SARAH: (laughing) 11 PM. I had been asleep for like 20 minutes.
KAYLA: Well he was just trying to help you go to bed like a real person.
SARAH: It didn’t even work.
KAYLA: Damn.
SARAH: Hey Kayla, what are we talking about this week?
KAYLA: This week we’re here to present you the news. And that is the news of the –
SARAH: Concept of breathing?
KAYLA: Yeah, speaking of yawning, that is the news of that some people breathe and sometimes in that breathe is a chemical.
SARAH: Okay.
KAYLA: Thoughts? Discuss.
SARAH: I think I need more information.
KAYLA: Okay, so I think Sarah found this article in the Telegraph.
SARAH: I think somebody put it in the discord.
KAYLA: Oh. Never mind. And it’s called How Your Breath –
SARAH: (laughing) I could be wrong. I don’t know.
KAYLA: And you know what? Neither of us are going to check, are we?
SARAH: No, we’re not.
KAYLA: The article is called How Your Breath could Reveal your sexual attraction. New study reveals that the chemical makeup changes when in a state of sexual arousal.
SARAH: It’s in the telegraph. The telegraph.co.uk and it’s by Joe Pinkstone. I don’t think that’s a real name.
KAYLA: Yeah, it’s kind of a lot.
SARAH: Here’s the thing though –
KAYLA: What else has Joe been writing?
SARAH: A lot of British names don’t sound like real names, to be clear.
KAYLA: Wow interesting kind of – why? How?
SARAH: How the great white shark drove the mighty megalodon to extinction.
KAYLA: Yeah I’m certainly going to ignore most of these headlines they’re depressing and this person is a science correspondent, and not a lot of good stuff is happening in science right now.
SARAH: But he also said Ed Sheeran will sing tribute to Prince Philip and the Queen for Platinum Jubilee.
KAYLA: Well, diversity.
SARAH: Anyway, yeah. So Kayla has already read the article. I have not.
KAYLA: Oh really?
SARAH: No, did you think I had read it?
KAYLA: Well I’m glad I read it because – well, I almost didn’t read it because I assumed you had.
SARAH: No, I didn’t read it.
KAYLA: Do you want me to just read it to you and you can react?
SARAH: It’s my dream.
KAYLA: Okay.
SARAH: Everyone prepare yourselves emotionally.
KAYLA: Are you ready?
SARAH: Mm. Yeah.
KAYLA: Lust, much like love, may very well be in the air according to scientists. A unique experiment involving 2 dozen volunteers found that the chemical makeup of breath changes when in a state of sexual arousal. It is the first time that experts have been able to prove that unadulterated desire produces –
SARAH: (laughing) That makes me giggle.
(05:00)
KAYLA: Yeah I don’t love that. Produces tangible telltale signs of arousal on a person’s breath. It may also be possible that others can pick up on the chemical imbalance and that it could play a role in dating, kissing, and other impassioned interpersonal dynamics.
SARAH: I love the… you know, don’t worry about it.
KAYLA: Yeah I’m actually going to use this episode as an audition and a reason that our book should be in audiobook form.
SARAH: Oh.
KAYLA: So I’m trying to do my best here.
SARAH: Oh. No see, when you said reason, I was like “my 13th reason”
(laughter)
KAYLA: Well, to each their own Sarah. I bet some people love this and are falling asleep to it peacefully.
SARAH: And I bet some people are going to be mad about that joke, but you know, here we are.
KAYLA: You know, sometimes we’re not perfect and that’s how it goes. Continuing on.
SARAH: (laughing) Impassioned interpersonal dynamics.
KAYLA: Yes. Research by the University of Porto and the Max Planck (pronounced like plant)
SARAH: Planck.
KAYLA: Max Planck (like plant)
SARAH: Planck! I have always heard that pronounced plank.
KAYLA: I have never seen that word before in my life.
SARAH: Well, then one of us is clearly more experienced on the topic than the other.
KAYLA: Well, one of us is the one reading, so the Max Planck Institute of Chemistry recruited 24 volunteers –
SARAH: Are you going to intentionally mispronounce names in our book for the audiobook that you’re auditioning for?
KAYLA: Sarah?
SARAH: Yeah?
KAYLA: Who’s reading this article?
SARAH: I think Joe Pinkerton? Pinkstone.
(laughter)
KAYLA: God yeah there’s no way that’s a real name. Anyway, 24 volunteers. Twenty-four does not a very representative study make
SARAH: Okay.
KAYLA: That’s all I’ll say.
SARAH: You tell us.
KAYLA: I will. You know I have a degree in … not even in science because some of us took two social science majors and got a Bachelor of Arts in both of them, so…
SARAH: Hell yeah.
KAYLA: Anyway, I did take about 1200 research classes.
SARAH: That’s a lot of credits, man.
KAYLA: Yeah. They were hooked up to a mask which records the chemicals in the breath at parts per trillion level. That’s a lot. And participants were monitored –
SARAH: Actually that’s a little.
KAYLA: Okay. specifically to identify signs of piqued sexual interest.
SARAH: They used the correct piqued, good job
KAYLA: The researchers then played 3 10-minute long videos to the willing volunteers.
SARAH: (laughing) I like how they keep emphasizing this. Voluntary. Willing.
KAYLA: I’m glad they’re saying that, but also –
SARAH: It sounds so suspicious.
KAYLA: – it’s standard research protocol. Like, yes, obviously. Okay. One was a sporting event, one a horror movie clip, and the other an erotic film.
SARAH: I have so many questions. How extreme? Are we talking softcore porn? Are we talking about like –
KAYLA: I’m guessing full porn.
SARAH: Straight?
KAYLA: Well there’s something later in the article that makes me think yes, but well, we’ll get to that later.
SARAH: Mkay.
KAYLA: Also, I’m very interested in the sporting event. I’m guessing it’s football just because.
SARAH: Football as in soccer.
KAYLA: I guess, well, I’m guessing either football or soccer because they’re both like the most popula.
SARAH: Where’s the University of Porto?
KAYLA: I’m guessing this is in the UK
SARAH: In Portugal. And the Max Planck Institute of –
KAYLA: Probably soccer, huh?
SARAH: – Chemistry is in Germany. Yeah.
KAYLA: Probably soccer.
SARAH: (in a British accent) That’s definitely a football but in the British way. I’m so sorry I’m going to stop now.
KAYLA: Yeah, please. And that is my 13th reason.
(laughter)
KAYLA: I’m also very interested in what this horror movie film is.
SARAH: Yeah.
KAYLA: And I also would like to say that –
SARAH: Was it a psychological horror? Was it jump scares?
KAYLA: I don’t know, because all other kinds are terrible. But I’ll also say some people are aroused by different things.
SARAH: Mhm.
KAYLA: And I feel like being aroused by sports and by horror are not uncommon.
SARAH: Yeah because sports they get you all riled up.
KAYLA: And the people who play them are typically hot, because…
(10:00)
SARAH: Because the world is cruel.
KAYLA: Just in general people that play sports are usually pretty good looking.
SARAH: Or is it that the people who become famous for being good at sports are good looking?
KAYLA: Yes because there are a lot of American football players who are ugly and it is because of how many times they’ve bashed their face in.
SARAH: yeah, and also because people who are athletes tend to be fitter and we view fit as an attractive, beautiful trait in our culture.
KAYLA: (laughing) Something funny I thought of is because I was like “Oh, men who play football are kind of ugly” and you were like “yeah because” and in my mind I said “yeah because they’re men.
SARAH: (laughing) Great work.
KAYLA: Thanks. Happy pride everyone. Anyway. They found as soon as the erotic film was shown there was a noticeable spike in three chemicals called indole, cresole and phenol.
SARAH: Now, I read that as (with a vaguely Italian accent) “indóle, cresóle, and phenol”
KAYLA: Why?
SARAH: I think it might actually be phenol.
KAYLA: Well, I guess we’ll never know.
SARAH: It’s certainly not indóle, but –
KAYLA: Well. There was also a significant drop –
SARAH: That’s a misleading headline.
KAYLA: What?
SARAH: I was just looking at the more stories
KAYLA: Damn.
SARAH: and it says “Johnny Depp Trial, actor wins defamation case against Amber Heard,” but according to an email I got in my inbox from the Hollywood Reporter or maybe it was Deadline I don’t know, they said that the jury found them both guilty of defamation.
KAYLA: In a way, yes. What was described to me by our friend who’s a lawyer is that in defamation cases there are like 3 things you have to prove and in Johnny Depp’s case they proved all 3 and in Amber Heard’s case they only proved one so she got less money than him, I guess?
SARAH: Oh.
KAYLA: Because they were both suing each other for defamation.
SARAH: Yeah.
KAYLA: So he won more.
SARAH: You know, I think in the end we all lost.
KAYLA: Oh, absolutely. And that’s all we’ll say on that because it shouldn’t have been televised in the first place.
SARAH: (whispering) Yeah, that was weird as fuck.
KAYLA: There was also a significant drop in the level of CO2 and another molecule called isoprene. (said ee so preene)
SARAH: Iso-preen
(laughter)
KAYLA: I don’t love that the level of CO2 dropped, that seems deadly, no?
SARAH: I mean if it’s in a small amount, I’m sure our levels of CO2 are variable at various moments in the day.
KAYLA: A bit concerning. What are these – I’m going to look up these other ones. Indole.
SARAH: I would like everyone to know that there’s a mini-header before the next bit and it just says ‘Quite remarkable’
KAYLA: Indolent? Indole is an aromatic, not aromantic.
SARAH: Aromantic?
KAYLA: Heterocyclic
SARAH: Heterosexual?
(laughter)
KAYLA: Indole is an aromantic heterosexual organic compound. Yes. And it has a bicyclic – (laughing) it has a bisexual
SARAH: (laughing) It has a bisexual
KAYLA: Oh man, that’s so funny. What does it do?
SARAH: Its best
KAYLA: Wish that were me. Okay, it can be used for cancer prevention.
SARAH: So erotic films prevent cancer, that’s what I’m hearing.
KAYLA: That’s what I’m reading.
SARAH: There is no troubles with that leap.
KAYLA: Indole-3 carbonyl is formed when vegetables are cut?
SARAH: (laughing) What’s happening?
KAYLA: Okay.
SARAH: (laughing) What’s going on? You’re formed when vegetables are cut.
KAYLA: Okay, also high concentrations are known to be toxic, so don’t get aroused too much.
(laughter)
SARAH: (laughing) You can get aroused a little.
KAYLA: It can inhibit bacterial growth.
SARAH: In a good way or a bad way?
KAYLA: The bad way.
SARAH: I guess either is good and bad depending on how much. Anyway, I think this is probably really boring. Let’s keep reading.
KAYLA: I have to disagree. I’m having a great time, but okay. You can google that yourselves.
(15:00)
SARAH: Yeah.
KAYLA: ‘Quite Remarkable’ Prof Jonathan Williams, an atmospheric scientist – what the fuck is that?
SARAH: Scientist of the atmosphere.
KAYLA: Okay. Who is more accustomed to recording levels of pollutants in the stratosphere or in the Amazon rainforest than unpicking the biological mysteries of sex, said these changes were seen “almost immediately”
SARAH: I love how the first thing Joe does is absolutely kneecaps Professor Jonathan Williams.
KAYLA: I would love to know –
SARAH: Yeah?
KAYLA: how this guy got involved in this study.
SARAH: Why is the first thing Joe says that “well he’s not really accustomed to this type of research”
KAYLA: Well, I think he’s more kneecapping the research.
SARAH: Yeah.
KAYLA: Jonathan could be doing better things, like studying pollution in the air but instead he’s looking at horny people’s wet breath.
SARAH: Ew
(laughter)
SARAH: The very visceral reaction I had.
KAYLA: Oh, I’m so silly.
SARAH: I thought you were going to say “I’m so sorry”. That’s what you should have said.
KAYLA: Oh. Never. To a listener, maybe. To you, I’ve never been sorry.
SARAH: Dammit.
KAYLA: These chemical signals could be good indicators for sexual arousal in breath
SARAH: You know, here’s what you need to do. You’re on a date and you’re not sure if it’s going well or not. You get Professor Williams to make a machine that’s portable.
KAYLA: Mm.
SARAH: That can read this. Then you put it up to your date’s mouth and you say –
KAYLA: My question?
SARAH: Yeah?
KAYLA: Is if the food you ate affects –
SARAH: Is sexy?
KAYLA: Mm, well. Because as we just learned cutting vegetables?
SARAH: That’s true.
KAYLA: Can release this chemical.
SARAH: You know what we do?
KAYLA: And you know I cut vegetables by chopping them with my teeth.
SARAH: Exactly. I was going to say we cut vegetables every time we chew them.
KAYLA: Do you ever, when you are making a salad and you don’t feel like –
SARAH: Did you see that TikTok?
(laughter)
KAYLA: Yeah.
SARAH: There’s a TikTok where this girl –
KAYLA: Because I do that.
SARAH: This girl was making a salad and she wanted to put some carrots in so she just stuck that carrot into her mouth and then dropped them in the salad. She used her teeth to cut the carrots.
KAYLA: Because I do that. I take a baby carrot and I just go *chewing sound* and that was my chewing sound and then I have chopped carrots and I don’t have to make a knife dirty.
SARAH: Yeah. What do we need a knife for when we’ve got teeth?
KAYLA: I say that to myself every day, especially when I’m trying to cut raw chicken.
SARAH: (laughing) NO.
(laughter)
SARAH: Do you ever think about how supposedly human fingers are–
KAYLA: Yes.
SARAH: Are as easy to bite through as carrots? Because I think about that every time.
KAYLA: Do you ever just bite your finger just to see?
SARAH: I get afraid.
KAYLA: I’ve done it.
SARAH: Like, what if I accidentally bite it off?
KAYLA: You won’t. Your brain won’t let you.
SARAH: What if I do?
KAYLA: You won’t.
SARAH: What if I do? I don’t trust my brain.
KAYLA: (laughing) I don’t either, frankly.
SARAH: (laughing) Thank you.
KAYLA: It’s quite remarkable because it seems to switch on and off really quickly. Most hormonal things in the body tend to happen reasonably slowly but there must be something here which is happening quite quickly.
SARAH: (laughing) That’s kind of a redundant quote to choose, but okay.
KAYLA: The results were more obvious for men than women, the researchers found, but this may be a result of the stimuli used and the small study. So this makes me wonder what kind of porn they were showing them.
SARAH: Mm.
KAYLA: Because…
SARAH: Yeah.
KAYLA: Were they showing them porn that serves the male gaze?
SARAH: (laughing) Hot teacher gets railed.
KAYLA: (laughing) Oh my god. Sarah, shut up.
SARAH: It’s a podcast. It would be really boring.
KAYLA: Huh?
SARAH: If I shut up.
KAYLA: Oh, I thought you were saying “hot teacher getting railed” was the name of a podcast.
(laughter)
SARAH: (laughing) No.
KAYLA: And I was like, “no it’s not”
SARAH: No, I would hate that though.
KAYLA: Me too. Prof Williams said that the “golden question” thrown up by this research – you should probably get that research to a toilet. Don’t want that throw up.
(laughter)
KAYLA: is whether or not the signals play a role in human courtship.
SARAH: Courtship.
KAYLA: Then the next mini-header
(20:00)
KAYLA: “‘Golden question’ outstanding”
SARAH: (laughing) I love these mini headers.
KAYLA: My question here is what do they mean by outstanding?
SARAH: I don’t know.
KAYLA: Do they mean like “oh my god it’s outstanding”
SARAH: Or an outstanding question.
KAYLA: (laughing) It’s an outstanding golden question.
SARAH: (laughing) Like we’re still trying to figure out the answer.
KAYLA: Probably both, huh.
SARAH: It’s probably the intention, yeah.
KAYLA: What we’ve established here is that there definitely is a specific signal broadcasted. We know that the human brain can respond to a chemical signal –
SARAH: You read that wrong.
KAYLA: We know that the human brain can respond –
SARAH: You missed the words “he said” and that’s a crucial part of the story.
KAYLA: That’s unnecessary. Shut your mouth!
SARAH: To be honest, when you keep going back and reading it I don’t always realize immediately that you’re reading it.
KAYLA: What do you think I’m doing?
SARAH: Well I thought you were saying “what we’ve established here” and you were going to say something. But then I realized you were reading.
KAYLA: (sarcastically) Yeah, because frequently in my vocabulary is me saying things like “what we’ve established here”
SARAH: I would say that.
KAYLA: Okay. Brag.
SARAH: I think it’s probably in part because of my boss.
KAYLA: Yeah.
SARAH: Who uses big words all the time.
KAYLA: He does love a big old word.
SARAH: Anyway, continue.
KAYLA: Okay, I am going to start reading now. Is that okay?
SARAH: No.
KAYLA: Okay. We know that the human brain can respond to a chemical signal even if it’s below our smelling threshold.
SARAH: (whispering) smelling threshold.
KAYLA: You can be exposed to a chemical and you won’t smell it, but your brain will react to it. We’ve established that chemicals are broadcast but does it have an effect on someone else? We don’t know yet, but at least now we know which chemicals to test. We see the person we are kissing, we hear them, we feel them.
SARAH: Mhm.
KAYLA: Not all of that is necessarily true. But is there also a chemical communication going on invisibly between us? That is indeed a golden question.
SARAH: We’re really banking on this golden question thing.
KAYLA: We really are. It is a question the researchers will now try and answer with fresh studies
SARAH: (whispering) fresh.
KAYLA: building on the new findings. A neuroscientist with brain scanning equipment could expose people to these chemicals to see if there’s a strong reaction or what part of the brain reacts to the stimuli. That would be a nice follow up.
(laughter)
SARAH: Also, I know he’s probably not an expert in brain scanning equipment and he’s just using general words but the fact that he says “a neuroscientist with brain scanning equipment” like imagine if he had just said “a neuroscientist with leg scanning equipment” or “a with toenail scanning equipment. That would be a nice followup” Prof Williams
KAYLA: So that’s the end of the good part of the article.
SARAH: Well it’s the end of the spicy part, but honestly I think the rest of the article makes some good points.
KAYLA: Okay, then we’ll read it.
SARAH: Okay, I’ll read it.
KAYLA: Okay.
SARAH: The scientists say that the findings could revolutionize how sexual arousal is investigated by scientists going forward. The next header: very stu – No. very stew fudies (laughter)
KAYLA: Oh.
SARAH: Very few studies ‘touch the taboo of sexual arousal’. Currently invasive apparatus means many people are unwilling to take part in such studies and being able to detect arousal in a more palatable way via breath, instead of with a (clears throat) penile gauge.
KAYLA: Mm.
SARAH: or vaginal probe, may help reduce hesitation. Invasive apparatus. Is that plural?
KAYLA: I don’t know.
SARAH: That term “currently invasive apparatus means” is very British.
KAYLA: Apparati?
SARAH: Anyway. Prof Williams says his colleagues at the University of Porto’s so-called SexLab are constantly working to overcome inherent societal reservations. “It’s difficult for them to map out human sexuality, something as simple as that, because it’s taboo” – I wouldn’t say human sexuality is simple – “culturally, the topic is still taboo. Therefore, research funds are conservative in nature” – but not conservative in sex. “There are hundreds of thousands of studies on fear, but very few have dared to touch the taboo of sexual arousal despite the fact it is a part of everyone’s lives to some extent” – okay, I’ll give you that – “it’s a reflection on society a little bit”
KAYLA: Mhm.
SARAH: It’s really anticlimactic of an end. “a little bit”. Why didn’t they just cut the quote off at “it’s a reflection on society”?
(25:00)
SARAH: The findings are published in the journal Scientific Reports. If Joe had just said, or Prof Williams – what’s his name?
KAYLA: I love this man. He’s so bad at giving quotes.
SARAH: If Jonathan had just said “few have dared to touch the taboo of sexual arousal despite the fact it is part of everyone’s lives” I would say I disagree.
KAYLA: Yes.
SARAH: But because he says “is part of everyone’s lives to some extent”. You are impacted by other people’s sexual arousal.
KAYLA: That’s true. I mean…
SARAH: That’s all.
KAYLA: Yes because other people are being aroused around you and also maybe you were born because of it. Who’s to say?
SARAH: Perhaps.
KAYLA: Do you think –
SARAH: Mah! Sorry. Related topics: Bad breath. Sex.
KAYLA: Well. Do you think that our brains actually would pick up on other people’s stinky sex breath?
SARAH: I would have to ask my brain. I don’t think my brain knows the answer.
KAYLA: Because here’s my thing: like yes, our bodies pick up on pheromones and that –
SARAH: Mhm.
KAYLA: – kind of stuff, but I can’t imagine it makes that much of an impact. Because say someone is all up in my face being sexually attracted to me but I am not attracted to them, just getting a whiff of their chemical breath…
SARAH: Mhm.
KAYLA: I don’t think is going to change that for me.
SARAH: Yeah. I’m not sure that this is saying it impacts the object of the sexual attraction. I think they’re just saying if you tried to say in a court of law “I was not sexually attracted at this moment,” but they measured your breath they could make the argument that according to science
KAYLA: I thought they were saying that in future studies they want to see how other people are impacted by the chemicals.
SARAH: Yeah but that’s not what this study was.
KAYLA: Yeah but I’m asking you to speculate on whether or not you think that would be true
SARAH: Um, we don’t speculate.
KAYLA: Oh my god. That’s fine. We can just end the podcast here. I was just trying to –
SARAH: That’s a funny joke but no one –
KAYLA: I was just trying to have a discussion on my podcast.
SARAH: – no one listening to the podcast is going to understand.
KAYLA: But it’s fine.
SARAH: But it’s a funny joke.
KAYLA: It was funny now that I think of it.
SARAH: Thank you.
KAYLA: Now that I realize what it was about.
SARAH: And I won't tell you. I mean, I don’t think it really impacts our behavior. I think maybe on a micro level but no so much we’re like “damn, let’s fuck. I didn’t want to before but now that I’ve smelled your spicy pheromones that says you’re attracted to me let’s get it on, bestie”
KAYLA: Then I was thinking “oh even if it doesn’t make me more sexually attracted to someone maybe it clues me in to the fact that this person is sexually attracted to me” but I feel like there’s other tells.
SARAH: For example, them saying “I’m sexually attracted to you”
KAYLA: That for sure, but i feel like there’s also stuff about people’s pupils getting bigger when they’re attracted
SARAH: Yeah.
KAYLA: I could look at that, or I feel like they would probably just look at you.
SARAH: Yeah.
KAYLA: I feel like when you’re sexually attracted to someone you kind of look at them usually.
SARAH: (laughing) you kind of look at them usually.
KAYLA: as like the vibes
SARAH: You’re right, you do probably kind of look at them usually.
KAYLA: (laughing) I don’t know. but I do feel like there must be better ways of telling when someone is attracted to me.
SARAH: Yeah
KAYLA: other than the chemicals
SARAH: and I think those things are probably more visible or more perceivable from the outside as well. You don’t have to be all up in someone’s breath to be able to look at someone’s pupils and say “ah were your eyes dilated today or am I just smoking hot”
KAYLA: I’m going to use that some day. That’s an excellent pick up line.
SARAH: You’re welcome. It just came right out of my mouth right on the spot.
KAYLA: Wow, I love that for you.
SARAH: Thank you.
KAYLA: I mean, I think it makes sense that your breath would be impacted.
SARAH: Does it?
KAYLA: Well, I don’t know.
SARAH: Why does the human body do anything?
(30:00)
KAYLA: So true. But like when you’re – hm, no. I’m thinking of arousal, which is different. Now hold on everyone to your hats.
SARAH: I think this is about sexual arousal and they’re conflating the terms.
KAYLA: That’s what I was just going to say is from showing people porn…
SARAH: Mhm.
KAYLA: It seems like they’re measuring arousal.
SARAH: Mhm.
KAYLA: Rather than attraction.
SARAH: Mhm.
KAYLA: They did the words wrong.
SARAH: Because you could get aroused by watching something without being sexually attracted to any of the people.
KAYLA: Yes.
SARAH: And if you look at the title, the title says “how your breath could reveal your sexual attraction,” you know, clickbait. The subheader is “new study reveals that the chemical make-up of breath changes when in a state of sexual arousal”
KAYLA: Yeah I would love to see how they word it in the actual report. I bet they say arousal.
SARAH: Arousal.
KAYLA: If we’re talking arousal, then I feel like I can see why it makes sense, as if I’m a scientist.
SARAH: (whispering) You are.
KAYLA: Because if you’re aroused, then your pupils dilate and your blood starts going to your bits.
SARAH: Yeah.
KAYLA: So that’s bound to change some of what your molecules are doing which would make chemicals happen, I think.
(laughter)
SARAH: Make chemicals happen.
KAYLA: Listen it also says stuff about CO2, which is in your blood or whatever right?
SARAH: CO2 is everywhere. In fact, we have got too much of it.
KAYLA: Isn’t that like in your blood though?
SARAH: (laughing) I’m sure it’s everywhere.
KAYLA: How sexual wellness became a hot topic.
SARAH: Also, detecting arousal. So, I have a question. I do think that scientific studies on sex and this sort of thing could be illuminating, and I don’t want to say that it’s unimportant because obviously there’s a taboo around it and blah blah blah. But I’m really hung up on the penile gauge or vaginal probe?
KAYLA: I do not like that.
SARAH: And I’m just like what is the science behind what that measures?
KAYLA: Yeah, I struggle to see the reasoning behind this study. Like, studies about sexuality that have to do with health?
SARAH: Mhm.
KAYLA: Like is your penis or vagina working?
SARAH: Mhm.
KAYLA: What is it doing? Could it impact the health of those body parts?
SARAH: Mhm.
KAYLA: That is one thing that is obviously important to study because human bodies.
SARAH: Mhm.
KAYLA: But what is the point in knowing if your body releases a chemical when you’re aroused? Like who is this helpful for?
SARAH: Yeah, I feel like a lot of studies –
KAYLA: I just realized.
SARAH: Yeah?
KAYLA: Do you think if they’re like these are the chemicals that are released when you’re aroused and they find that other people’s bodies pick up on it, they would make a Viagra type drug?
SARAH: Ew, I want to dropkick that into the sun.
KAYLA: Don’t you think?
SARAH: Yeah, they might. I think a lot of it is so much of science and scientific discovery and human whatever is straight up just born out of curiosity. Like humans want to know shit.
KAYLA: Which is fine.
SARAH: Like we don’t need to know a lot of the things that we know.
KAYLA: That’s fair.
SARAH: But we do anyway. And I’m kind of struggling to understand why a person would care about this thing, but I think that might just be a product of my being aroace and just my interest not lying in the chemicals in the breath when one is feeling horned.
KAYLA: I guess? The thing for me is studies like this worry me…
SARAH: Mm.
KAYLA: Because obviously it’s important to know things about how the body works.
SARAH: Mhm.
KAYLA: But the more we know about how our body becomes aroused or how attraction works
SARAH: It could be abused.
KAYLA: The more it could be abused and turned into a science or a medicine.
SARAH: Yeah.
KAYLA: Which I don’t love because as we know asexuality and aromanticism are already pathologized?
SARAH: Pathologized.
(35:00)
KAYLA: Pathologized. I don’t know, these studies just worry me for that reason.
SARAH: It’s a slippery slope.
KAYLA: Say we find out the exact science of what happens in the body when someone is aroused, then we could replicate it. If we can replicate it, then companies are going to start selling it, which would be good for some people until it starts getting prescribed in bad conscience.
SARAH: And that’s a new terrifying alarming brand of roofieing.
KAYLA: Oof. Yeah.
SARAH: I don’t love that.
KAYLA: No. Nor do I.
SARAH: Nor am I sexually attracted to it, and nor am I sexually aroused by it.
KAYLA: Thank you, I was really wondering about that.
SARAH: Yep. Do we have anything else?
KAYLA: No. I mean yeah it’s funny obviously, it’s interesting, and also I would be interested to hear an actual scientist’s perspective on this. Especially with these worries if they’re valid or not. Maybe I’m just being crazy. I don’t know.
SARAH: Yeah, also I’d be interested in learning more about the University of Porto’s SexLab and why they study it, but will we be doing that on this episode? Absolutely not.
KAYLA: No. I wonder what they wrote in grants for like “this is why we need money” like what did they tell people?
SARAH: Yeah that’s a good question. Alright, well. Poll. What’s our poll for this week?
KAYLA: Want to do something about like, what is the most sexy breath smell?
SARAH: Rotten eggs.
KAYLA: Oh-kay. Well that one wouldn’t get any votes, would it?
SARAH: That’s what you think.
KAYLA: I mean, we could certainly try.
SARAH: Some people are into different things, you know?
KAYLA: Rotten eggs. Like mint is a good one?
SARAH: Boiled eggs.
KAYLA: Boiled eggs.
SARAH: (laughing) Raw eggs.
KAYLA: No, we can’t just do three silly ones.
SARAH: A quiche.
KAYLA: Mm.
SARAH: (laughing) All egg products. Hey, eggs are involved in the sexing. Maybe there’s a study somewhere that says –
KAYLA: Not necessarily.
SARAH: I mean in the reproductive sexing. Like the thing our body is supposed to be like “I want to reproduce,” you know?
KAYLA: Yes. I do know.
SARAH: Maybe there’s a science somewhere that says eggs? Interested.
KAYLA: You know they’re not like the same kind of egg, right?
(laughter)
SARAH: (laughing) Yes, I’m well aware.
KAYLA: Just checking in.
SARAH: Just checking in. All right. Kayla, what is your beef and your juice this week?
KAYLA: My beef is I have to wake up at like 5 tomorrow.
SARAH: Mhm. Ding dang.
KAYLA: And then be on like a six hour flight, which I haven’t done in a while.
SARAH: Ding dang It’s six hour? It’s probably not 6 it’s probably 5.
KAYLA: I don’t know, Dean said it was 6.
SARAH: I like how we’re not giving any context. Just disagreeing at this point.
KAYLA: I’m going to Las Vegas
SARAH: And she’s not even coming to my house.
KAYLA: I know. It’s a business trip.
SARAH: And it’s only a 5 hour drive to my house from Las Vegas.
KAYLA: And I’ll definitely have a car.
SARAH: Yeah.
KAYLA: My juice is that I read Red, White, and Royal Blue.
SARAH: Yes!
KAYLA: In 24 hours.
SARAH: Yeah she did!
KAYLA: And it was very good.
SARAH: Very good.
KAYLA: Minimal angst. Sarah did tell me it was light smut, which was a lie.
SARAH: Here’s what I think.
KAYLA: But that’s okay.
SARAH: I was thinking about this after you told me about this. I was thinking that the extremeness of the smut is not severe.
KAYLA: The graphicness, not the amount.
SARAH: Yeah. Yes.
KAYLA: Yeah that makes sense.
SARAH: I didn’t remember there being that much.
KAYLA: It’s a good amount.
SARAH: I was certainly referring to the graphicness not the amount.
KAYLA: Yeah it’s not very graphic, but when you said light smut I was thinking like “oh okay like one or two sex”
SARAH: Did I ever say specifically that?
KAYLA: I don’t know, you said something like that. I could go back I guess.
SARAH: No I’m busy.
KAYLA: Me too. It was very good, and I enjoyed it.
SARAH: Hell yeah. My juice –
KAYLA: And today they just annoyed the casting of the main character because apparently they’re making a movie, so great timing.
SARAH: That was yesterday so take that.
KAYLA: Okay well great timing for me anyway.
SARAH: Yes. You know what my first thought when I saw the actor who was going to play Alex? I was like “he’s too traditionally hot” That was my first thought.
KAYLA: The character is canonically traditionally hot, like they say that.
SARAH: He’s too bulky hot. He needs to be a little more twinky hot.
KAYLA: He’s a lacrosse player.
SARAH: Is he?
KAYLA: Yeah.
SARAH: I don’t know, he looks too much like a linebacker but he doesn’t look that much like a linebacker.
KAYLA: (laughing) Mm. Okay.
SARAH: Listen, on the scale of twink to linebacker I just think they went slightly too far in the direction of linebacker.
KAYLA: That’s fair I could definitely do with more of a string bean.
SARAH: I would happily be proven wrong by the content, and I look forward to the content. That’s all. My juice – no. My beef. My beef is that a lot of things were happening today and I was just very busy. My juice is President BTS. You can tell us about your beef, your juice or answer our poll on our social media @soundsfakepod. If you’d also like to support us on Patreon you can do so at patreon.com/soundsfakepod. We have a new $2 patron it is Elisabeth Swim. Thank you Elisabeth Swim.
KAYLA: Thanks!
SARAH: Our $5 patrons who we are promoting this week are Kelly, Lily, Livvy, Mary S, and Mattie. Thank you to all of you! Our $10 patrons who are promoting something this week are Rosie Costello who has changed her promotion. Her new promotion is big water bowls.
KAYLA: Oh.
SARAH: To anyone wondering: what is a big water bowl? It is a lake.
KAYLA: (laughing) Oh my gosh.
SARAH: She has a series on her Instagram called Rosie Rates Water Bowls
KAYLA: Oh.
SARAH: And she rates them on a scale from one to four paws. It’s very good. @rosietheredretriever. Anyway. Barefootbackpacker who would like to promote their podcast, Travel Tales From Beyond the Brochure, and The Steve who would like to promote Ecosia, a search engine for the trees. Our other $10 patrons are Arcnes, Ari K, Benjamin Ybarra, Changeling and Alex the ace cat, David Jay, David Nurse, Derek and Carissa, CinnamonToastPunch, my Aunt Jeannie, Maggie Capalbo, Martin Chiesl, Mattie, Potater, and Purple Hayes. Our $15 patrons are Andrew Hillum who would like to promote the Invisible Spectrum Podcast, Click4Caroline who would like to promote Ace of Hearts, Dia Chappell who would like to promote – oh this is the last week we are promoting Realm of Divinos Kickstarter it’s going to end. Kickstart that kickstart it. Hector Murillo who would like to promote friends that are supportive, constructive, and help you grow as a better person or Hector would like to support friends that are promotive, constructive, and help you grow as a better person.
KAYLA: (laughing) Oh my god.
SARAH: Leila who would like to promote love is love also applying to aro people, Nathaniel White who would like to promote NathanielJWhiteDesigns.com, Kayla’s Aunt Nina who would like to promote @katemaggart.art, Sara Jones who is @eternalloli everywhere. Our $20 patrons are Sabrina Hauck Merry Christmas! And Dragonfly who would like to promote – my headphones are hurting my ear and I really want to take them off so thanks for listening! Tune in next Sunday for more of us in your ears.
KAYLA: And until then, take good care of your cows. (43:48)