What's In A Name

What’s in a Name?
I joined this website in late March 2006 and around September (yeah, I’m slow and don’t know Dutch) it struck me that the website’s name was a different spelling of pheromone.
I vaguely remembered that pheromones had something to do with sexual attraction and that exercise and cold showers released them. That both should be true didn’t seem quite possible so I looked the word up.
Dictionary.com didn’t mention sex or showers at all. At least not at first:Pheromone: a substance that serves to influence the behaviour of other members of the same species.
Hmm. So it’s not just biological perfume to get sex like I thought. Feromoon as a website name started to make some sense.
The substance would naturally be the contents of this website and they would influence the behaviour of all of us members and lurkers.

But could you call the members and lurkers of this website a species? You better believe it! A group of women that cannot survive unless they have downloaded, viewed and catalogued every bit of lesbiana ever filmed, taped, recorded or written is a species unto itself. Oh yeah, we’re a species alright.
The definition of pheromone is further elaborated on in the American Heritage Dictionary and hinted at the possibility of sexual attraction being part of its purpose:
In many animal species pheromones are used to establish territory and attract mates.

Okay, Feromoon is definitely territorial. We are a dykespace claiming our spot in cyberspace and we certainly attract. Lesbo-media freaks from at least 3 continents swarm to the downloads, commentary and spoiler dirt like bees to honey. Yeah, that’s us alright. I suppose mates is meant in the English and Australian sense of being good friends—pals and nothing much sexual after all. Well, at least for me. So far I’ve only been pm(ed) about sharing dvds. But what about the rest of you? Will we soon need to start a chart like Alice’s for our members’ interaction? (According to the ex-president Jimmy Carter lusting after a woman in your mind is the same as having sex with her so no one is off the hook on this one)

But now to the difficult part of the definition. Feromoon, if it is a pheromone, influences the behaviour of the members. I can’t speak for everyone, but I definitely feel under the influence after visiting the site. I feel less lonely about being the only lesbian in my backwater Norwegian town. And I feel proud and happy to belong to this wonderful cyber family. Sometimes it even makes me feel sexy-- and at my age an awful lot of influence is required to light my fire. So the site definitely inluences us all in positive ways. At least my girlfriend thinks so.

Best of luck to us all with our new website. We begin just in time for the commencement of the fourth season of the L Word. Let the downloading, commentary, spoiler dirt and heart to heart true life sharing begin!

written on February the 16th 2007 by Wisno.

Posted in FAQ