I Never Thought Much About My Armpits—Until Men Started Asking to Smell Them

He also points out that eroticism often engages with the parts of our bodies or minds we are taught to hide. We’re told to sanitize and control our smells, so in a consensual sexual context, abandoning those rules can feel freeing. “Sweat may stop meaning ‘unclean’ and start meaning exertion, desire, and surrender,” he says. “Context changes the meaning of the sensation.”

Gay male culture has never had one grooming script anyway. There are smooth guys, those who present more…