Female ejaculation comes in two forms, scientists find

abgsedapmalam · Post time 8-6-2016 06:53 PM

Female ejaculation comes in two forms, scientists find

Use your imagination

Image: Rolf Hicker/Getty

By Helen Thomson

What do you think of when you hear the words “female ejaculation”? Come to think of it, the answer may be best kept to yourself. You may have heard that it was banned from being shown in British porn films last year. But what exactly is it?

Researchers have now come a step closer to defining this controversial phenomenon, by performing the first ultrasound scans on women who express large amounts of liquid at orgasm.

Some women express liquid from their urethra when they climax. For some, this consists of a small amount of milky white fluid – this, technically, is the female ejaculate. Other women report “squirting” a much larger amount of fluid – enough to make it look like they’ve wet the bed.

A few small studies have suggested the milky white fluid comes from Skene glands – tiny structures that drain into the urethra. Some in the medical community believe these glands are akin to the male prostate, although their size and shape differ greatly between women and their exact function is unknown.

Climax in the lab

To investigate the nature and origins of the fluid, Samuel Salama, a gynaecologist at the Parly II private hospital in Le Chesnay, France, and his colleagues recruited seven women who report producing large amounts of liquid – comparable to a glass of water – at orgasm.

First, these women were asked to provide a urine sample. An ultrasound scan of their pelvis confirmed that their bladder was completely empty. The women then stimulated themselves through masturbation or with a partner until they were close to having an orgasm – which took between 25 and 60 minutes.

“Some women express liquid from their urethra when they climax”

A second pelvic ultrasound was then performed just before the women climaxed. At the point of orgasm, the squirted fluid was collected in a bag and a final pelvic scan performed.

Even though the women had urinated just before stimulation began, the second scan – performed just before they climaxed – showed that their bladder had completely refilled. Each woman’s final scan showed an empty bladder, meaning the liquid squirted at orgasm almost certainly originated from the bladder.

A chemical analysis was performed on all of the fluid samples. Two women showed no difference between the chemicals present in their urine and the fluid squirted at orgasm.

The other five women had a small amount of prostatic-specific antigen (PSA) present in their squirted fluid – an enzyme not detected in their initial urine sample, but which is part of the “true” female ejaculate

PSA, produced in men by the prostate gland, is more commonly associated with male ejaculate, where its presence helps sperm to swim. In females, says Salama, PSA is produced mainly by the Skene glands.

Two kinds of fluid

Beverly Whipple, a neurophysiologist from Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey, says that the term female ejaculation should only really refer to the production of the small amount of milky white liquid at orgasm and not the “squirting” investigated in this paper. “This study shows the other two kinds of fluids that can be expelled from the female urethra – urine alone, and urine diluted with substances from the female prostate,” she says.

“This study presents convincing evidence that squirting in women is chemically similar to urine, and also contains small amounts of PSA that is present in men’s and women’s true ejaculate,” says Barry Komisaruk, also at Rutgers.

“This study helps to reconcile the controversy over the fluids that many women report being released at orgasm,” he adds. “There are evidently two different fluids, with two different sources. Whether either of these fluids plays a physiological role – that is, whether they serve any adaptive function, is not known.”

Florian Wimpissinger at Rudolfstiftung Hospital in Vienna, Austria, suggests that the presence of PSA in some women’s squirted fluid and not others might be because the emissions from the Skene glands could travel into the bladder at orgasm. It may also have something to do with the known variation in size and shape of the glands, or be that some women don’t produce PSA in the first place.

Every woman capable

Why some women experience these different types of ejaculation and others don’t is not yet clear, says Salama, but he believes every woman is capable of squirting “if their partner knows what they are doing”.

For now, Salama is not investigating that particular avenue, but instead working on a protocol to test whether the kidneys work faster to produce urine during sexual stimulation than at other times, and if so, why.

The ban on female ejaculation in UK porn is based on the fact that the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) considers films which include material featuring “urolagnia” – sexual pleasure associated with urination – as obscene under the UK Obscene Publications Act.

However, the wording of the law actually appears to be referring to squirting – not female ejaculation. So this new paper may support the current legal position, since it shows it is essentially involuntary urination. Presumably, under current UK law, if a woman were to have what is considered a true female ejaculation – the expulsion of a small amount of milky white fluid – and the BBFC were satisfied that this did not contain urea – this act would not be subject to the ban.

Journal reference: The Journal of Sexual Medicine, DOI: 10.1111/jsm.12799

abgsedapmalam · Post time 8-6-2016 07:21 PM

Can I Teach Myself To Have Female Ejaculation?Two experts answer this all-important question.

There’s a lot of mystery surrounding female ejaculation.

Female ejaculation, aka squirting, is when a woman releases liquid from her vagina during sex. Like, a lot of liquid. And it doesn’t just drip—it gushes. You don’t necessarily need to orgasm to squirt, although you may find the two go hand-in-hand.

The good news is that female ejaculation is totally normal! “Some women are squirters and some women are not, but we don’t know why that is,” Alyssa Dweck, M.D., a gynecologist in New York and assistant clinical professor at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, tells SELF.

The jury is out on pretty much every aspect of female ejaculation, including what exactly it is.

“Women sometimes come into my office freaked out that they’ve peed themselves while having sex,” says Dweck. “Some people find it highly sexual and want to be able to squirt, while other horrified women think they’re urinating all over themselves and partners.” Indeed, some research points to it being…

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Take a March 2015 study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine, which found that women’s previously full bladders were empty after squirting.

Still, some experts aren’t convinced. Although the liquid “may include some urine,” women who ejaculate “are not just urinating,” Leah Millheiser, M.D., a clinical assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Stanford School of Medicine, tells SELF. One prevalent theory is that the liquid could be a mix of a distinct ejaculatory fluid brought about by sexual activity and emissions from the urethral sponge (erectile tissue around the urethra that expands as you get sexually excited).

Other experts speculate that female ejaculate is in a class all its own, completely separate from pee. “Certain bodies of thought think it’s increased vaginal gland or vulvar gland secretions that some women are lucky enough to have,” says Dweck. Specifically, they believe it comes from either the Bartholin’s glands, which are located right outside the vagina’s entrance,” or the Skene’s glands inside the vagina. Clearly more research is necessary. Science, please get on that!

Why is it that some women do it and others don’t?

Again, there’s a popular theory, but science’s official answer is pretty much a big shrug. Some experts believe stimulation of the G-spot, aka the unicorn of sex parts, is what causes women to squirt. “If not an anatomical spot, it’s at least an uber-sensitive anatomical area on the vagina’s anterior wall,” says Dweck. You can try to find it by inserting your index finger palm up and making a “come here” motion.

As you engage the area, you might start to feel it swell, although that can be hard to pinpoint since your entire genital area undergoes a crazy-cool transformation when you get turned on. “The vagina engorges with blood during sexual arousal and orgasm, and it also increases lubrication,” says Dweck. If you’re on a mission to determine whether your G-spot is sensitive, you can try out a vibrator that’s designed with a curve so as to stimulate that specific region.

The fact that some women experience intense G-spot pleasure doesn’t mean something’s wrong with you if you don’t! It’s not a definitive spot in the same way your clitoris is because no one’s ever been able to locate the corresponding anatomic structure to that pleasure. A May 2009 study from The Journal of Sexual Medicine may shed some light on why that is.

It turns out the clitoris isn’t just the pea-sized nub on the outside of your body—it has wishbone-shaped legs, or crura, that are internally nestled behind your labia. “That’s why it can be difficult to separate a vaginal orgasm from a clitoral one—everything is interconnected” says Dweck. The exact positioning of your crura may make G-spot stimulation feel either amazing to you or like nothing special, which is why it can be hard to train yourself to ejaculate.

Can you learn how to ejaculate?

While that would be the best party trick ever, there’s unfortunately little chance of teaching yourself how to do it. “Being a female ejaculator is not that common,” says Millheiser. “It’s either going to happen or it’s not.”

The bottom line: ejaculating and not ejaculating are both normal.

If your body isn’t made for female ejaculation, there’s not much you can do to make it happen. As Millheiser says,”you can massage the G-spot until the cows come home,” but that probably won’t make a difference. But that’s OK, because it says nothing about how good your sex life is!

And if you discover you can do it, try not to worry about what the fluid is made of and enjoy it! “Whether it’s urine or liquid that comes from other glands, it’s a natural physiologic phenomenon,” says Dweck. Lay down a towel to help with cleanup, then embrace the fact that it probably means you’re having an awesome sexual experience.