The cliché that attributed glamor, sensuality and greater sexual attractiveness to smokers no longer works. Nor is it asking for a fire to flirt, because today smoking is not only not sexy but also reduces the chances of finding a partner. According to an analysis carried out by the Dua platform among more than 460,000 users of its application, smokers receive 53% fewer matches than non-smokers. And among women, non-smokers receive 64% more proposals.
A study from the Department of Psychology of the University of Oviedo already pointed to this trend in 2018. The researchers analyzed whether smoking cigarettes affected the choice of a partner for an intimate and occasional relationship and saw that only 11% of smokers, 6.2 % of non-smokers and 9.1% of ex-smokers preferred a smoker for an informal and intimate relationship. And for 41.6% of non-smokers and 27% of ex-smokers, tobacco use weighed against starting a relationship.
Hence, being a smoker or not is one of the traits that users include in their dating app profiles. “I don’t smoke much and I don’t care if the other smokes or not, but it is something that is recorded to avoid situations like being told ‘I didn’t come to lick an ashtray’ or ‘I’d rather have a plate of aioli than this smell tobacco’â€, says Montse (45 years old).
Pau (23 years old) assures that he has not had any run-ins for being a smoker but he has detected some contempt or comments of moral superiority on the part of a non-smoker, and he has begun to become aware that tobacco is diminishing his options for flirting because he sees how his non-smoking friends look for partners who don’t smoke either “and there are many more non-smokersâ€.
Antonio Baena and Blanca Benito, psychologists and members of the National Committee for the Prevention of Tobacco (CNPT), point out that the reason why tobacco use has ceased to be glamorous is that smoking has become “denormalized”. Only a third of the Spanish population between the ages of 15 and 64 do so on a regular basis (as shown in the upper and lower graphs), so “normal” is not to use tobacco and that people prefer to be in environments without smoke and with people who do not smoke
The fact that smoking is prohibited in places of leisure and work also contributes. “Today smokers have to choose to stay with other smokers or separate from the group, abandon the conversation, to go out to smoke,” says Benito, who is also a technician in the Cantabria government’s Smoking Plan.
In fact, although the main arguments of non-smokers and ex-smokers for not having a smoking partner are bad breath, the smell of tobacco and smoke, in the study by the University of Oviedo, 6% mentioned having to leave a place to smoke
Baena stresses that, despite everything, the majority of non-smokers are very tolerant and, although the social perception of tobacco has changed (as the graph that follows these lines shows), those who consume it are not criminalized. “The step of looking badly at the smoker has not been taken and, more than the moral superiority of the non-smoker, what there is sometimes is a feeling of inferiority of the one who knows that he is taking a drug and cannot control it,” says the psychologist and UOC professor.
The president of Nofumadores.org, Raquel Fernández Megina, assures that, devoid of any glamour, tobacco continues to have a lot of social acceptance in public spaces but less so in private ones.
“When it comes to intimate relationships or sharing a home, we are no longer so permissive; there is an increasing demand for flats where smoking is not allowed,” he says.
Real estate reports confirm this. According to data from the Idealista platform, if in 2008 the percentage of people looking for non-smoking roommates was 31.9%, last year 76% established this condition for tenants.
And in Pisos.com they point out that 27.20% of the rooms offered last year expressly stated the veto for smokers, just over one percentage point more than in 2018.
Ana DomÃnguez, professor of Labor Law and Social Security at the University of Seville, assures that another of the areas where the social perception of smokers has radically changed is that of employment.
“A few decades ago it was accepted and widespread that people smoked in any work environment, including a doctor’s office or a school classroom; Today, not only is smoking prohibited in all enclosed spaces of any business, but companies are expected to help employees quit that habit and we are going to begin to see how some restrict new hires to non-smokersâ€, he points out.
And in case anyone doubts that a company can refuse to hire a person because they smoke, explain that both current legislation and jurisprudence allow it. “Differential treatment is not always discrimination; the causes of discrimination are valued by laws and jurisprudence and refer to personal circumstances that have historically segregated or marginalized a group, such as sex, race or age; tobacco is notâ€, explains DomÃnguez.
And he adds that establishing a difference in the treatment of smokers to protect the majority of the population for reasons of health and integrity is fully justified.
“A company may refuse to hire someone who smokes because it is a smoke-free space, because they do not want customers to smell tobacco when they enter, because they are afraid that they will neglect their duties to go out to smoke or that not being able to do so will cause them anxiety and reduce their productivity… If the employer believes that smoking can have negative consequences, the company is free to deny the job to that personâ€, concludes the Labor Law expert.
