Can a Girl Get Pregnant From Swallowing a Guys Sperm

If you're ever wondering if health education should be a required course in public schools, head over to Yahoo Answers and check out all the ways teenagers think that they can get pregnant. Browsing the questions posed on Yahoo Answers, and other online forums, it quickly becomes clear that some of today's teenagers are very confused about their bodies, what happens in the bedroom, and how they can get pregnant.

The forum posts made by teens in the pregnancy forum on Yahoo Answers typically contain the headline "I think I'm pregnant (except pregnant is usually spelled wrong), which is then followed by an explanation of how the teen believes they got pregnant. Anyone who's been through a basic sex education class would know that the teen couldn't possibly have gotten pregnant that way, but these teens honestly believe that they could be pregnant and they're scared. Many of the posts include the word help in all capital letters and the phrase "I'm so scared!"

Many of these teens have absolutely no way to learn about sex. Their parents are too scared or embarrassed to teach them about the birds and the bees. They live in states that teach abstinence only health education, which doesn't teach them anything about nookie, just that they shouldn't have it until marriage. They grow up believing that birth control is wrong or simply not knowing how to use it.

So, to all those teens out there on Yahoo Answers, who think they might be pregnant from doing something that definitely doesn't get you pregnant, let me clear things up for you. Here are 15 ways you definitely cannot get pregnant.

15 Fooling around with clothes on

It may seem pretty obvious that you can't get pregnant when you have your clothes on, but unfortunately, it's not obvious to these poor, misinformed teens. Many of them seemed to think that if the guy finished in his boxers and then rubbed up against the girl's underwear that the sperm could seep through the underwear and make it to the vagina.

That's absolutely not how any of this works. The clothing creates a barrier between the swimmers and your lady parts. The swimmers do not seep through two layers of clothing in order to find its target and impregnate the girl. It's not like sperm are heat seeking missiles!

Even if both of you do get a little bit sticky while fooling around, the clothing ensures that you won't get pregnant. Go forth and have fun with your worry free rolling around together!

14 If he uses his hands

There was also a lot of confusion about whether or not fingers pose a pregnancy risk. Some of these teens actually believed that having someone's fingers inside them might cause pregnancy. I can't even imagine the logic there, but it's a good example of why we need to teach kids about intimacy. There's no ejaculation involved in finger fun, so there's no risk for pregnancy.

A few questions posed a particular scenario that made a little more sense. They wanted to know if they could get pregnant from fingers entering after the guy just finished ( of course if he finished in his hand). There is a very small risk of pregnancy from this, but only if the sperm on his hand is still wet. When sperm dries it dies, so if he finished a while ago and now he's moving on to you, then you're safe. Just to be safe, he should probably wash his hands before he gets all up in you. That's basic hygiene anyway.

13 "Outer Action"

Another common misconception is that you can get pregnant from his member having any sort of contact with the V. A lot of the questions describe the scenario of placing his member near yours, but not inside, and grinding up against each other. These teens believe that this sort of contact poses a pregnancy risk.

First of all, if the guy doesn't finish anywhere near your parts in this scenario, then there's definitely no chance of pregnancy. Sperm has to enter the vagina in order for pregnancy to occur. This typically only happens when the penis is actually inserted in to the vagina and the guy finishes while inside.

It's pretty rare to get pregnant when the guy finishes outside the vagina, but if he finishes very close to the vagina, there is a small chance that some sperm could make it to their intended target. This doesn't happen very often.

12 Oral

There are a surprising amount of teenagers out there who believe you can get pregnant from oral. The forum posts about whether or not they can get pregnant from oral often involve logic like "could his sperm swim down to my uterus from my stomach." Of course, this logic also shows a basic confusion of human biology, but there are teens who honestly believe this can happen. I can't image the logic behind believing you can get pregnant from receiving oral, but some teens seem to believe they can.

So, let's be clear about why you absolutely cannot get pregnant from oral. In order to get pregnant, sperm has to enter the vagina and travel upwards through the cervix to the uterus. None of those body parts are connected in any way to the stomach, so swallowing sperm is not a way to get pregnant.

11 "The Back Door"

I also saw a lot of questions about whether you can get pregnant if you let your man enter through "the back door." If your man finishes while he's in "the back door", there's absolutely no way for his swimmers to reach your uterus, so no, you're not going to get pregnant from getting it on this way.

However, this one does come with a caveat. Anyone who's done the deed knows how messy it can get when a guy finishes. Sometimes, his swimmers end up other places than inside when he's done.

If he enters through "the back door" and things get messy when he finishes, there is a chance that his sperm will end up near the front. If he's got particularly strong swimmers, one could make it to its intended target.

So, while you can't actually get pregnant from "back door" intercourse, there is a chance that a big finish on his part could make things messy and pose a risk of pregnancy. So, be careful if you choose this method and maybe take a shower right after.

10 "Outer Course"

Another common misconception is that you can get pregnant from his member having any sort of contact with the vagina. A lot of the questions describe the scenario of placing the penis near the vagina, but not inside, and grinding up against each other. These teens believe that this sort of contact poses a pregnancy risk.

First of all, if the guy doesn't finish anywhere near the vagina in this scenario, then there's definitely no chance of pregnancy. Sperm has to enter the vagina in order for pregnancy to occur. This typically only happens when the penis is actually inserted in to the vagina and the guy finishes while inside.

Mere penis and vagina contact poses absolutely no risk of pregnancy, so fool around all you want. To be safe, make sure he finishes away from the vagina.

9 If you use your hands

I also saw questions about whether girls could get pregnant from getting sperm on their own hands after giving a hand job. Again, the leaps of logic that would make that scenario make sense evade me, but there are teens out there who are genuinely concerned.

If your hand isn't coming in to contact with your own parts then there's literally no chance of pregnancy. Keep in mind to always wash your hands right after any action like that so you can avoid worrying about such things. It is always best to be on the side of caution, rather than to worry about such things. You don't need to be stressing about pregnancy when there is no risk.

8 Letting him finish "outside"

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At this point I feel like I should just be yelling this: "If his sperm doesn't come in contact with your vagina then there's literally no way you can get pregnant!" So many of the questions on Yahoo Answers described different places the girl let him finish and asked whether or not they could be pregnant. "I let him finish on my stomach. Could I be pregnant." "I let him finish on my chest. Could I be pregnant?" "He finished down there, but not in me. Could I be pregnant?"

The only one of those that poses any risk of pregnancy is him finishing down there, but not in you. Again, if wet sperm makes contact with the outside of the vagina, there's a tiny chance that they could get to the uterus.

Other than that, there's literally no risk of getting pregnant from letting him finish anywhere that isn't inside you.

7 Taking matters in to your own hands

There are actually girls who believe that they can get pregnant from pleasuring themselves. The only way I can see them believing this is if they've been told that by adults in order to prevent them from exploring themselves. Personal opinion, this kind of misinformation is actually harmful to these children. It makes them afraid to explore their bodies and when they do, it brings on more fears, like the fear they could be pregnant, or it brings on intense shame. All teens are going to explore their bodies and find out what feels good. There shouldn't be any fear or shame associated with this.

To be clear, there is absolutely no way a girl or woman can get pregnant by pleasuring herself. There's no sperm involved in any way, usually there's not even a man involved. So girls, you're totally safe taking matters in to your own hands.

6 Using toys

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Along the same lines, there' also no risk of pregnancy from using toys. In the majority of cases, these toys haven't ever come in to contact with sperm, so there's no way that they could be a vehicle for the sperm. Toys that have come in to contact with sperm in the past won't have live sperm on them. Again, once the sperm dries, it dies, so if there was sperm on a toy and it's since dried, you're fine. Also, you should be washing toys with body friendly cleansers after every single use, so if you're properly cleaning your toys, there's no chance there's any sperm lingering there.

If you and your partner are really in to toys and your toys come in to contact with his sperm, just make sure to wash them before you use them again. Always air on the side of precaution, to ensure you don't spend so much time stressing.

5 Toilet Seat

There are still people out there who think that you can catch things from a toilet seat, including apparently, pregnancy. First of all, I want to know how they think the sperm that would get them pregnant ended up on the toilet seat. Do they think a guy just finished on the seat? Or do they think that guys are just let it out right over the toilet seat in a public bathroom stall? My point being, that there's most likely not even any swimmers on toilet seats.

If there was wet sperm on a toilet seat, you'd notice and use another stall or, if you're in your own home, begrudgingly clean it up before you sat down. I hope. Even if you did make the decision to sit in it, there is still a small chance of it actually entering your parts.

To reiterate the previous points, if the sperm on the toilet seat is dry, there's no chance you can get pregnant from it because the sperm is dead.

4 A hot tub or bath

This one's actually a relatively common belief that's unfortunately been perpetuated by popular media. Many people believe that if you and your guy are in the hot tub or a hot bath and he finishes that his swimmers floating around in the water could get to your parts and impregnate you. This is absolutely not true. The sperm is not likely to survive long enough to find your vagina and make its way in.

That being said, you're not totally safe if you decide to have intercourse in a hot tub or bath. Many people believe that if you have intercourse in a hot tub or bath the water will "clean you out" and you won't get pregnant. Others believe that the temperature of the water will neutralize the sperm, making it "safe." Neither of these things are true. If he finishes inside you while you're in a hot tub or hot bath you can get pregnant.

But if he finishes outside of you, in the water, you're good to go.

3 Sleeping on "dirty" sheets

Most of us who done the dirty know that when he finishes, it can get everywhere, including the sheets. If you're too lazy to change the sheets after he's made a mess, then you've probably slept in "the wet spot" before. Believe it or not, there are some people who believe that you can get pregnant from sleeping on sheets he's finished on.

Even if you were sleeping directly in the "wet spot," his sperm is likely not getting anywhere near your vagina, even if you sleep naked. If you don't sleep naked, there's obviously no way that sperm is coming in contact with your parts.

Sperm also doesn't live for very long outside the body. So, all that spunk on your sheets doesn't pose a pregnancy risk at all. I promise. Though you probably want to wash your sheets just because it hygienic.

2 Wearing your man's boxers to sleep

I did, in fact, see one question posed by a girl who thought she could get pregnant from wearing her boyfriend's shorts or boxers. This is the kind of stuff you only hear from girls whose parents have literally never mentioned anything related to intimacy and who treat nookie like it's a hush hush, shameful thing. These kinds of misconceptions about sexual activity are dangerous for teens. The fact that his member has touched the inside of those boxers and is now near your parts has literally nothing to do with pregnancy.

I guess if you put on his boxers right after he finished in them and you weren't wearing underwear, and you rubbed his boxers all up in your sexy parts, then maybe there's a tiny chance you could get pregnant. But why would you be putting on his dirty boxers? Ew.

Bottom line, there's no way that you can get pregnant from sharing clothes with a guy.

1 Sitting on a guy's lap

I did see a few questions from poor girls who were so insanely misinformed that they believed they could get pregnant from sitting in a guy's lap. I'm not even joking, and in fact, this makes me a little sad. There are girls out there who have been made to feel so fearful and shameful about their bodies and guys' bodies that they honestly believe they could get pregnant by sitting in a guy's lap because they came in to contact with his penis through his clothes.

We need to educate teens, and even pre-teens about sex. It's a perfectly natural part of life and it's tons of fun. There shouldn't be so much shame around it that parents instill their children with the idea they could get pregnant from simply coming in to contact with a guy. These teens are actually more likely than their peers to get pregnant because they just have no idea how pregnancy occurs or how to prevent pregnancy. They are at a great disadvantage compared to peers who grow up being taught about sex in sex positive environments.

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About The Author

Robin Zabiegalski (65 Articles Published)

Robin Zabiegalski is a freelance writer for digital media publications and her work has been published on The Establishment, The Tempest, xoJane, and Kinkly. She is also an occasional writer of short fiction and satire. Robin has a BA in Professional Studies from Johnson State College and she is passionate about feminism, body image, writing, snowboarding, and backpacking.

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