Female ejaculation is characterized as an expulsion of fluid from the Skene's gland at the lower end of the urethra during or before an orgasm. It is also known colloquially as squirting or gushing, although research indicates that female ejaculation and squirting are different phenomena, squirting being attributed to a sudden expulsion of liquid that partly comes from the bladder and contains urine.
Female ejaculation is physiologically distinct from coital incontinence, with which it is sometimes confused.
There have been few studies on female ejaculation. A failure to adopt common definitions and research methodology by the scientific community has been the primary contributor to this lack of experimental data. Research has suffered from highly selected participants, narrow case studies, or very small sample sizes, and consequently has yet to produce significant results. Much of the research into the composition of the fluid focuses on determining whether it is, or contains, urine. It is common for any secretion that exits the vagina, and for fluid that exits the urethra, during sexual activity to be referred to as female ejaculate, which has led to significant confusion in the literature.
Whether the fluid is secreted by the Skene's gland through and around the urethra has also been a topic of discussion; while the exact source and nature of the fluid remains controversial among medical professionals, and are related to doubts over the existence of the G-spot, there is substantial evidence that the Skene's gland is the source of female ejaculation. The function of female ejaculation, however, remains unclear.
Reports In questionnaire surveys, 35–50% of women report that they have at some time experienced the gushing of fluid during orgasm. Other studies find anywhere from 10 to 69%, depending on the definitions and methods used. For instance Kratochvíl (1994) surveyed 200 women and found that 6% reported ejaculating, an additional 13% had some experience and about 60% reported release of fluid without actual gushing. Reports on the volume of fluid expelled vary considerably, starting from amounts that would be imperceptible to a woman, to mean values of 1–5 ml.
The suggestion that women can expel fluid from their genital area as part of sexual arousal has been described by women's health writer Rebecca Chalker as "one of the most hotly debated questions in modern sexology". Female ejaculation has been discussed in anatomical, medical, and biological literature throughout recorded history. The reasons for the interest in female ejaculation have been questioned by feminist writers.
Western literature 16th to 18th century In the 16th century, the Dutch physician Laevinius Lemnius, referred to how a woman "draws forth the man's seed and casts her own with it".Lemnius, L. De occultis naturae miraculis 1557, Reprinted as The Secret Miracles of Nature. London 1658, p.19 cited in Laqueur T. Making Sex: The body and gender from the Greeks to Freud. Harvard, Cambridge 1990 vii In the 17th century, François Mauriceau described glands at the female urethral meatus that "pour out great quantities of saline liquor during coition, which increases the heat and enjoyment of women".Cited in Laqueur 1990 pp. 92–3 This century saw an increasing understanding of female sexual anatomy and function, in particular the work of the Bartholin family in Denmark.
De Graaf In the 17th century, the Dutch anatomist Reinier de Graaf wrote an influential treatise on the reproductive organs Concerning the Generative Organs of Women which is much cited in the literature on this topic. De Graaf discussed the original controversy but supported the Aristotelian view.Cited in Chalker 2000, p.121 He identified the source as the glandular structures and ducts surrounding the urethra.
He identified [XIII:212] the various controversies regarding the ejaculate and its origin, but stated he believed that this fluid "which rushes out with such impetus during venereal combat or libidinous imagining" was derived from a number of sources, including the vagina, urinary tract, cervix and uterus. He appears to identify Skene's ducts, when he writes [XIII: 213] "those [ducts] which are visible around the orifice of the neck of the vagina and the outlet of the urinary passage receive their fluid from the female 'parastatae', or rather the thick membranous body around the urinary passage." However he appears not to distinguish between the lubrication of the perineum during arousal and an orgasmic ejaculate when he refers to liquid "which in libidinous women often rushes out at the mere sight of a handsome man." Further on [XIII:214] he refers to "liquid as usually comes from the pudenda in one gush." However, his prime purpose was to distinguish between generative fluid and pleasurable fluid, in his stand on the Aristotelian semen controversy.
19th century Krafft-Ebing's study of sexual perversion, Psychopathia Sexualis (1886), describes female ejaculation under the heading "Congenital Sexual Inversion in Women" as a perversion related to neurasthenia and homosexuality.von Krafft-Ebing R. Psychopathia Sexualis, Klaf FS (trans.) Stein and Day, NY 1965, at 265
It is also described by Freud in pathological terms in his study of Dora (1905), where he relates it to hysteria.Freud S. Fragments of an Analysis of a Case of Hysteria. 1905, in Strachey J (trans.) The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works by Sigmund Freud, vol VII: 84
However, women's writing of that time portrayed this in more positive terms. Thus we find Almeda Sperry writing to Emma Goldman in 1918, about the "rhythmic spurt of your love juices". Anatomical knowledge was also advanced by Alexander Skene's description of para-urethral or periurethral glands (glands around the urethra) in 1880, which have been variously claimed to be one source of the fluids in the ejaculate, and now commonly referred to as the Skene's glands.
20th century Early 20th-century understanding Female ejaculation is mentioned as normal in early 20th century 'marriage manuals', such as Ideal Marriage: Its Physiology and Technique (1926) by Theodoor Hendrik van de Velde, in which the author acknowledged women's varied experiences.van de Velde, TH. Ideal Marriage: Its physiology and technique. Random, NY 1957, pp 195–6
In 1948, Huffman, an American gynaecologist, published his studies of the prostatic tissue in women together with a historical account and detailed drawings. These clearly showed the difference between the original glands identified by Skene at the urinary meatus, and the more proximal collections of glandular tissue emptying directly into the urethra.Huffman, J. W. The detailed anatomy of the paraurethral ducts in the adult human female" American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 55: 86–101, 1948.
Most of the interest had focused on the substance and structure rather than function of the glands. A more definitive contemporary account of ejaculation appeared shortly after, in 1950, with the publication of an essay by Gräfenberg based on his observations of women during orgasm.
However this paper made little impact, and was dismissed in the major sexological writings of that time, such as Kinsey (1953)Kinsey, A.C., Pomeroy, W.B., Martin, C.E., Gebhard, P.H. (1953). Sexual Behavior in the Human Female. Philadelphia : W.B. Saunders Company and Masters and Johnson (1966),Masters WH, Johnson VE. Human Sexual Response. Little Brown, Boston 1966 equating this "erroneous belief" with urinary stress incontinencealthough clearly Kinsey was familiar with the phenomenon, commenting that (p. 612):
as were Masters and Johnson ten years later, who observed (pp 79–80):
(emphasis in original) yet dismissed it (p. 135) – "female ejaculation is an erroneous but widespread concept", and even twenty years later in 1982,Masters WH, Johnson VE, Kolodny RC. Masters and Johnson on Sex and Human Learning. Little Brown, Boston 1982 they repeated the statement that it was erroneous (p. 69–70) and the result of "urinary stress incontinence".
Late 20th-century awareness The topic did not receive serious attention again until a review by Josephine Lowndes Sevely and JW Bennett appeared in 1978. This latter paper, which traces the history of the controversies to that point, and a series of three papers in 1981 by Beverly Whipple and colleagues in the Journal of Sex Research, became the focal point of the current debate. Whipple became aware of the phenomenon when studying urinary incontinence, with which it is often confused.Personal communication, cited by Chalker 2000 p.125 As Sevely and Bennett point out, this is "not new knowledge, but a rediscovery of lost awareness that should contribute towards reshaping our view of female sexuality". Nevertheless, the theory advanced by these authors was immediately dismissed by many other authors, such as physiologist Joseph Bohlen, for not being based on rigorous scientific procedures, and psychiatrist Helen Singer Kaplan (1983) stated:
Some radical feminist writers, such as Sheila Jeffreys (1985), were also dismissive, claiming it as a figment of male fantasy:Jeffreys S. (1985). The Spinster and Her Enemies: Feminism and Sexuality 1880–1930. London, Boston, and Henley on Thames, UK: Pandora Press. p. 110.
It required the detailed anatomical work of Helen O'Connell from 1998 onwards to more properly elucidate the relationships between the different anatomical structures involved. As she observes, the female perineal urethra is embedded in the anterior vaginal wall and is surrounded by erectile tissue in all directions except posteriorly where it relates to the vaginal wall. "The distal vagina, clitoris, and urethra form an integrated entity covered superficially by the vulval skin and its epithelial features. These parts have a shared vasculature and nerve supply and during sexual stimulation respond as a unit".
Anthropological accounts Female ejaculation appears in 20th-century anthropological works, such as Malinowski's Melanesian study, The Sexual Life of Savages (1929), and Gladwin and Sarason's Truk: Man in Paradise (1956). Malinowski states that in the language of the Trobriand Island people, a single word is used to describe ejaculation in both male and female.
In describing sexual relations amongst the Chuukese Micronesians, Gladwin and Sarason state that "Female orgasm is commonly signalled by urination".Gladwin T, Sarason SB. Truk: Man in paradise. Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, NY 1956 (p. 205) provides a number of examples from other cultures, including the Ugandan Batoro, Mohave Indians, Mangaians, and Ponapese. (See also Chalker 2002 pp. 531–2, Ladas et al. 1983 pp. 74–5)
Historically in Rwanda, the kunyaza sexual technique has the reputation of triggering female ejaculation (kunyara). The ancient sexual practice has been exercised for over 150 years in east and central Africa. Amongst the Buganda tribe of Uganda, the sexual practice is called kachabali (spraying the wall).
Research General
There have been few studies on female ejaculation. Much of the problem in arriving at a consensus relates to a failure to adopt generally agreed-on definitions or research methodology. Research has used highly selected individuals, case studies, or very small numbers of subjects, making generalization difficult. For instance, much of the research into the nature of the fluid focuses on determining whether it is or contains urine. Rodriguez et al. stated that "many individuals refer to any fluid expressed from the vagina or urethra during coitus as female ejaculate, which leads to significant confusion in the literature."