THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SEX: DO REAL-LIFE LOVE POTIONS WORK?

Is there a chemistry of seduction? There surely was in the wizarding world. As potions master Severus Snape once said, “You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making. As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don’t expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses. I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death.”

In the Harry Potter Universe, love potions were brews of infatuation. They rendered the drinker obsessed with the person who gave them the drink. Not only were love potions thought to be very powerful, they were also known to be highly dangerous. Amortentia was the most powerful of such potions, with a mother-of-pearl sheen, and a signature spiral steaming while being brewed.

Like recreational drugs in the muggle world, love potions were banned at Hogwarts. And, like most muggle drug bans, the rules on the use of love potions only seemed to encourage witches and wizards to win hearts by their use. Indeed, even Ron’s mum, Molly Weasley, admitted to having brewed a love potion when she was a young witch at Hogwarts. The usual practice was to hide a love potion in food or drink, so the intended victim would know no better.

Getting potions into Hogwarts was like Prohibition. The Weasley shop, Wizard Wheezes, started selling a series of love potions as part of its WonderWitch promotion. And when Hogwarts caretaker, Argus Filch, banned all their products from the school, Fred and George Weasley instead shipped in potions disguised as perfumes and cough potions. So, the young witches and wizards of Hogwarts traded in contraband, ordering the love potions, despite mandatory searches on owls. Hermione learned evidence of such trade when she overheard girls in the bathroom gossiping about ways to slip Harry a love potion.

Muggles have toyed with the idea of aphrodisiacs for centuries. Foods such as chocolate, avocado, oysters, and honey have all been alleged to carry the reputation of being great for love and fertility. But what about muggle love potions? And what’s the chemical possibility that they might actually work?

Muggle Mixtures

The notion of love potions has long been appealing in the muggle world, too. But what progress has been made to synthesize something that might make muggles fall in love? Some scholars believe love potions could soon become a reality. One of the main reasons muggles fall head over heels is that muggle babies simply can’t fend for themselves. In contrast, many other animals have offspring quite capable of finding food and being self-sufficient, from the get-go.

Humans have really helpless babies. And that means, from the point of view of evolution, human parents better stay bonded so that their offspring have the best chance of survival. Cue pair-bonding systems. When muggles fall in love, the effect on their brains is unique. Chemical hormones called oxytocin and vasopressin are set free by activating the brain’s dopamine system. It’s dopamine that builds the bond. Dopamine symptoms are similar to taking a stimulant. Dopamine release fuels the frontal lobe, and causes muggle parents to realize that their partner is someone who should stick around, someone they should feel bonded to.

Muggles miss their partners’ smell. And, when separated, their bodies discharge a peptide hormone known as corticotropin-releasing hormone (CPH), involved in the body’s stress response. So, scholars think a real love potion could soon exist. Such an elixir could be created from a concoction of oxytocin, vasopressin, and CPH. But chemists don’t yet understand exactly how “the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins” would affect the right part of the muggle brain by stimulating the right systems. In short, a proper love potion won’t be available at your local pharmacy just yet, but brain science is developing swiftly. Scholars know far more about the muggle brain than they used to. Not only are they better at understanding the brain, they’re also better at modeling muggle brain circuitry. And that means, within a decade, scholars should be in a position to brew the glory of an elixir of love. So, soon, when the love potions are freely available at your local pharmacy, you could take a potion to make yourself fall in love.

However, love potions come with many problems. The archetypal love potion, which makes you desire someone simply because you drank the potion, is certainly fraught with moral dilemma. Ethically, if love potions existed, they’d be subject to the same challenges as so-called date rape drugs, as love potions could be administered to someone without their knowledge. And yet, love potions could also be used to help bond and strengthen long-term relationships. Emotions evolve over time. But a love potion knowingly taken, might be a way of topping up that love that had started to fade.

Would you take the potion?