The Science of Squirting.
Girls are generally thought to be confusing creatures. But nothing seems more confounding than the female anatomy, especially with regards to sex. Unlike males, not all females can come during intercourse—why is that? Is the G-spot even a real thing? Can females, like males, ejaculate? Is female ejaculation the same as “squirting”?
My most recent ex-boyfriend asked me if I could “squirt.” “It would be so awesome if you did,” he said. “Um, not that I know of,” I replied, “but maybe that just means you need to try harder?”
His question got me thinking—are all females supposed to “squirt”? Or is it just a skill only a few females possess? How does it happen? What is the difference between squirting and female ejaculation, if there is one?
It turns out I’m not the only one who wonders about these things. Squirting is, in fact, what a well-known sexologist called “one of the most hotly debated questions in modern sexology,” and nobody is actually sure how or why it happens. One thing people have all seemed to agree on, though, is a definition for squirting: the expulsion of fluid through and around the urethra during or before an orgasm.
There is a lot of scientific evidence that the fluid expelled during orgasm is actually just urine. Perhaps squirting is simply just incontinence caused by stress, or in the case of sex, orgasm. However, most women who have experienced it have said that the fluid neither looks, smells, or even tastes like urine (oh, the things people do for science). And not all science supports the fact that the fluid is urine—there is a lot of inconsistency. In fact, the Journal of Sexual Medicine published a study in which researchers found that this fluid showed all the characteristic of prostate plasma—not urine—and concluded that this might be proof that the female paraurethral, or Skene’s, gland, which is where the fluid comes from, actually functions as female prostate glands. A more recent French study also showed that the fluid contained prostate plasma, but the fluid, they concluded, was still mostly urine, and its emission was involuntary.
If the fluid released during squirting comes from Skene’s glands, which all women have, then does this means that all women have the capability to squirt? Depending on the study, between six and 60% of women have reported that they have experienced it before.
Every woman has different anatomy, though. The placement of a woman’s Skene’s gland and the ability to produce prostate fluid are both factors that may determine whether or not a woman is able to squirt. Thus, not every woman can physically squirt, no matter how hard their boyfriends try to make them.
There is some speculation that squirting may also be caused by stimulation of the G-spot. However, there is a lot of uncertainty about the existence of the G-spot itself, so its possible role in squirting is far from confirmed. The Skene’s gland is usually located on the back wall of the vagina near the lower end of the urethra, and may be near or part of the G-spot. Stimulating the G-spot during intercourse could very well lead to squirting for some women, but not for others. And that’s assuming G-spots even exist!
Squirting and female ejaculation are commonly used interchangeably, but there is actually a slight difference between the two. Female ejaculation involves the release of a thick, whitish fluid from the female prostate, whereas squirting, which is most often seen in porn, is the release of clear fluid from the bladder.
The presence of squirting in porn makes the phenomenon seem much more normal and frequent than it really is. Classic porn, with its unrealistic sexual standards it sets for us. Squirting is involuntary, but porn makes it seem like every woman can squirt every time, or on command. That is simply not true. There are many ways to fake squirting on camera, including simply having the woman pee, or putting water in the vagina before shooting the scene.
That said, many people, especially men, still hold the belief that women can squirt, and if they can’t make them squirt, then maybe they aren’t good enough in bed. Women also feel inadequate when they can’t squirt on command or at all, because squirting is associated with intense sexual pleasure. There are many articles that you can find on the Internet that offer a multitude of tips for how to get a girl to squirt. But as science has shown, it all comes down to anatomy, and just because a woman cannot squirt, does not mean that she does not enjoy sex to its full potential.
Anonymous hopes that squirting is made a little less confusing.
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