“Ask Anna” is a sex column. Because of the nature of the topic, some columns contain language some readers may find graphic.

A friend of mine learned about vabbing on TikTok and now is insisting that wearing her vaginal secretions as perfume is leading to more attention from men, more phone numbers and more dates. Is there any truth to this or is this some bizarre, pointless trend? — Very Ambivalent ‘Bout Secretions

Thank you for bringing this important cultural issue to my attention. Though TikTok is responsible for the latest wave of Vagnel No. 5 enthusiasm, vabbing — that is, dabbing one’s vaginal fluids like perfume — as a concept is actually not new. In Tom Robbins’ 1976 novel “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues,” the titular cowgirl gives a detailed account of the “art” of donning one’s juices to enhance pheromones and, theoretically, attract mates.

But what are pheromones exactly? They are chemical substances secreted by animals that are received by other animals, usually for the purpose of reproduction. They include sweat, saliva, urine (the next trend?) and genital secretions. And while pheromones have been observed in many different animals, their role in humans isn’t certain, because we don’t have the organ responsible for processing the pheromone signal.

That said, smell is important to human bonding and mate selection — it’s how infants find their mothers’ nipples and how, when paired with our other senses, we judge other people as potential mates or not. Odor creates broader impressions of a person’s health status, attractiveness and emotional state. (We can actually smell fear, disgust and stress in others.)

Well, that’s all well and good, but does rooting around in your hoo-ha and applying the secretions to your wrists and neck make you more attractive to others?

According to Eva Garrett, who studies the evolution of smell in primates at Boston University, the answer is: not really. As she tells Popular Science, “If someone thinks [vabbing is] going to help them find a date or partner, it might just be more of a placebo effect.”

Interestingly, perfumes in general provide a placebo effect, in that donning fragrance acts as a mood elevator, and can signal cleanliness and social status. On top of that, according to research on the psychology of perfume, fragrances are “frequently considered to enhance sexual attractiveness.”

Since vabbing is technically a fragrance application, it may have a similar effect on the wearer’s mood, perceptions of their own attractiveness and feel-good feelings, which in turn likely makes them more attractive to others. Or, said another way, while scent influences a potential mate’s impression of you, it may also affect your impression of yourself, upping your self-confidence, which then ups the likelihood of that potential mate being attracted to you. (A similar study was done on deodorant. The male research participants who wore deodorant were perceived as more attractive by women than the ones who didn’t wear it, even though all the men were rated over video and could not be smelled.)

So, if wearing Dior Sauvag provides the same psychological benefits as shelling out cash for Snooki Body Spray (remember Snooki?), then you (or in this case, your friend) might well save herself some money and keep dousing herself in Eau de Poussey. At the very least, there’s no real harm in vabbing, assuming a person’s hands are clean when, uh, sample collecting, and that one’s vaginal flora is in good health — that is, no STIs, UTIs or other bacterial infections.

But let’s be real: wearing your own juices isn’t going to suddenly swarm you in a sea of sex. If, however, you believe that it will, it might make you feel more confident, which tends to have positive repercussions that might then confirm your initial beliefs, thus completing the whole circle … jerk.

(Sorry. At least it wasn’t another vagina perfume pun?)

(Anna Pulley is a syndicated Tribune Content Agency columnist answering reader questions about love, sex and dating. Send your questions via email (anonymity guaranteed) to redeyedating@gmail.com, sign up for her infrequent (yet amazing) newsletter or check out her books!)