When a girl squirts, her body rapidly expels fluid through the urethra during sexual arousal or orgasm. The process involves bladder filling, pelvic muscle contractions, and secretions from small glands near the urethra. It’s a real physiological event, though it’s less common than pop culture suggests, with an estimated prevalence of about 5% of women.
Where the Fluid Comes From
The fluid involved in squirting has two sources, and understanding both clears up a lot of confusion.
The first source is the bladder. In a 2015 ultrasound study of seven women who regularly experienced squirting, researchers confirmed each woman’s bladder was completely empty before stimulation began. As arousal continued, ultrasound scans showed noticeable bladder filling. After squirting, the bladder was empty again. This means the bulk of the fluid, especially in larger volumes, passes through the bladder and exits through the urethra.
The second source is a pair of tiny structures called the Skene’s glands, located on either side of the urethra. These glands develop from the same embryonic cells that become the prostate in males, which is why they’re sometimes called the “female prostate.” During arousal, the tissue around these glands swells, and they secrete a milky fluid containing proteins similar to those found in male semen. In four out of five women in the ultrasound study, the squirted fluid contained PSA (prostate-specific antigen), a compound produced by the Skene’s glands and not normally found in urine. So while the volume is largely from the bladder, the fluid picks up glandular secretions on the way out, making it chemically distinct from plain urine.
What Happens in the Body
Squirting is driven by the same reflex system that controls orgasm. During sexual stimulation, sensory signals travel from the clitoris, vaginal walls, and surrounding tissue through the pudendal nerve to the spinal cord and brain. When stimulation reaches a threshold, the brain triggers a cascade of involuntary muscle activity.
The pelvic floor muscles contract in rapid, repeated pulses, typically 3 to 8 contractions per orgasm, each lasting about one second. These are followed a few seconds later by smooth muscle contractions in the uterus and vaginal walls. In women who squirt, this coordinated muscular activity also compresses the bladder and surrounding structures, forcing fluid out through the urethra. The expulsion can happen during orgasm, just before it, or sometimes without a full orgasm at all.
What It Feels Like
One of the most consistently reported sensations is an initial feeling of needing to urinate, especially when the front wall of the vagina is stimulated. In an early clinical case study, a woman described feeling the urge to pee when a specific spot on her vaginal wall was touched, but that sensation shifted to pleasure as stimulation continued. This urge-to-urinate feeling is common and makes sense anatomically: the bladder sits directly behind that area, and the Skene’s glands are nearby.
Many women can’t distinguish between orgasms that include squirting and ones that don’t based on sensation alone. In the same case study, the participant was surprised to learn she hadn’t expelled fluid during some of her orgasms, because the internal feeling was identical. This suggests squirting is more of a side effect of certain types of stimulation and muscle activity than a distinct sensation in itself.
Squirting vs. Female Ejaculation
These two terms are often used interchangeably, but researchers treat them as different events. Female ejaculation refers to the small amount of thick, whitish fluid produced by the Skene’s glands. It’s typically just a few milliliters and may go unnoticed during sex. Squirting refers to a larger, more forceful release of dilute fluid that comes primarily from the bladder. In practice, the two often happen at the same time, which is why the squirted fluid contains glandular compounds mixed with bladder contents.
One unresolved question is glucose content. Earlier research found glucose in female ejaculate (the Skene’s gland secretion) but not in squirting fluid. This further supports the idea that these are overlapping but distinct processes, with different glandular contributions depending on the type and intensity of stimulation.
Why It Happens to Some Women and Not Others
The Skene’s glands vary significantly in size from person to person. Some women have well-developed glands, while in others they’re barely present. This anatomical variation likely explains why some women squirt easily, others rarely, and many never do. The size and responsiveness of the pelvic floor muscles also play a role, since stronger contractions create more pressure on the bladder and surrounding tissue.
There’s no established evolutionary reason for squirting specifically. One broad theory about female orgasm in general is that it exists because men and women share overlapping developmental pathways. Just as men have nipples because the female body needs them, women may have orgasmic and ejaculatory responses because the underlying anatomy develops from the same embryonic tissue as the male prostate and ejaculatory system. Squirting, in this view, isn’t a feature with its own biological purpose but rather a byproduct of shared anatomy.
Common Concerns
The most frequent worry is that squirting is “just peeing.” The reality is more nuanced. The fluid does route through the bladder and shares some chemical properties with very dilute urine, but it also contains prostatic secretions that urine does not. Calling it urine is technically incomplete. Calling it something entirely separate from the urinary system is also inaccurate. It’s a mix, and the ratio varies from person to person and even from one experience to the next.
Squirting is not a sign of a medical problem. It’s also not a benchmark for sexual satisfaction. Women who squirt don’t report more intense orgasms than women who don’t, and as the clinical evidence shows, the physical sensations of orgasm can be identical with or without fluid release. It’s a normal variation in sexual response, not a goal to achieve or a problem to solve.