Why Are There Unisex Perfumes?

Where exactly do the lines of femininity and masculinity cross? By what definition do we classify our characteristics of strength and individuality?

"As the social distance between men and women diminishes, the gender boundaries in perfume become more blurred.", as stated by Marcello Aspira. A trained sociologist who concentrated his graduate thesis on the rise in usage of same gender perfumes. He aptly explains the reasoning as to why same sex fragrances work. It is simply because perfumes and our choices in the scents that we use to identify ourselves have always been about personality and individuality.
Flowery scents are no longer used to solely classify femininity just as musk is no longer an exclusive fragrance used to identify masculinity. Today a more feminine male is just as likely to choose either of these fragrances to identify himself. While the modern day female might choose a musk to identify with her more aggressive demeanor, or a flowery scent on another occasion to better display her soft, and more romantic side.

Our gender identification is just one of the many factors that we subconsciously use in the selection of our favorite fragrances. The many faucets of our personalities cause us to be drawn to scents that can accent, and appropriately display, our individuality to the world around us.......

Scents have been used by man since around 1000 BC. The first scents were generally used for religious ceremonies and were derived from the burning of plant or tree gums and resins. Fragranced ointments and oils were other early fragrances that have evolved to became some of our first personal scents. These concoctions were first used for either medicinal purposes or to hide unpleasant body aromas, but over time and as these fragrances became more sophisticated, their variety increased and they rose in popularity as a means of identifying our unique personalities.

Anthropologist Constance Classen discovered that in the early 19th century there appeared to be a "process of feminization in the culture of smell". As men became identified as the bread winners or as "being men", and women recognized as soft and feminine creatures or "As women", perfume came more closely to be associated with femininity and its many facets.

Perfume shifted from out of the hygiene or medicinal product line to be used as a more gender specific item, or more recognized as a feminine product than a masculine one, and thus as a beauty enhancer.
Back then, other than being worn by "artists and dandys", perfumes belonged almost exclusively to the world of women. Men had more important things to spend their efforts and incomes on. My but how times and attitudes have changed!

So here we are in the new millenium and the social definitions of male and female roles are changing once again. Women aren't just for having babies anymore and we are entering into the work force and its many work fields in increasing numbers. We are no longer just wives, who spend our energies caring for our husbands and children, we are career women.

Men are now nurses and women are doctors.

Males and females work side by side in the construction industry as well as in big business. In other words our gender roles are growing closer and closer together. Our differences are becoming less noticeable, and as this occurs, so do our choices in fragrances to identify our personality become more alike.

Flowery scents are no longer used to solely classify femininity just as musk is no longer an exclusive fragrance used to identify masculinity. A more feminine male is just as likely to choose either fragrance to identify himself just as a female now might choose a musk to identify with her more aggressive demeanor.
Perfumes no longer need to be classified as female or male scents they need now only to be recognized as "Our Scent"!

This is why there are unisex perfumes and scents now gracing the shelves of department stores all around the world. Perfume has become as individual as the people who where it and completely irregardless of their sexual orientation.

Much as the first notes of music embrace you at a symphony, so do the first magical wisps of fragrance reach out, surround you, and pull you captive into their spell. From the first critical notes as they burst into the air around you, till the final base notes float seductively down upon you, it entrances you. Although perfume consists of just three basic notes, as these unfold one after another, they draw you deep within their melody.

Much as with a symphony where you are pulled within it's deepening harmony until you are lost within the mystery, such is the mystical influence that we so dearly term, fragrance.....Read Full Article.

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You wind up sitting in a corner all by your grumpy old self, sipping herbal tea, and munching on a stick of celery to stave off the traumatic effects of self induced starvation.........Read Full Article.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_perfume

http://boisdejasmin.typepad.com/_/2005/10/perfume_and_gen.html