Squirting is mostly urine, but it’s not exactly the same as regular urination. Research over the past decade has clarified that squirting involves fluid expelled from the bladder during sexual arousal or orgasm, though it often contains small amounts of secretions from glands unique to the female reproductive system. The answer is more nuanced than a simple yes or no.
What Studies Actually Found
The most direct evidence comes from a French study that used ultrasound imaging to track what happens inside the body during squirting. Researchers scanned women’s bladders at three points: before arousal, just before squirting, and immediately after. The bladders were empty before stimulation began, filled noticeably during arousal, and emptied again after squirting occurred. A follow-up study went further, inserting a catheter to empty the bladder completely, then filling it with a blue dye solution. The expelled fluid came out blue in every case, confirming the bladder as the source.
Biochemical testing of the fluid found concentrations of urea, creatinine, and uric acid comparable to those in urine samples taken before arousal. So by its core chemical makeup, squirting fluid is dilute urine. However, in five of seven participants, the squirting fluid also contained prostate-specific antigen (PSA), a protein that was absent from their urine samples collected before arousal. PSA is produced by small glands near the urethra, suggesting these glands contribute something extra to the fluid even though the bulk of it comes from the bladder.
Squirting and Ejaculation Are Two Different Things
One major source of confusion is that “squirting” and “female ejaculation” are often used interchangeably, but they describe two distinct physical events that can happen separately or at the same time.
- Squirting is the release of 10 milliliters or more of thin, watery, transparent fluid. Some women describe volumes comparable to a glass of water. This fluid comes from the bladder and is chemically similar to urine.
- Female ejaculation is the secretion of a few milliliters of thick, milky white fluid from the Skene’s glands (also called the paraurethral glands or the female prostate). This fluid contains high concentrations of PSA and proteins similar to those found in male semen. It has a distinctly different consistency and appearance from squirting fluid.
Both can happen during the same sexual experience, which is partly why the question of “is it pee?” doesn’t have a neat answer. The large gush that soaks the sheets is primarily bladder fluid. The smaller, thicker secretion mixed in with it is a genuinely different substance produced by glands that swell during arousal.
Where the Fluid Comes From
The Skene’s glands sit on either side of the urethral opening. They have tiny ducts that release fluid, and the tissue surrounding them swells with blood flow during sexual stimulation, much like erectile tissue. Cleveland Clinic describes their function as providing lubrication during arousal and potentially producing a mucus-like substance during orgasm. The proteins in this secretion closely resemble those in male prostatic fluid, which is why some researchers refer to the Skene’s glands as the female prostate.
The bladder’s role is less intuitive. It appears to fill rapidly during arousal even if it was recently emptied. Researchers aren’t entirely sure why, but the result is that the bladder can contain enough fluid to produce the larger volume associated with squirting. The fluid passes through the urethra on its way out, picking up any Skene’s gland secretions along the way.
How It Feels Different From Urinating
A Swedish cross-sectional study surveyed women about their subjective experience of squirting. The most common reaction the first time it happened was shock and shame (28%), and a quarter of participants initially thought they had urinated. About 19% of those who later tried to avoid squirting did so specifically because they believed it was urine.
Most women in the study sensed the fluid release either just before (38%) or at the moment of (35%) orgasm. When asked where they felt it coming from, 35% perceived it as coming from the vagina and 26% from the urethra. Women who felt it coming from the urethra were significantly more likely to try suppressing it, probably because the sensation felt closer to urination.
Despite the chemical overlap with urine, the context is entirely different. Squirting happens involuntarily during high arousal or orgasm, not because of a full bladder or a need to urinate. The International Continence Society explicitly distinguishes it from coital urinary incontinence, which is an involuntary loss of urine during sex that can signal a pelvic floor issue. Squirting and ejaculation are considered normal physiological components of female sexuality, with prevalence estimates ranging from 10% to 54% depending on the study.
Why the “Is It Pee?” Question Matters Less Than You Think
The fluid that comes out during squirting is largely produced by the bladder, passes through the urethra, and shares key chemical markers with urine. In that strict sense, yes, it is mostly pee. But it also contains prostatic secretions not found in normal urine, it’s triggered by arousal rather than bladder fullness, and the experience is physiologically tied to orgasm rather than the urge to urinate.
Framing it as “just pee” misses the biology. The bladder appears to play an active role during arousal that researchers still don’t fully understand, rapidly filling and then releasing fluid in a way that doesn’t mirror normal urination. The fluid is often more dilute than typical urine and is mixed with glandular secretions. It is a real physiological response to sexual stimulation, not a loss of bladder control, and it falls on a spectrum where some women produce mostly glandular fluid, some produce mostly bladder fluid, and many produce a combination of both.