It’s a staple of adolescent comedy: pussies smell like fish. There’s the one about the blind man who passes the fish store and says, “Good morning, ladies!”
Another version holds that Adam (the Biblical first man) stopped letting Eve bathe in the stream that ran through the Garden of Eden after she made “the fish smell like it.” Madonna cracked this one between songs while on tour several years ago. There’s even a rhyme:
"Seven wise men with knowledge so fine,
created a pussy to their design...
Fifth was a fisherman,
nasty as hell,
threw in a fish and gave it a smell..."
It may be funny, but is it true? Do vaginas really smell like fish? Ask a hundred people what pussies smell like and you may get a hundred different answers. Eve Ensler did just that and collected some of the answers in The Vagina Monologues. A (very subjective) top five might include:
Sweet ginger
Vinegar and water
Damp moss
The woods
Somewhere between fish and lilacs
Fish appears on Ensler’s list, along with a variety of other organic perfumes both pleasant and unpleasant. Some of the women in the monologues are not ashamed of their natural smells. “My vagina doesn’t need to be cleaned up. It smells good already. Not like rose petals,” goes the monologue entitled “My Angry Vagina.” “Don’t believe him when he tells you it smells like rose petals when it’s supposed to smell like pussy.”
Still, some who tried to pin down the smell of pussy were reminded of the ocean, and the South Pacific in particular. Another unscientific poll on the Internet turns up some more interesting responses:
Chicken soup with a load of pennies in it
Mango pork
Salty milk with coins in it
Somewhat salty and alkaline, like licking a big fleshy battery
“A healthy vagina is as clean and pure as a carton of yogurt. A normal vagina should have a sweet, slightly pungent odor. It should have the lactic acid smell of yogurt,” according to gynecologist Dr. Sharon Hillier. A healthy vagina is slightly less acidic than lemon juice, slightly more acidic than black coffee, or about the same acidity level as red wine.
Semen, because it is highly alkaline, can disrupt the pussy’s pH balance and cause scents that are slightly “off.” Is semen the culprit behind the pussy-fish stink link? Or are the culprits those redheads with the seashell bras who are always crooning about life under the sea?
Another version holds that Adam (the Biblical first man) stopped letting Eve bathe in the stream that ran through the Garden of Eden after she made “the fish smell like it.” Madonna cracked this one between songs while on tour several years ago. There’s even a rhyme:
"Seven wise men with knowledge so fine,
created a pussy to their design...
Fifth was a fisherman,
nasty as hell,
threw in a fish and gave it a smell..."
It may be funny, but is it true? Do vaginas really smell like fish? Ask a hundred people what pussies smell like and you may get a hundred different answers. Eve Ensler did just that and collected some of the answers in The Vagina Monologues. A (very subjective) top five might include:
Sweet ginger
Vinegar and water
Damp moss
The woods
Somewhere between fish and lilacs
Fish appears on Ensler’s list, along with a variety of other organic perfumes both pleasant and unpleasant. Some of the women in the monologues are not ashamed of their natural smells. “My vagina doesn’t need to be cleaned up. It smells good already. Not like rose petals,” goes the monologue entitled “My Angry Vagina.” “Don’t believe him when he tells you it smells like rose petals when it’s supposed to smell like pussy.”
Still, some who tried to pin down the smell of pussy were reminded of the ocean, and the South Pacific in particular. Another unscientific poll on the Internet turns up some more interesting responses:
Chicken soup with a load of pennies in it
Mango pork
Salty milk with coins in it
Somewhat salty and alkaline, like licking a big fleshy battery
“A healthy vagina is as clean and pure as a carton of yogurt. A normal vagina should have a sweet, slightly pungent odor. It should have the lactic acid smell of yogurt,” according to gynecologist Dr. Sharon Hillier. A healthy vagina is slightly less acidic than lemon juice, slightly more acidic than black coffee, or about the same acidity level as red wine.
Semen, because it is highly alkaline, can disrupt the pussy’s pH balance and cause scents that are slightly “off.” Is semen the culprit behind the pussy-fish stink link? Or are the culprits those redheads with the seashell bras who are always crooning about life under the sea?
Great article! Entertaining and educational: I'd never heard the rhyme before.
We know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Could it be that a beatiful vagina is in the nose of the beholder?
I think you're on the right trail with the supposition that semen might be the culprit. I noticed a few months ago that my girly bits smell a bit less woodsy and a bit more like the ocean after I let him finish inside me.
it smells more "fishy" to me during my period, right before it (stronger smelling) or the day after my bf comes in me. the rest of the time it has a scent, but it's not fishy to me.
Fun! Sharing this one with my friends on Facebook. Just for the smell of it.
I don't think I've ever smelled fishy as far I can tell. I smell more musky if anything. During my period, I smell like copper for some reason. I have a sort of salty, tangy flavor that is unlike any food that I can think of.
Musky maybe, but anything 'fishy' is a sign of infection I would think...or lack of hygiene