Female Ejaculation
Female ejaculation is the release of a small amount of fluid from the female paraurethral glands during sexual stimulation, especially around orgasm. In modern sexual-medicine literature it is usually distinguished from squirting, which involves a much larger volume of mostly bladder-derived fluid, and from vaginal lubrication, which is produced mainly by fluid passing through the vaginal wall during arousal.[1]
The term is often used much more loosely in pornography and everyday language. Expressions such as female cum or girl cum may refer to lubrication, female ejaculation, squirting, or a mixture of several fluids rather than to female ejaculation in the narrower physiological sense.
Where does female ejaculate come from?
The fluid associated with female ejaculation is produced by paraurethral glands, commonly called the Skene's glands. These glandular tissues are located around the female urethra and are sometimes collectively described as the female prostate.[2]
Histological research has found similarities between these glands and male prostatic tissue. Female paraurethral tissue can produce substances including prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and prostatic acid phosphatase.[3]
The ducts of the paraurethral glands communicate with the urethral region. Consequently, fluid appearing during female ejaculation comes from around the urethra rather than being ordinary fluid produced inside the vagina.
The term female prostate is useful for describing the biological similarity, but terminology is still discussed in anatomical literature. Skene's glands or paraurethral glands are more specific descriptions of the tissues involved.
What does female ejaculation look like?
In the narrower modern definition, female ejaculate is usually a small quantity of thick, whitish or milky-white fluid. A review of female sexual fluids describes it as a few milliliters of thick, milky secretion from the paraurethral glands.[4]
The typical color is therefore white to whitish or milky white. Clinical sexual-health sources also describe female ejaculate as sometimes grayish.[5] It is generally less transparent than the large volume of clear or nearly clear fluid associated with squirting.
The fluid is usually described as relatively thick or viscous rather than watery. One biochemical case study characterized female ejaculate as very scanty, thick and whitish, while the participant's squirting fluid was clear, abundant and chemically similar to diluted urine.[6]
Color alone cannot identify the fluid with certainty. Female ejaculate can immediately mix with clear vaginal lubrication, cervical or vaginal secretions, or squirting fluid, changing both its color and consistency.
Because the quantity can be very small, female ejaculation may appear only as a whitish film, a few drops or a small amount of milky fluid around the urethral region. It may remain on the vulva or be transferred to fingers, a penis or a sex toy without forming an obvious visible jet.
A large transparent or watery emission is therefore much more consistent with squirting than with narrowly defined female ejaculation, although both processes can occur simultaneously.[1]
Female ejaculation and orgasm
Female ejaculation is strongly associated with sexual stimulation and is commonly described as occurring during or near female orgasm. A 2022 review defines it as the release of a small quantity of paraurethral secretion associated with orgasm.[1]
Female orgasm does not, however, require visible ejaculation. A woman can have an orgasm without producing any recognizable ejaculatory fluid.
Older research reported fluid expulsions occurring both with and without orgasm, and occasionally even without consciously experienced sexual arousal.[7] Interpretation is difficult because older studies often grouped together phenomena that are now separated into female ejaculation, squirting and other fluid release.
It is therefore safer to regard orgasm as a common context for female ejaculation rather than assuming that every detectable paraurethral secretion must occur at the exact moment of orgasm.
What does it feel like?
There is no unique sensation that proves female ejaculation has occurred. The secretion may happen alongside the much stronger sensations of orgasm and therefore may not be perceived as a separate bodily event.
A woman may notice fluid leaving the genital region, but a small-volume ejaculate can be much less obvious than squirting. Some may discover it only because fluid is visible afterward.
Pressure, pelvic-floor contractions and genital sensations around orgasm can occur at the same time, but they are components of the broader sexual response rather than a specific diagnostic sensation of female ejaculation.
Female ejaculation vs. squirting
Female ejaculation and squirting are often treated as synonyms in pornography and everyday discussion, but modern reviews describe different physiological mechanisms.[1]
Female ejaculation is described as a few milliliters of thicker paraurethral secretion containing a relatively high concentration of PSA.[4]
Squirting is generally a larger-volume, transparent, transurethral emission whose principal source is the urinary bladder. The expelled fluid resembles diluted urine, although secretions from the paraurethral glands can be mixed into it.[1]
An experimental study of five women who could reliably squirt used dyed fluid placed in the bladder before sexual stimulation. The expelled fluid contained the dye in every participant, confirming the bladder as its principal source in that experiment; PSA was also detectable in four of the five samples.[8]
Female ejaculation and squirting can also occur at the same time. A large squirt can therefore contain a smaller amount of paraurethral ejaculate, making visual classification even more difficult.[1]
Female ejaculation vs. vaginal lubrication
Vaginal lubrication is another different process.
During sexual arousal, increased genital blood flow causes plasma-derived fluid to pass through the vaginal wall. This transvaginal transudate is a major source of normal sexual lubrication.[4]
Lubrication can gradually make the vagina, vaginal entrance and vulva wet without any moment of ejaculation. It therefore corresponds more closely to the everyday idea of a wet pussy than to female ejaculation.
Female ejaculation instead refers to secretion from the paraurethral glands. The origin, mechanism and typical quantity are different.
In an actual sexual situation the fluids can mix. A visibly wet vulva after orgasm may contain lubrication, ordinary vaginal secretions, female ejaculate, squirting fluid, semen, saliva or added lubricant. Appearance alone cannot reliably separate all of them.
How common is female ejaculation?
There is no precise modern prevalence figure for narrowly defined female ejaculation.
A 2013 systematic review reported estimates ranging from 10% to 54%. The authors also emphasized that objectively documented cases were far fewer and that much of the reported prevalence came from subjective questionnaire studies.[9]
This very wide range partly reflects a terminology problem. Older surveys could ask women whether they had ever "ejaculated" or released fluid without establishing whether the fluid was small-volume paraurethral ejaculate, a large-volume squirt, lubrication or urine.
Modern distinctions therefore make some historical prevalence estimates difficult to interpret as measurements of female ejaculation specifically.
Female ejaculation should consequently not be described as something that all or most women necessarily do. Its absence is also not evidence of weak arousal, poor orgasm or sexual dysfunction.
Can a woman learn to ejaculate?
Research does not establish a reliable technique that will cause narrowly defined female ejaculation in every woman.
Sexual stimulation of tissues around the anterior vaginal wall and urethral region has historically been associated with reports of fluid expulsion, but claims about a discrete anatomical G-spot remain controversial. Anatomical reviews have not established a single independent organ corresponding to the popular G-spot concept.[10]
The paraurethral tissues, urethra, vagina and clitoral complex are anatomically close together. Stimulation in this region can therefore involve several structures simultaneously without proving the existence of one special ejaculation button.
A woman who never observes female ejaculation does not need to train herself to produce it. It is a variable sexual response, not a required stage of orgasm.
For a practical discussion of squirting, see How to Squirt. That guide concerns squirting rather than small-volume female ejaculation.
What pornography can make confusing
Adult media frequently uses female ejaculation, squirting and girl cum interchangeably.
This is understandable as visual categorization: a large squirt is much easier to see on camera than a few milliliters of paraurethral secretion. It does not mean that the terms describe identical physiology.
Pornography can therefore create the impression that female ejaculation should involve a dramatic jet of fluid. Under the narrower scientific terminology, that visual event is much more likely to be classified as squirting.
It can also create an unnecessary performance expectation. Neither a large squirt nor visible female ejaculate is required for a physiologically real orgasm.
Related adult search terms
Related adult and search terms include
- female ejaculation,
- female ejaculate,
- female cum,
- girl cum,
- woman ejaculation,
- female ejaculation orgasm,
- female ejaculation fluid,
- female ejaculation vs squirting,
- female cum vs squirting,
- Skene's glands,
- female prostate,
- and female ejaculation vs vaginal lubrication.
See also
References
- ↑ 1,1 1,2 1,3 1,4 1,5 1,6 Pastor Z, Chmel R. Female ejaculation and squirting as similar but completely different phenomena: A narrative review of current research. Clinical Anatomy, 2022. PubMed
- ↑ Tomalty D, Giovannetti O, Hannan J, et al. Should We Call It a Prostate? A Review of the Female Periurethral Glandular Tissue Morphology, Histochemistry, Nomenclature, and Role in Iatrogenic Sexual Dysfunction. Sexual Medicine Reviews, 2022. PubMed
- ↑ Zaviacic M, Ablin RJ. The female prostate revisited: perineal ultrasound and biochemical studies of female ejaculate. Journal of Sexual Medicine, 2007. PubMed
- ↑ 4,1 4,2 4,3 Pastor Z, Chmel R. Differential diagnostics of female "sexual" fluids: a narrative review. International Urogynecology Journal, 2018. PubMed
- ↑ International Society for Sexual Medicine. Do women ejaculate? 2021. ISSM
- ↑ Pastor Z, Chmel R. New insights from one case of female ejaculation. Journal of Sexual Medicine, 2011. PubMed
- ↑ Kratochvíl S. Orgasmic expulsions in women. Československá psychiatrie, 1994. PubMed
- ↑ Salama S, Boitrelle F, Gauquelin A, et al. Enhanced visualization of female squirting. International Journal of Urology, 2022. PubMed
- ↑ Pastor Z, Chmel R. Female ejaculation orgasm vs. coital incontinence: a systematic review. Journal of Sexual Medicine, 2013. PubMed
- ↑ Hoag N, Keast JR, O'Connell HE. The "G-Spot" Is Not a Structure Evident on Macroscopic Anatomic Dissection of the Vaginal Wall. Journal of Sexual Medicine, 2017. PubMed