Um, can I get pregnant if…
No. Sperm can swim up, down, sideways, in all directions, so you can get pregnant no matter how creative you get with positions. Gravity cannot prevent sperm from reaching your egg.
Teens concerned about impregnation through clothes
dry humping is the process of two people repeatedly moving up and down and back and forth on top of each other fully clothed( or missing various pieces, but the penis must not come in contact with the vagina with out some sort of fabric separating them ex: boxers,panties, or even sheets!!)
We all know that the basic rule for impregnation is that the sperm must come in contact with the egg, and even be able to fertilize it. While sperm can get through clothes, semen (but this is yet been proven or disproved) gets stuck, thus the sperm dies. What is your opinion about this? If two people are on top of each other, fully clothed, and the male comes to ejaculation, is there any chance that pregnancy can happen, in the realistic and biological look at it (and not some probability or statistical way)? What advice should be given to teens on the matter? I am a computer scientist with no biology knowledge, and am very interested in getting the opinion of biologists. But since I know that the stackexchange community likes to see work done before asking questions, I did my own research (I am used to googling code and algorithms): Very few research has been done on the subject. There is one shining research that concluded, as I recall, that:
If the underwear is completely saturated with semen, and is in direct contact with the woman’s vagina, pregnancy is possible statistically, but highly unlikely.
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asked Jul 28, 2014 at 22:42
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2 Answers 2
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If there has been an ejaculation by the male, and semen is present, there is a chance of getting pregnant. Period. Teens really need to know that.
I think you may have your terms confused – semen is the overall fluid released during an ejaculation, sperm are the cells with tails that are produced in the testes and fertilize the egg. At any rate, according to the WHO, a normal sperm count is over 15 million per milliliter, with some counts much higher (>50e6/ml ), and an average between 20 and 40 million. The volume of the ejeculate tends to be anywhere from 1-6 ml. If you take a healthy young male at the peak of his reproductive capabilities, this equates to a very large number of sperm being released during a sexual encounter. All it takes is for one to reach an egg and fertilize it. Sperm are very very small, much smaller than the pore size of average fabric, so clothing will do very little to stop them. The female is likely sexually aroused during this activity as well, and produces additional fluids and lubricants that promote the survival and motility of sperm, among other things.
So, it depends on many factors. If both parties are fully clothed (at least 4 layers of clothing between their respective reproductive organs) and there is a minumum of soaking through, the chances of pregnancy are correspondingly quite low. On the other hand, if only one partner is wearing just their underwear, it’s essentially like there is no clothing present at all, and the relative chances go up significantly.
Safe sex practices can’t be emphasized enough to young people, as education and awareness is so much better than ignorance and myths. Even aside from pregnancy, if condoms are not utilized properly to contain all the semen there is the chance of sexually-transmitted diseases, ranging from herpes and gonorrhea to AIDS. None of these require penetration to be passed along, and one might argue that the additional presence of potentially irritating fabrics could open up raw areas or cuts and enhance their transmittal.
Take home message
Now, all this being said, the chances of impregnation through clothing without direct penetration of the penis into the vagina is quite low compared to “typical” unprotected fully-penetrating intercourse, especially depending on where the female is in her fertility cycle. According to this study, a woman’s most fertile day is two days before ovulation (as had been postulated before), and the chances of pregnancy on that day are about 25% (assuming penetrating intercourse). Overall, the chance of pregnancy throughout the month is about 5%.
I don’t have any hard numbers on the pregnancy chances when one or both partners have at least some clothing on, as obviously it will vary greatly depending on who is wearing what, the volume of ejaculate, contact time after ejaculation, etc. Just for fun, let’s assume it’s 100 times lower. That means the chances of impregnation two days pre-ovulation would be 0.25%, or 1 in 400. While rather low, this is still a non-zero chance.
Condoms are about 98% effective if used properly during penetrative vaginal intercourse. Various other birth control methods such as contraceptive pills, intrauterine devices, implants and injections are quoted as being 99% effective on their own, although they do not protect against sexually transmitted diseases. I’m certainly not one for preaching abstinence, but done properly it should be 100% effective. Ultimately, it is up to both partners to decide what their risk tolerances are, together. It is much better to seriously talk about it beforehand than to be panicked and unsure afterwards.
Hopefully this addresses your concerns, please leave comments if you have additional questions.
Um, can I get pregnant if…?
Pregnancy scares: most people have one at some point. Even when you know how pregnancy happens, most textbooks don’t cover what specific sex acts could result in pregnancy. So how worried should a person be after sex? Here are eight questions and our best answer for each.
Can I get pregnant if I have sex right before, right after, or during my period?
Yes, yes, and yes! You’re most likely to get pregnant if you have sex around the time of ovulation, but it is possible to get pregnant at any time during your cycle.
Ovulation, when an egg is released from the ovary, usually occurs about 14 days after the start of your last period. Many people have unpredictable ovulation or may have spotting at the time of ovulation, which could be confused with a period. Plus, sperm stay alive and swimming for days after sex.
Can I get pregnant if my clothes were on?
No. Since sperm cannot swim through clothing, getting pregnant while clothed (and that, of course, means while wearing clothing that prevents penetration—a skirt pulled up around your waist doesn’t count!) would be very unlikely. Sperm exposed to air lose their ability to swim and can only live a few hours or less. Wearing or touching clothes with dry semen cannot lead to pregnancy.
What if he fingered me and there was semen or pre-cum on his fingers?
Yes, you can get pregnant. It doesn’t matter how the sperm gets into your vagina—once it’s there it can cause a pregnancy. Pre-cum, or pre-ejaculate, is a clear fluid that accumulates at the tip of the penis when some men are aroused. While it has less sperm than regular ejaculate, it can have sperm in it, so you may be able to get pregnant.
Can I get pregnant from sex toys?
Only if the sex toys had semen on them. Like the scenario above, you can only get pregnant if sperm enters your vagina. If semen is on a sex toy and it enters your vagina, you can get pregnant.
What if I have sex in a pool or hot tub?
Yes, pregnancy is possible. The heat or chlorine in a hot tub will not kill sperm or make it more difficult for sperm to swim. Once the penis ejaculates inside the vagina—whether you are in a pool, hot tub, or romantic, candle-lit bedroom—you can get pregnant!
Can I get pregnant from oral sex? Anal sex?
Nope. You cannot get pregnant from oral or anal sex. When an egg is released from the ovary, it travels through the fallopian tube to the uterus. For a pregnancy to occur, semen must travel through the vagina and the cervix, the opening to the uterus. The mouth and butt are not connected to the vagina, so there’s no way for sperm to meet an egg.
Does the woman have to have an orgasm to get pregnant?
No. Unfortunately, pregnancy has nothing to do with how much a person enjoys the sex, how much they liked the person they had sex with, or whether they had an orgasm. Orgasms are a totally independent phenomenon and are not related to when an egg is released.
I had sex standing up, so won’t gravity stop the sperm from swimming?
No. Sperm can swim up, down, sideways, in all directions, so you can get pregnant no matter how creative you get with positions. Gravity cannot prevent sperm from reaching your egg.
If you’re worried.
If it’s been less than five days since the act in question, you might want to take emergency contraception. There are several options including emergency contraception pills and some IUDs, which anyone can get over the counter without a prescription.
If it’s been longer than five days since you had unprotected sex, EC won’t help you prevent pregnancy or cause an abortion if you take it. To find out if you are pregnant, you can buy an inexpensive pregnancy test at most drug or dollar stores, or you might be able to get a test for free at your local health clinic. If you buy a home pregnancy test, follow the instructions that come with it. You should wait at least 10 days to take a test, and results are more accurate if you wait until a few days after you expect your next period. Remember, no matter what the test results say, you’ve got options.
All of these scenarios have focused on pregnancy risk but remember that there are other risks to unprotected sex, such as sexually transmitted infections (STIs). An STI can affect your future fertility, so use a condom or internal condoms to protect yourself. And if you aren’t trying to get pregnant, you can reduce the worry factor with one of your many birth control options.
Note: We do our best to respond to questions in the comments, but if we’ve already answered your question in the article or another comment, we may not answer it again. If your question is time sensitive, we recommend calling the San Francisco Sex Information (SFSI) hotline at 415-989-SFSI (7374) or contacting a health care provider. You may also want to check out one of our sequels to this post, Can I Get Pregnant If…: Part 2 and Can I Get Pregnant If…?: Part 3.
