God. This is a disturbing article

It involves medical malpractice, and genital mutilation, and I'm sure it's triggering for very nearly everything.

I'm scared to do any research to find out how accurate it is, so I'm just going to sit here and hope that it's all been exaggerated and/or made up entirely.

An article on fragrance

Apparently, a full 15% of American women do not use perfume. Shocking!

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Notable quotes:

But perfume aversion seems to be tapping into a larger societal phenomenon that may have its origins in bans on cellphones and cigarettes: the idea that the collective demands of the public space trump one’s personal space.

“People are shying away from fragrances not for the traditional reasons that you’d expect, that it is too expensive or that they are wearing alternative products like body sprays or lotions,” Ms. Grant said. “Many people said it bothers them that fragrance has an effect on other people, that they are trying to be considerate by not overcoming others with scent.”

If this is indeed the case, I can only see the trend as a good thing. Consideration for others is only good. (I had the misfortune recently to read a comment elsewhere wherein somebody whined that her kids needs were being neglected because their school did not allow them to bring peanut butter in. I'm so glad to know that her child's needs to eat peanut butter are more important than another child's needs not to go into anaphylactic shock at school - and no, I don't think it's reasonable to just tell children not to share. That's why we call them children.)

Indeed, Rochelle R. Bloom, the president of the Fragrance Foundation, an industry trade group, said that people who worry that their fragrance may offend others simply may be wearing perfume improperly.

“Your fragrance should never be perceived beyond an arm’s length, it should not precede you into the room,” Ms. Bloom said.

Because we really don't want our scent going to the opera by itself. I only quoted this so I could say that. (The other day - actually, a few months ago - I had another misfortune, that of seeing a sign in a store with seven, count 'em (I sure did) seven exclamation points at the end. I don't care how big the sale is, it only merits, at most, three exclams. Not seven! This doesn't seem relevant, but following my train of thought, it actually is.)