Pornhub says searches for it are at an all-time high, which shows imaginations are running full -steam during the pandemic – not to mention pipedreams of masculine potency.
That said, female ejaculation is one of those topics that consistently generates debate among scientists, porn stars, and laypersons alike.
Most people who have seen a woman ejaculate will agree it’s a curiously gratifying sight. That’s exactly why you might be surprised to learn just how little is known about it. So little, in fact, that many women are in the dark about the subject, too.
Ancient Fountains and Sexy Searches
The dearth in readily available information probably explains why researchers for Pornhub found “squirting” and “gushing” among the most popular search topics in the site.
Pornhub search data shows that women are just likely to search for squirting-related content online as men.
“Female ejaculation is indeed real and people have known about it for centuries.” says Justin Lehmiller, a research fellow at the Kinsey Research Institute.
“In fact, we have written documentation of its existence dating back to Aristotle and Galen.”
From Taoist texts to the Kama Sutra…
But the ancient Greeks and Romans were hardly the only ones who talked about the subject.
Female ejaculations are described in many Chinese Taoist writings dating back to the 4th century, and is also mentioned in most versions of the Kama Sutra.
For Lehmiller, the debate isn’t so much about whether female ejaculation is real, but rather what the nature of the fluid is and where it comes from. Previous attempts to answer this question had produced conflicting results, he observes.
Two Kinds of Female Emissions
Much of the earlier confusion issued from the fact that there is not just one type of female ejaculate. That is, some women occasionally ejaculate a small amount of a milky fluid during orgasm, whereas others “squirt” copious amounts of a thin, watery fluid.
Semen – kind of…
Recent research has found that the first – and most common – is released through the urethra. The fluid closely resembles male semen, both chemically and in appearance.
The fluid is produced by Skene’s glands. These glands are minute structures beneath the bladder consisting of prostate-like tissue.
The other type – the type that has prompted enthusiastic searches on Pornhub – is what springs forth in glorious fountains when a woman “squirts.”
That fluid comes from the bladder, according to scientists, and is mostly comprised of urine and prostate-specific antigen (PSA).
Movie Misgivings
But here’s precisely where yet another river of confusion bursts forth…
The latter fluid’s composition leads adult stars like Eva Lovia to question whether the “squirting” scenes you see in porn are as orgasmic as they seem.
“Repeat after me, squirt is not real,” she tells Playboy. “It’s piss.”
What then, is behind all those explosive, moaning, foul-mouthed eruptions on Pornhub and other porn sites? Well, adult film director and writer Bree Mills reveals that a lot of the squirting scenes you watch are – brace yourself, gentlemen – fake.
Mills says many of those scenes are simply a crutch that porn-makers use to make their scenes more impressive.
Mills’ rather anticlimactic opinion matches findings in some recent studies, which debunk the myth that female porn performers constantly achieve orgasm while filming.
The porn orgasm myth
Contrary to what many adult actresses gamely assert in promotional interviews, a much smaller percentage of female adult stars actually orgasm onscreen.
In fact, only 18 percent of the female porn stars who participated in one 2017 study said they achieved real orgasms onscreen.
“I think the increase in squirting porn has led to some performers and producers finding ways to fake it in order to meet the demand,” says Mills.
“Ultimately, it comes down to knowing which actresses are real squirters versus those who are not.”
Is It All Just Bladder Blather?
The seasoned adult film performer Tara Lynn Fox voices her reservations quite candidly. The svelte, brown-eyed, lace and lingerie-clad performer even claims she once faked squirting for a scene that eventually garnered clicks for a squirting fetish website.
Fox nevertheless says squirting is real, rare, difficult to accomplish, and nothing like the remarkable spouts you see onscreen.
She says she squirted onset once, but it happened behind the scenes.
In order to maintain an erection, a male performer had gone down on Lynn during a break.
“He told me it was just a little squirt, but I did it,” Lynn says. “It wasn’t a big mess or anything.”
As expected, many scientists view those fecund fountains of porn with healthy incredulity.
Psychotherapist Ian Kerner does not doubt female ejaculation but is skeptical about the geysers that some porn stars are able to summon on screen.
The sex expert says a tiny amount of momentum does accompany the normal female ejaculate. But he says the impetus is certainly not enough to make the fluid shoot out from between a woman’s legs.
The exploding fountains we see on Pornhub require a deliberate and forceful manipulation of the bladder.
Ian Kerner – Psychotherapist
While porn producers would like you to believe squirting is a “reward” for the male or female partner’s pleasuring ability, the reality is actually the opposite, says Kerner.
“When you think about it, an orgasm is an involuntary process,” Kerner says. “Regardless of what happens during sex, orgasms are unconscious and involve relaxing and letting go.”
Settling the Debate
But a new study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine indicates that some women do experience an involuntary emission of fluids during orgasm.
Whether or not those emissions match those you see in porn is up for debate, but squirt some women do.
French scientists recruited a sample of seven women for the study, all of whom reported previous experience with squirting.
For purposes of their experiment, the scientists defined “squirting” as “regular liquid expulsion during arousal or orgasm that was comparable with, at least, that of a glass of water, which abundantly wetted bed sheets.”
The participants were over the age of 18, of normal body weight (BMI of 18-25), had no history of prior medical problems, and were not currently pregnant.
To limit possible variables, the scientists asked the participants to empty their bladders and consent to an ultrasound before the experiment.
All the participants experienced squirting during the study after 25 to 60 minutes of stimulation. They all reported that they experienced an orgasm just before or during squirting.
On average, the researchers recovered 60 milliliters of fluid from each participant. Each one claimed that the volume was lower than they would typically ejaculate in private.
“Further research is needed with larger samples of women in order to determine the nature and origin of fluid for women who produce ejaculate of smaller quantities and different consistencies,” says Lehmiller.
“For now, however, all we can conclude is that at least some cases of female ejaculation are largely an involuntary release of the bladder.”
There you have it, folks. It’s real, after all, and it’s urine. Should it be celebrated? Why not?
Do we really need an excuse to celebrate anything? According to Pornhub, many of us simply can’t get enough of it, anyway.
What’s your story? Are you a squirter, a squirtee or a doubter? Why not share your thoughts in the review section below?
