gay bomb

This document, eventually acquired by the Sunshine Project via a Freedom of Information Act request, explores the notion of the "gay bomb" among other concepts. The Pentagon did not deny that the proposal had been made, stating its commitment for researching non-lethal weapons for military use. Critics, such as Aaron Belkin, director of the University of California's Michael Palm Center, called the idea as "ludicrous" for thinking that an aerosol could possibly change people into homosexuals.

No well-controlled scientific studies have ever been published suggesting the possibility of pheromones causing rapid behavioral changes in humans. Some body spray advertisers claim that their products contain human sex pheromones which act as an aphrodisiac. In the 1970s, "copulins" were patented as products which release human pheromones, based on research on rhesus monkeys. Subsequently, androstenone, axillary sweat, and "vomodors" have been claimed to act as human pheromones. Despite these claims, no pheromonal substance has ever been demonstrated to directly influence human behavior in a peer reviewed study. Using a brain imaging technique, Swedish researchers have shown that when homosexual and heterosexual males are presented with two odors that may be involved in sexual arousal, their brains tend to respond differently—the homosexual men tend to respond in the same way as heterosexual women, though it could not be determined whether this was a causal relationship. The study was expanded to include homosexual women; the results were consistent with previous findings meaning that homosexual women were not as responsive to male identified odors, while their response to female cues was similar to that of heterosexual males. According to the researchers, this research suggests a possible role for human pheromones in the biological basis of sexual orientation.

Wright Laboratory won the satiric 2007 Ig Nobel Peace Prize for "instigating research & development on a chemical weapon—the so-called 'gay bomb'—that will make enemy soldiers become sexually irresistible to each other."