In an era of hypersensitivity about everything racial, ethnic, or sexual in the United States, to even utter a phrase like “stinky white man” is met with immediate condemnation. Yet there are reasons why it is true and the ancient Chinese and Romans knew it!
Even today in the ostensibly repressive Peoples’ Republic of China, Internet Influencers freely discuss body odor and why it’s not a problem for them and Koreans, or even for most Japanese, but it’s a big problem for Europeans and Africans.
Chinese call underarm odor “fox stink.” It’s been called that since ancient times.
It’s nothing against foxes. Chinese love foxes. The famous nine-tailed fox Jiuweihu ( 九尾狐) appears throughout ancient Chinese mythology. Many believed that foxes could shapeshift into human form. An ancient East Asia legends claims that a fox spirit can become reincarnated as a stunningly beautiful human but the unfortunate human is cursed with the overwhelming odor of the fox. The East Asian location for this story is significant. Continue for the explanation.
Sun Simiao (孫思邈) (541-682 AD) tells us that, “…body odor is a disease that causes the patient to emit a disgusting odor.”
Thus body odor emitting from the armpits is called húchòu, 狐 (fox) 臭 (smelly). And in modern times in East Asia, strong body odor is considered a sign of disease.
A doctor in the Republic of China warns, “Don’t mess with the nine-tailed fox! There is also a peculiar smell here besides the armpits.” He goes on to warn that body odor is affected by emotions and there are odors that come from other parts of the body.
Because underarm body odor is not widely prevalent in China. It’s an abnormality and consequently regarded as a disease, just like the ancient doctors told them. Disease needs to be treated so surgical removal of the offending apocrine glands is widespread.
Another doctor warns, “Why do people have body odor? You should have a clear understanding of it now (after reading his Internet post), so everyone must pay attention to personal hygiene in daily life, especially in summer. In addition, when anyone finds that they have body odor, they must seek professional treatment in time. The longer the delay, the less conducive to the recovery of the disease. (bold and underline ours)
How can this be? A disease?
In the West, body odor is considered a normal failure to use a deodorant product.
It turns out that there are genetic variations that explain the why some people are prone to strong body odor and others are not.
The two types of body odor are the one caused by eating foods like garlic. and the other one caused by bacteria eating armpit excretions. Everybody stinks fa a while after eating garlic or curry.
The second type caused by armpit secretions and bacteria is genetically determined.
A gene called ABCC11 determines armpit secretions and the type of earwax people produce. Diversity in a gene is called an allele. ABCC11 has 2 alleles, G and A. G is the basis for fox stink, the one Westerners have and East Asians don’t have. (Specifically the 538G allele)
An individual may have two copies of the G allele and said to be GG homozygous. Double whammy! It is unknown if having 2 copies makes that person stinkier than a GA, heterozygous, person.
East Asians, and especially Koreans, inherit the “A” allele associated with the dry-type earwax and a reduction in body odor. As a result, if an East Asian has strong body odor, doctors will look for a pathology to explain it.
Now let’s look at a part of the world where body odor was and still is commonplace – Europe.
Romans worried about the social consequences of body odor too. They characterized the stench of body odor as that of a goat.
Goats do not ordinarily stink but when breeding season comes along, a male goat will urinate all over himself and secrete other choice fragrances from scent glands in an attempt to make himself attractive to females in heat.
Roman playwrights and poets joked about body odor: “Rufus… you are being hurt by an ugly story that a savage goat is living in the valley under your wings…” (Catullus – Carmina 69)
deodorgen inc. is a United States Company specializing in products that harnesses the human biome for health and social signaling.
