Coming out of the news for the bizarre this week is
the story that birth control can cause women to pick a mate they are not
compatible with according to a scientific study. Wow! Now I know what is wrong
with my marriage!
Seriously, a new study suggests that birth control
can alter the physiological way a mate is chosen. According to livescience.com,
body odor plays a major role when picking a mate.
Livescience.com writes:
Beneath a woman's flowery fragrance or a guy's musk
the body sends out molecules
that indicate genetic compatibility.
“Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes are
involved in immune response and other functions, and the best mates are those
that have different MHC smells than you. The new study reveals, however, that
when women are on the pill they prefer guys with matching MHC odors."
Past studies have suggested couples with dissimilar
MHC genes are more satisfied and more likely to be faithful to a mate. And the
opposite is also true with matchng-MHC couples showing less satisfaction and
more wandering eyes.
"Not only could MHC-similarity in couples lead
to fertility problems," said lead researcher Stewart Craig Roberts, an
evolutionary psychologist at the University of Newcastle in England, "but
it could ultimately lead to the breakdown of relationships when women stop
using the contraceptive pill, as odor perception plays a significant role in
maintaining attraction to partners."
Who knew falling in love and staying in love was so
complicated? Or is it? I guess the lesson here is to stay on the birth control
that you are when you met or avoid it all together.
I love when science tries to look at reasons we
make good and bad decisions. I love when science tries to come up with a
formula to find a mate.
I don’t think there is a formula or reason why
people get together. I think it is God brings two people together at the right
place at the right time.
As for staying together, it is just a matter of
hard work, commitment and a lot of prayer. I am not going to say I don’t love
the way my husband smells, although there are those times when I don’t (if you
know what I mean).
I wasn’t on birth control when we met and I loved
the way he smelled. I was eventually on birth control and I still loved the way
he smelled and now that I am off again-he still smells good. I am still
attractive to him.
That is because it isn’t smell that makes a person
love another. Your body does go through a million chemical reactions when you
are in love, but it isn’t the cause of the love.
Don’t base finding the right man on some study. It
isn’t going to matter if you are on birth control, have a certain scent,
genetic disposition or any other science study. It is all about the moment and
God bringing two people together. Nothing you can do can make that spark exist
if it isn’t there.
With work, that spark can grow into a fire, but you
can’t create that spark with some scientific formula.
