M
en, by contrast, are better at identifying where sounds come from, an ancestral skill that is crucial during the hunt. Research also shows that women are more sensitive than men in distinguishing changes in voice, volume and tone. Women’s tactile sensibility is also more refined than men’s, and women’s skin, the largest organ in the human body, is more sensitive to touch and pressure. That is probably why they attach more importance to affection and contact in human relationships and are more inclined to touch other women during a conversation. It also appears that the fact that women typically have smaller fingers increases their tactile sensibility, as they enjoy a higher density of the structures responsible for tactile perception, known as Merkel corpuscles (cfr. Moir, Jessel, 1997; McFadden, 1998, Pease & Pease, 2001, pp. 27-44; Ryan, et al., 2009; Abramov et al., 2012). As far as sensibility to chemical stimuli is concerned, scientific research long ago proved women’s olfactory superiority over men, both for biological (neural and hormonal) and cultural reasons. This would seem to be a universal characteristic, and therefore independent of ethnicity, displayed by women in all areas of olfactory competence, although some recent studies, while recognizing it at all levels (identification, discrimination and olfactory threshold), choose to downplay its importance (cf. Sorokowski et al. 2019). And even the physiological decrease in sensitivity to odours after the age of sixty is more limited in women. Women perceive smell more intensely, are more sensitive to bodily odours, and especially to biologically significant ones such as musk (androstenone), have a greater aptitude for recognizing them and are more likely to call an odour either pleasant or unpleasant. They are more proficient in such tasks as the recognition, identification and naming of odours, also because they have better linguistic skills than men, which can also be traced back to a closer connection between the two cerebral hemispheres: the left hemisphere, more involved in linguistic competence, and the right hemisphere, where olfactory signals are identified and processed (on the latter point cf. Cavalieri, 2009, pp. 23-25 and the studies mentioned therein). Women are also better equipped than men when it comes to identifying and then putting a name to the bouquets of wine.
T
hey are also more olfactory than men for hormonal reasons, a disparity that develops from puberty onwards, with sexual maturation and the production of female hormones such as estrogen. The female sense of smell varies over the course of the menstrual cycle: women have a more pronounced olfactory sensibility (hyperosmia) during ovulation, when there is a high concentration of estrogen, and conversely a slight drop in sensibility (hyposmia) during the menstrual cycle. Sensitivity to odours and the ability to recognize them is also particularly well-developed in women of childbearing age. A 2014 study highlighted the presence of a much higher number of olfactory neurons in women’s brains than in men’s and in particular in the number of olfactory bulbs, the area involved in processing odours and responsible in particular for receiving information from the olfactory receptors (see Oliveira-Pinto, 2014). Alongside the biological reasons for women’s olfactory superiority, there is also their greater experience with odours, i.e. their greater familiarity with them, correlated both evolutionarily and culturally with the tasks of gathering and preparing food, typically performed by women, and with the rituals
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of grooming and hygiene. For example, the traditional division of roles meant that men and women live in different olfactory universes, leaving men less familiar with such smells as detergents, soap, vinegar, ammonia, etc., not to mention cooking (cf. Vroon et al., 1994, pp. 98-101n; Brand, Millot, 2001; Cavalieri, 2009, 44-45; Wurz et al., 2017).
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omen are also better equipped in terms of taste – they perceive the flavours of food better than men do and describe them more precisely, and are also more able to grasp the differences between flavours. Unlike men, who find it easier to taste bitter and salty flavours, women, for evolutionary reasons connected with picking plant-based foods and feeding their offspring, have a more refined sensibility to the range of sweet flavours, a skill needed for checking how the fruits are when picking them (cf. Pease & Pease, 2001, p. 42). On average, women also have more taste receptors, which is why there is a higher percentage of so-called “supertasters” among them, i.e. individuals whose genetic make-up has given them more taste receptors (taste buds and fungiform papillae) and therefore a greater sensitivity to the basic flavours (bitter, sweet, acid and salty) and to irritating substances (trigeminal stimuli such as spiciness and alcoholic warmth). Once again, the evolutionary reasons relate this feminine aptitude to the need to find out whether food is edible both during and after pregnancy, as progenitors, carers and protectors of our offspring (cf. Bartoshuk et al., 1994). And the results of one of the largest studies carried out on young people’s and children’s ability to taste, their taste preferences and their ability to differentiate between sweet and sour, show that on average girls are better at recognising flavours than boys. Boys needed food to be 10% more acidic and 20% sweeter to achieve the same detection levels as girls (University of Copenhagen, 2008). Although the biological component therefore undeniably plays a role in determining certain sensory aptitudes, it is clear that training and practice are crucial, especially when it comes to taste and smell – the senses most closely involved in the awareness and appreciation of a food, wine or extra-virgin olive oil, but also the most capable of learning. On the other hand, professions that require olfactory and gustatory skills such as sommeliers, chefs or organoleptic analysts are the result of expertise, as well as knowhow acquired through practice and study, where natural aptitude plays a minor role. And after all, we are not born a chef or a sommelier, but we can become one. But also sensibility, in the sense of a certain “disposition for...”, as an attentiveness to our surroundings, as an ability to listen carefully can to a certain extent be learned. So if we haven’t exactly been blessed by nature when it comes to sensibility, rest assured that we can always catch up by bolstering our culture and experience.
