This is the first blog post in our Caught in the Current category. The idea behind Caught in the Current is for us to explore currently trending topics. We will at times tackle topics that some women might find too taboo to ask about, but want to understand. Vabbing is one of those topics getting a lot of attention, therefore we wanted to take it on.
So, what exactly is vabbing? According to Women's Health it is, "The art of strategically placing vaginal fluid in key areas like behind the ear or on the wrists. This, advocates believe, is a potential way of becoming more alluring to romantic and sexual interests." In other words, it is vaginal fluid used in place of, or in addition to, perfume.
Vabbing was made popular via trending TikTok posts of women claiming that they were attracting men as a result of this practice. The claim is that vaginal fluid contains strong pheromones that attract men when applied to pulse points such as behind the ears, wrists, etc. Here at Siren's Song, we wanted to dig in a bit on these claims. In addition, we wanted to explore how healthy this was as a practice.
First, let's just talk pheromones. There is yet a lot of research needed and none to date support the idea of pheromones in vaginal fluid. According to webMD there is not yet a pheromone found that triggers sexual response in humans, "Berliner, president and CEO of Pherin Pharmaceuticals, told WebMD that androstadienone (AND) doesn't trigger sexual responses, so love potions may not be in the near future with this molecule. But other products are possible, such as those that use the VNO to soothe anxiety attacks and premenstrual syndrome." Additionally, androstadienone, is a testosterone derived compound found in men's axillary sweat, thus, not evidence that vaginal fluid contains sexually stimulating hormones at all. No scientific research exists on the legitimacy of vabbing itself.
Estratetraenol has also been the subject of studies, though again, limited. Estratetraenol (EST) is found in late pregnancy urine. However, to date, there is little research showing that pheromones affect human mating behavior. In fact, depending on how it’s defined, it’s not yet clear whether humans even possess pheromones that effect human reproduction or arousal. In this 2012 Review, it concluded, “Although there are studies to support this phenomenon, they are weak, because they were not controlled." Additionally, this 2017 Study concluded, “If human sex pheromones affect our judgements of gender, attractiveness or unfaithfulness... they are unlikely to be AND or EST.”
Is it safe to vab? Although there is no real evidence to support effectiveness, at Siren's Song we found no strong evidence to state that vabbing is not safe, if done so with precaution. Perhaps it makes you feel confident. If so, by all means, go for it. If you do feel inclined to explore vabbing, Woman's Health offered the following ‘rules of vabbing’ and we here at Siren's Song recommend you adhere to them for your health and the health of those around you:
Washing your hands both before and after
Not allowing areas you’ve ‘vabbed’ to touch anything or anyone
Wiping down gym equipment before and after use
Refraining from vabbing if you’re on your period or have an STI
Making sure you get checked by a professional if you think you sense an unusual or bad odor
We did conduct a brief survey of men working within construction and engineering fields. Interestingly, 100% of the men polled were completely opposed to the idea of a woman vabbing or adding vaginal fluid to their perfume. The resounding sentiment was, "Oh, hell no!" That said, perhaps you have had a different response from your partner. Feel free to continue the dialog below. We want to know if you are vabbing, if you had a particular response from men when vabbing, or if you have a man (or woman) that is excited by the idea of you vabbing... Keep the conversation going.
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