Smells Like...Teen Spirit? No, no, Old Spice!

You ever notice how important your sense of smell is?

As many of you already know, I suffer a mild case of hearing loss, thanks to years of shooting guns with my dad and brothers as a child, and thanks even more to 7 years of being in band in junior high and high school. Because of this loss in hearing, I'm pretty sure my sense of smell is enhanced.

The first time I realized my sense of smell was unusually strong was in the 11th grade. I was sitting next to a friend in German, and sighed with boredom. As I breathed in, I smelled a familiar smell.

"Zach, are you wearing Old Spice High Endurance Anti-Perspirant, Original Scent?" I had worn that deodorant about a year earlier, so I recognized the smell. Maybe I should've been a little more sly, and not launched right into the FULL name, but that's just the kind of man I am.


"WHAT?!" he replied, with a face containing some awful mix of confusion and terror. Most of the people I knew in high school thought I was gay, and this guy rated a little higher on the homophobia meter than most of the people I knew.


"I'm just asking. It's a good smell. I used to wear it myself", I assured him, trying to get him to calm down.

He never actually answered me. The conversation made him visibly uncomfortable, so I dropped it. A few months later, I found out from another friend in the class that I had indeed identified his deodorant, a smell he had JUST bought. I noticed it on the very first day he wore it.

Here I am now, six years later, and I've begun to use my sense of smell as a way to get to know people better. Lady-friends of mine who I'm especially close with hardly even flinch when I grab a piece of their hair, mid-conversation, and take a whiff, just to smell some of that vanilla or coconut-y goodness. In my dance class, I find myself recognizing smells of my myriad dance partners. There's one girl in there who I know for a fact wears Secret brand deodorant (I personally don't care much for that scent). Another wears a delicious citrus-smell, but she and I haven't reached the 'smell-your-hair-in-casual-conversation' level of friendship, so I can't tell if it's perfume, shampoo/conditioner, hair gel, or something else.

Personally, I find this funny, except that I catch myself using their personal scents as a means for discrimination: the "Secret" girl is a much better dancer, and isn't terrible-looking, but I find myself preferring to dance with the citrus girl, who is about equally good-looking, but probably a worse dancer. The girl who smells like she didn't shower before class is probably my last pick; meanwhile, the overweight girl who smells like coconut? "You wanna dance?" For the most part, I prefer a partner who smells good, rather than looks good, and I don't really care how well they dance.

Civil rights and discrimination-related issues are important to me in politics; I think it's morally wrong to judge someone by visual issues, like the color of their skin, how overweight they are, or how attractive they may be. Does the fact that I appear to discriminate based on another of my five senses make me just as bad?