Gay bomb

"Gay bomb" is an informal name for a theoretical non-lethal chemical weapon, which a United States Air Force research laboratory speculated about producing.

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In 1994 the Wright Laboratory in Ohio produced a three-page proposal of a variety of possible nonlethal chemical weapons, which was later obtained—complete with marginal jottings and typos—by the Sunshine Project through a Freedom of Information Act request.

In one sentence of the document it was suggested that a strong aphrodisiac could be dropped on enemy troops, ideally one which would also cause "homosexual behavior". The aphrodisiac weapon was described as "distasteful but completely non-lethal". In its "New Discoveries Needed" section, the document implicitly acknowledges that no such chemicals are actually known. The document also included many other off-beat ideas, such as spraying enemy troops with bee pheromones and then hiding numerous beehives in the combat area, and a chemical weapon that would give the enemy bad breath.

Wright Laboratory won the 2007 Ig Nobel Peace Prize for "instigating research & development on a chemical weapon—the so-called 'gay bomb'—that will make enemy soldiers become sexually irresistible to each other."^[1] However, Air Force personnel contacted were not willing to attend the award ceremony at Harvard University's Sanders Theater to accept the award in person.

See also

• Homokaasu, a fictitious poisonous chemical substance
• Bremelanotide, the only known synthetic aphrodisiac
• The Nude Bomb, a 1980 comedy movie about a bomb that dissolved clothing

References

1. ^ Winners of the Ig^® Nobel Prize. Improbable Research (2007). Retrieved on 2007-10-18.

• "Harassing, Annoying, and 'Bad Guy' Identifying Chemicals" (PDF). Sunshine Project. Retrieved on 2007-06-16.
• Smith, Michael. "Pentagon planned love bomb", Telegraph.co.uk, The Daily Telegraph, 15 January 2005. Retrieved on 2007-06-16. 
• "US military pondered love not war", news.bbc.co.uk, BBC News, 15 January 2005. Retrieved on 2007-06-16. 
• Bransten, Jeremy. "U.S.: Pentagon Unveils The Next Generation Of Nonlethal Weapons", GlobalSecurity.org, 30 January 2007. Retrieved on 2007-06-16. 
• Plante, Hank. "Pentagon Confirms It Sought To Build A 'Gay Bomb'", cbs5.com, KPIX-TV, 8 June 2007. Retrieved on 2007-06-16. 
• Bernard, Jerome. "Pentagon once mulled 'gay bomb' to promote love not war", Daily Times, 16 June 2007. Retrieved on 2007-06-16. 
• "Ig Nobel awards celebrate the sillier side of science", CNN.com, CNN, 5 October 2007. Retrieved on 2007-10-05. 

• Simpson, Mark (13 June 2007). 'Armed and Amorous'. The Guardian.
• Hambrick, Greg (12 June 2007). Gay Bomb, For Real. Gay Charleston: A Charleston City Paper Blog. Charleston City Paper. Retrieved on 2007-06-16.
• Kay, Jonathan (12 June 2007). "Jonathan Kay on the Pentagon's plan to build a 'gay bomb': Why is this 2005 story news again?". Full Comment. National Post. Retrieved on 2007-06-16.
• The Gay Bomb, with parody diagram. Unknown Website Parody. Unknown Publisher (12 June 2007). Retrieved on 2007-06-16.
• Hadassah's Bizzare - Electro Poetry & Absurdist Prose. Gay Bomb. Axon D'Luxe (22 November 2007). Retrieved on 2007-11-22.