5 Facts About Squirting You Were Never Taught In Sex Ed

It's no secret that the vagina is one impressive part of the human body. Just the fact that it can delivery a baby, alone, then collapse back into shape, is pretty noteworthy. And you probably have heard, at least, that the vagina can also squirt. But the thing with squirting is that there's a lot of misinformation surrounding it. Thanks to porn which — wait for it — is made for entertainment purposes and not sexual education, squirting is depicted as something a woman experiences when she has some mind-blowing orgasm thanks to her partner. Then the squirt is this long intense stream, as if she has a hose tucked into her vagina. This, of course, is not necessarily the case in the real world.

"Some women feel they are inadequate if they can’t squirt, and there are already enough sex myths that reduce a woman’s pleasure to a male metric," OB/GYN and author of the forthcoming book The Vagina Bible, Dr. Jen Gunter, tells Bustle. "A good sexual encounter is not about optics that make a man (it’s usually a man in this scenario) feel as if he has achieved something. A good sexual encounter is about pleasure. As long as you are having an orgasm or two, who cares about anything else?"

Because squirting is still misunderstood by many people, here are five things about it to help you understand what it is and what it isn't.

1. Squirting And Female Ejaculation Are Not The Same

"There is a difference between squirting, or gushing, as it’s sometime called," Lovehoney sexpert Annabelle Knight, tells Bustle. "Female ejaculate is a creamy discharge produced during arousal and can be emitted when a woman squirts, which is why the two often get confused. Female ejaculate is scientifically known as PSA (prostatic‐specific antigen), which is produced by the Skene glands."

The Skene glands are the female version of the prostate and is basically what is most commonly known as the G-spot.

2. No, It's Not Pee

If you watch squirting in porn, the rate at which the fluid comes out looks like a very powerful stream of urine. But, according to Knight, that's not the case.

"The general consensus is that squirting isn’t concentrated urine at all, but rather a mixture of various elements, one of which is urea," Knight says. "Which is most probably where the idea the liquid produced when a woman squirts is urine."

In other words, no, you didn't just piss all over your partner if you squirted.

3. But There Is An Element Of Urine In It

But, because the fluid is coming from the bladder, it's only natural that there would be an element of urine — urea — in it.

According to a 2014 study by the International Society for Sexual Medicine, not only are there a variety of elements that makeup the fluid, but the empty bladders in the study's participants filled up with liquid during sexual arousal, then their bladders appeared to be empty again after squirting.

"When you squirt [it's] a combination of several chemical including urea, creatinine, uric acid, and prostatic‐specific antigen," Knight says. "So it’s a very watered down version of urine." But again, still not quite pee.

4. You May Have Already Squirted And Not Even Realized It

"Contrary to what you see in porn, most women do not imitate a broken fire hydrant when they squirt," Knight say. "The amount you squirt is dependent on so many factors; chiefly your body, how aroused you are, and the type of stimulation you’ve received."

According to Knight, some women produce little more than an eggcup full that could even be mistaken as regular, natural lubrication. So, yes, you may have squirted multiple times in your life already and not even known it.

5. Technically, Anyone Can Learn To Squirt

According to Knight, with the right amount of deep stimulation of the G-spot, squirting can happen for the majority of people with G-sports. But she notes that it takes time and practice, as well as pressure against that one spot.

"I’d use a specialized toy for this job, as they’re specifically designed to target your G-spot, meaning a lot of the guesswork is done for you," Knight says. "I’d recommend the Lovehoney Perfect Curve. However, there are some women that can squirt without G-spot stimulation, so the wheres, whys, and hows are still up for debate."

Your main aim during sex doesn't have to be squirting — similar to an orgasm, if you're too focused and not relaxed enough, it might be harder to make happen. But whether you squirt frequently or not at all, it doesn't say anything about your sex life.

Sex continues to be about the journey. If you squirt someday and realize, "OMG! I just squirted," then great. But if it never happens, don't let it get you down. I know far more people who have never squirted than I do people who have. And the former group isn't losing any sleep over it, so neither should you.