Bad odors and the ultra-right
Did you know that people who are easily disgusted by body odor tend to support right-wing leaders? No, it's not fake news! This is the result of research published by the Swede Jonas Olofsson in the scientific journal Royal Society Open Science. The author links this aversion to a natural attempt by these individuals to reduce their contact with groups other than their own and thereby reduce the chances of coming into contact with disease-causing pathogens.
This is all very interesting, but it seems to me that recent events in Brazil do not support this conclusion. At the time of the pandemic, we saw statements in the media from Bolsonaro and his supporters against the use of masks and vaccines against the spread of Covid-19. So this association between followers of totalitarian leaders and the fear of contamination by pathogens doesn't seem to exist in Brazil. Could this be another one of those things that only happen in Brazil, which people call "jabuticabas"? Well, Trump and his followers in the United States have also shown this kind of behavior... Anyway, it would be interesting if someone could warn Dr. Olofsson.
Another curious story about body odor is the use of Lysol in douches for women recommended by doctors in the 1950s. Advertisements published in women's magazines at the time suggested that marriages often went cold due to their wives' lack of hygiene and that, in order to avoid being cheated on or abandoned and to keep their marriage happy, they should wash themselves with a Lysol solution. Although doctors at the time were aware that Lysol could induce abortion due to the presence of cresol in its composition, nothing was done about this type of advertising. In fact, it was precisely the use of this product in post-coital douches as an abortifacient that led to the deaths of thousands of women in USA.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
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