Anatomy: Female Ejaculation – The Science

Female ejaculation has long been a source of titillation, as it has been referenced in ancient texts such as the Kama Sutra and even mentioned in the works of Shakespeare.  Indigenous cultures that maintain ties to a matriarchal-based society and spirituality still teach the practice to their young females.  However, in Western society, female ejaculation used to be seen only in fetishist porn (and perhaps, out-of-hand office parties) — or worse, denied completely by the scientific medical community.

Many women have endured the shame of having “wet the bed” during sex or the embarrassment of extra fluid “down there,” with some undergoing the butchery of surgery at the advice of a clueless doctor for presumed urinary incontinence. It sickens me to think that women have endured shame and embarrassment about a natural bodily fluid simply because Western medicine did not take female sexuality seriously enough to give it the same attention, time, and research dollars as male anatomy and male sexual function.

Ancient Taoist texts from 4th century China, ancient Indian sex position manuals, as well as the Western writings of Aristotle and Galen all mention female ejaculation. In the 16th century, Reinjier De Graaf wrote the first “scientific” description of female ejaculation fluid — or “pituitoserous juice” — and was also the first to use the term “female prostate” when referring to the periurethral glands.

The Marquis de Sade described female ejaculate in detail, and even Shakespeare wrote about a woman’s gushing abilities when referencing “the waters of her love.”  For modern science and medicine, it was not until 1952 that the female prostate and its functions were taken seriously, when Dr. Ernst Gräfenberg, for whom the term “G-Spot” was named, published “The role of the urethra in female orgasm.”

In The Story of V: A Natural History of Female Sexuality, Catherine Blackledge details several cultures around the world that encourage female ejaculation, including the Batoro, Mohave Indians, Mangaians, Ponapese, as well as indigenous tribes in South American and even California.  She notes that older women of the Batoro instruct the younger pubescent women the art of “kachapati” — that is, how to spray the wall.

To prove female ejaculation actually existed, scientists have had to determine the chemical composition of the ejaculate fluid — to differentiate it from urine.  They also needed to discover the source of the ejaculate.  But first, they had to find women who can “gush” on demand, who would be willing to undergo clinical tests.

In 2010, Joanna B. Korda, MD, Sue W. Goldstein, BA, and Frank Sommer, MD, set out to demystify female ejaculation and wrote their findings in a paper called “The History of Female Ejaculation” in The Journal of Sexual Medicine, Volume 7, Issue 5, pages 1965–1975, May 2010.

“Although emission of female Yin-Chi essence during orgasm is a philosophical concept, we provide justification that female ejaculation, defined as expulsion of a significant amount of fluid during orgasm, has been known and described in important documents by intellectual leaders of both eastern and western cultures for more than 2,000 years. We demonstrate intellectual concepts about female ejaculaton during orgasm in different cultures from approximately 300 B.C. to 1952 A.D., when Dr. Ernst Gräfenberg wrote an article titled ‘The role of the urethra in female orgasm.’” (J Sex Med 2010;7:1965–1975)

In writing about the Chinese view of Yin/Yang and Chi, Korda et al go on to say:

Women were said to have an inexhaustible supply of Yin essence while men had a limited supply of Yang. Before a man was allowed to ejaculate, he had to prolong sexual intercourse making a woman orgasm several times to acquire her Ching (Yin) essence.

(Three cheers for Chinese wisdom!)

Looking like a bristly tube, the female prostate envelopes the urethra, with some of the ducts draining into the urethra while others conjoin to the vaginal anterior wall, draining fluid (sometimes an opaque milky fluid) into the vagina during direct stimulation.

The female prostate fluid has been analyzed in scientific research settings and found to be comprised of prostate-specific antigen (PSA), prostate-specific acid phosphatase (PSAP or PAP), and glucose (a sugar).  This recipe is also the basis for male prostatic ejaculate, minus the sperm. Some research suggests that the PAP fluid is always being produced by the female prostate, quite possibly from the onset of puberty.  I would guess this to be at least part of the milky white discharge women routinely find in the crotch of their underwear. While minute amounts of uric acid have been found in prostatic fluid in men and women, neither male nor female ejaculate is urine nor urine-based.

In the 2007 paper published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine, entitled “The Female Prostate Revisited: Perineal Ultrasound and Biochemical Studies of Female Ejaculate,” Florian Wimpissinger, MD, FEBU, Karl Stifter, PhD, and Walter Stackl, MD, sought to investigate the nature of female ejaculate fluid as well as determine the anatomy responsible for creating it.  They studied the orgasmic response and fluid produced by two women, ages 44 and 45, “who reported actual ejaculations during orgasm.”

The doctors used “ultrasound imaging, biochemical studies of the ejaculated fluid, and endoscopy of the urethra… to identify a prostate in the female.”  They compared the women’s ejaculate to pre-orgasmic urine, finding both women had higher levels of PSA, PAP, and glucose but lower creatinine levels in the ejaculate than the urine.  Interestingly, the PSA levels were comparable to those of men.  The doctors had established that the fluid released during the women’s orgasms was in fact not urine but a unique substance all its own.

Their results and conclusions:

“On high-definition perineal ultrasound images, a structure was identified consistent with the gland tissue surrounding the entire length of the female urethra. On urethroscopy, one midline opening (duct) was seen just inside the external meatus in the six-o’clock position. Biochemically, the fluid emitted during orgasm showed all the parameters found in prostate plasma in contrast to the values measured in voided urine.”

“Data of the two women presented further underline the concept of the female prostate both as an organ itself and as the source of female ejaculation.”  (J Sex Med 2007;4:1388–1393)

In 2009, female British porn director Anna Span won a monumental victory for the veracity of female ejaculation when she knowingly submitted a film with “gushing” scenes for approval by the British Board of Film Classification.  The BBFC does not allow films showing urination to be granted classification, and based upon (faulty) medical advice, the BBFC had a general ruling against female ejaculation in film, having been told it does not exist and any appearance of fluid being expelled by a female during sex was urine.Span was ready for the confrontation, sending the film’s model to a regulated lab to have her ejaculate tested (it was shown not to be urine), and she wrote a lengthy and detailed letter to the BBFC, providing the juicy details of the film shoot:

“I would also like to add to this that all members of the crew including myself witnessed the ejaculation and knew that the speed, volume, viscosity, smell and sight were all very different from urine. To be honest we were all very shocked by it! Especially Dean who received the ejaculate in his mouth…”

Like men, women do not need to orgasm to ejaculate, and vice versa — we don’t need to ejaculate in order to have an orgasm.  But many women who ejaculate say it does correspond with the onset of orgasm or through repetitive, vigorous stimulation of the prostate gland after the initial orgasm.  Some women find that simultaneous stimulation of the prostate and the A-spot (in the AFE zone) is required to achieve ejaculation.

As noted on The Clitoris website:

“The female prostate will continue to produce fluid for as long as a woman is sexually aroused, and as result a woman could produce more than 0.2 to 2.0 oz of ejaculate if multiple releases of fluid occurs. If the female prostate fills and empties at a rapid rate that would explain the larger volumes of fluid measured by some investigators. It would also mean the longer a woman’s orgasm lasted the more she would ejaculate, as is often the case. If this is all true it is possible for a woman to ejaculate a considerable amount of fluid without it being liquid from the bladder.

So how do you know whether the fluid is urine or female ejaculate? Urine is said to taste salty, and since female ejaculate is comprised of a form of sugar, it should taste sweet.  This sweet component is the reason why ancient texts termed female ejaculation fluid as “sweet nectar of the gods.”

Acknowledging the existence of the Female Prostate was the first step in a centuries-long battle women’s sexuality has fought with the male-dominated Western “science.”  A hundred years ago, Western science thought women were incapable of orgasm while perpetuating misogynist notions that women — “good” women — had no sexual desires or needs.  This blatant denial of the importance of understanding female anatomy and female sexual function directly hindered the progress of women’s rights in society, including our rights to be sexual beings.

I shudder to think of the number of women who have undergone extensive medication usage or even surgery to “fix” a perceived problem of urinary incontinence, when the fluid may have in fact been female ejaculate.

Expelling of ejaculate fluid is a natural and wonderful perk to being female.  And it’s no surprise to me that the doctors and activists leading the charge to verify and legitimize female ejaculation are women.

Aroused and stimulated,
trish

For more of my personal orgasm journey, read Trish’s Daily O.J.
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2 Comments

  1. I can vouch for the fact that female ejaculation is real, and is not urine. Having tasted all four (male & female ejaculate, male & female urine) on multiple occcasions, I can state that they are undoubtedly four distinct solutions. Neither male nor female ejaculate tastes sweet. They both have a somewhat alkaline taste, with female ejaculate containing a slightly musky undertone that is similar to the smell of an aroused female. Furthermore, a bed that has been soaked with female ejaculate does not smell anything like a bed that has been soaked with urine, even after some time has passed.

  2. I completely agree with you. Western civilization has completely turned its back on female sexuality for centuries. For example female Hysteria in the 1800’s when doctors had to perform a hysterical paroxysm on women especially married women.