Musk
Adam has published the books “Deep Sniff: A History of Poppers and Queer Futures” and “Solemates: A History of Our Fetish for Feet”. He also hosts the podcast “Free Sex”.
Musk is more honest than touch. Your musk is your essence, uniquely you, a pheromone that you can’t withhold. Touch is skin-deep, but smell comes from inside. Deeply encoded and primal. Smell doesn’t lie.
Our odour is a horny fingerprint laced in pheromones. Our bodies react to each other’s smell. It’s an ancient language that pushes us in or pulls us away.
No two noses work the same. Some can pick out cardamom notes in a perfume while others can barely smell smoke. To some, coriander and soap smell the same. And body musk is not for everyone. Maybe you’d rather they smell of nothing, or of patchouli and fig. Musk can be an acquired taste, like with cheese. Many can enjoy a mild cheddar but some would kill for a vintage blue.
Musk is made mostly in our pits and groin and trapped by hair. The shape of the armpit seems built to take in a nose, the whole face locked in to make musk its only oxygen. Some of us can get high from these natural poppers made by pits. In the groin, you can detect distinct odours on the perineum, between the legs and the dick, and on the balls.
If you have a strong sense of smell, musk can be overwhelming. You might float through life enraptured by the smells of bodies on the train, at the gym, at the club. But if it goes unnoticed, don’t be misled. When you’re close to someone and it just feels right, musk is there in the background doing its thing.
Here are some fun things you could try:
- MAKE YOUR MUSK
Wear the same jockstrap several times to the gym or on a run without washing it.
The musk will build over time.
Pay attention to the smell, start slow until you get lost in it.
Share it with a partner or wrap it round your face and sniff while you bate.
- MUSK PLAY
Blindfold a partner and leave them deprived for 10-15 mins.
Then feed them smells: chocolate, ink, rubber, then your armpit, your sweaty underwear…
- MEMORY PLAY
Good for Dom/sub play.
Sexual partners can be trained to associate a smell with you or with an act.
Build that smell through musk play over several sessions.
Use it to trigger their headspace or as a reward.
- RECEIVING CAN BE EMPOWERING
Enjoy the visual aspect or the tactile.
Appreciating someone else enjoying your body or your smell so deeply might turn you on.