Arts window on the world

Everyone knows that family ties are strong. There is the old proverb "blood is thicker than water" [meaning that family steps in ahead of religion(water refers to baptism)]. Families seem to be willing to help one another, put up with one another, and in general support each other in ways which would not occur between strangers.

Any binding relationship like this between people, which has few, if any, other observable causes probably point to pheromone generated relationship. Certainly the common years-long mutual exposure to one another's pheromones would exist in a family.

Another check on this would be the results in broken families. Very seldom can any strong family relationship exist where families have been torn apart. Look at the effects of divorce on the children (not to mention the husband and wife). There appears to be a universally noticed lack of being accepted, of being part of a family. Again children raised with a single parent seem to notice the lack in their lives, in the differences between them and others.

Notice in most cases, that the lack of either a male or a female causes damage to the family. That is, they both seem to be needed, it is not just a case of 2 people but of the complementary existence of male and female needed to complete the family ties.

This also sheds some light on adoption. Because family ties are built by living together, it is not the genetic heritage, alone, which makes the family. Children who are brought into the family share the same pheromone mix as the others and so are built into the same family ties.

Amazing what the recognition of pheromones adds to the understanding of social structure!