# Getting your tubes tied? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 27, 2003, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-your-tubes-tied/184858 "2003-06-27T21:49:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-your-tubes-tied/184858/1 "2003-06-27T21:49:57Z")
What really goes on when a male or female gets their tubes tied? This is what I’ve heard all my life, but I seriously doubt tubes are really getting tied, as the procedure can usually be reversed later on in life. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-your-tubes-tied/184858/2 "2003-06-27T21:55:18Z")
The procedure is very different for men and women. It isn’t always reversible, and tying off of the tubes is done at times. In women the procedure is called [tubal ligation](http://www.sexhealth.org/birthcontrol/tubal.shtml) (which literally means “tying of the tubes”) and in men is is called [a vasectomy](http://www.sexhealth.org/birthcontrol/vasectomy.shtml) (cutting of the _vas_). ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2003, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-your-tubes-tied/184858/3 "2003-06-28T01:33:18Z")
If you get a tubal ligation that cuts the fallopian tubes , what keeps them in place after that? I know the diagrams in my old health book were more than likely inaccurate (it made it seem as though they were in danger of just floating around unanchored in the abdominal cavity) but…is there fascia binding them to something, or are the really just waving around like sea plants in there? ---
**Author:** ![tanookie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/48db29/32.png) [@tanookie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanookie)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2003, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-your-tubes-tied/184858/4 "2003-06-28T01:39:03Z")
Well from what I understand (having mine ‘tied’ in October) they either clamp the tubes shut or cut/cauterize them. And they already kinda float around like sea plants as the tubes don’t quite attach to the ovaries but they have ends that look a lot like sea plants that ‘catch’ the eggs as they are released by the ovaries. Their only real anchor is to the uterus itself. ---
**Author:** ![mecaenas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/91b2a8/32.png) [@mecaenas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mecaenas)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2003, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-your-tubes-tied/184858/5 "2003-06-28T05:33:45Z")
With men who have had a vasectomy (where part or all of the vas deferens has been removed) where does the semen go when they ejaculate? ---
**Author:** ![G-RAY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@G-RAY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G-RAY)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2003, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-your-tubes-tied/184858/6 "2003-06-28T05:39:22Z")
That would depend on what,or who, they are ejaculating. There is still ejaculate, just no sperm in it. ---
**Author:** ![lite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5ac83/32.png) [@lite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lite)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2003, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-your-tubes-tied/184858/7 "2003-06-28T06:33:32Z")
haven’t had it done (vasectomy) but I know what happens. (Men, steel yourselves) A local anesthetic is applied to the scrotum (a shot in your sac) A small cut is made and the “tubes” carrying sperm are first cut, then tied or cauterized from each teste. Then sewn and left alone as it were. I just wonder if it has negative effects as men who have it done seem to have higher rates of cancer (my non-smoking father being one that died on his 52d birthday) ---
**Author:** ![j.c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2003, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-your-tubes-tied/184858/8 "2003-06-28T07:25:57Z")
What happens when one has one’s tubes tied? Life is beautiful! That’s what happens.