The constant fascination with vaginas and their scent has always been mind-boggling to me.

From the hype around Goop’s ‘This Smells Like My Vagina Candle’ to the plethora of products telling women how to make their vagina smell like every flowery scent under the sun, the fixation around vaginas and how to bottle, brand and sell their scents - despite doctors like Jen Gunter warning us that scented washes can cause harm – has been a topic of conversation for decades.

And that conversation just got a new lease of life with the emergence of vabbing.

Vabbing, also known as vaginal dabbing, is the practice of using bodily fluids (mainly vaginal fluids, obviously) as a perfume in order to attract a partner.

The theory behind it is based on the idea that vaginal secretions contain pheromones, which are reported to play a huge role in mating for animals. However, scientists say there is no official evidence to know to what degree pheromones can influence sexual and romantic compatibility in humans.

While the phenomenon reportedly dates back to the 1950s, it was popularised by sexologist Shan Boodram in 2019, in her book The Game of Desire.

Why vabbing has become a controversial TikTok trend for people who want to attract a partner