# How do women urinate? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 24, 2003, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-urinate/190570 "2003-07-24T06:41:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-urinate/190570/21 "2003-07-24T17:08:36Z")
**Tarantula** wrote: > [@](#): > > How can someone that obviously have enough of a brain to type (that’s you, OP), not know this ?? Because two of the three **women** the OP talked to are telling him otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-urinate/190570/22 "2003-07-24T17:36:30Z")
(punchline from an engineer’s joke) Don’t be ridiculous! God is a _civil_ engineer; who else would run a waste disposal line right through the middle of a recreational area? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-urinate/190570/23 "2003-07-24T17:45:49Z")
This is why we should bring back Encyclopedica Britannica. Remember in the “Reproduction” section, all those nifty anatomical graphics? That’s where I learned the names of all my girly bits… when I was _seven_. Egad. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-urinate/190570/24 "2003-07-24T18:02:32Z")
Women urinate? Who’d’ve thunk it? ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-urinate/190570/25 "2003-07-24T18:11:59Z")
_Meatus_ has got to be the least-used, least-known name for an article of intimate anatomy. How many of you have ever known this word before? Be honest now. ---
**Author:** ![Bren\_Cameron\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@Bren\_Cameron\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bren_Cameron_1)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-urinate/190570/26 "2003-07-24T18:26:16Z")
In all fairness, I can understand how some women could make the mistake. TMI WARNING– When I had my first period, I thought I was wetting my pants. You know, how you do sometimes when you laugh really, really hard? But it kept up after I stopped laughing, and I thought I was peeing, until I went into the bathroom and saw all the blood. That said, I knew it was actually coming out of a different opening. Heck, they made a point of explaining the difference in Human Sexuality class in grade school. I really wonder about people sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![lilbtagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4491bb/32.png) [@lilbtagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lilbtagna)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-urinate/190570/27 "2003-07-24T18:29:54Z")
I’m shocked and dismayed. I’ve known for as long as I can remember that women have three openings down there. The reproductive system has always been taught at school, and it’s generally cleared up during those lessons. If not, we also had to go to these silly “get to know your body” lectures back in the fifth grade to understand puberty. We girls were sent to one room, the boys to another. We all may have returned to our normal classes a little uncomfortable, but at least we were educated. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-urinate/190570/28 "2003-07-24T18:32:10Z")
There is something disturbingly wrong with a country/culture/person who is so utterly ignorant of something so basic. If anything this thread should make everybody think about the level of ignorance and the causes of it and what should be done about it. The whole thing is appalling. How can an adult woman never have looked at her own body to see what it looks like and how it works? How can she take care of those parts and keep them hygienic and clean? ---
**Author:** ![skeptic\_ev](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@skeptic\_ev](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skeptic_ev)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-urinate/190570/29 "2003-07-24T18:43:25Z")
Well, **sailor** , most of us females use the same soap for all three openings, so hygiene is not really a big problem. 😃 That being said, I too am amazed that so many people don’t understand basic anatomy. Take it easy on the OP, though. After all, he assumed that the women to whom he was talking knew more about their bodies than he did, which _should_, in most cases, be true. Before they “corrected” him, he had the right idea. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-urinate/190570/30 "2003-07-24T18:46:10Z")
> [@](#): > > Pricegal is studying to be a nurse. One of her male classmates, having spent a year in the course, having trained putting catheter on female dummies and watched videos about the procedure, didn’t know. I don’t know how you miss it. Well, trying to put the catheter into the vagina would probably make things a lot easier… I can understand guys being confused about the urethra and the vagina. After all, we do use the same plumbing for elimination and sex, and if a man’s never seen a naked woman, or never taken a good look down there, then he’s not likely to have that misconception corrected. And in fairness to **HPL** , I’m pretty sure he’s a teenager, and I know I had some pretty weird misconceptions about female anatomy while I was growing up. Maybe his parents just never left a copy of one of those booklets lying around for him, when they noticed his voice changing, and the information he’s getting from his classmates probably doesn’t help much. But it simply boggles my mind that a person actually equipped with such parts, especially one who regularly uses them, would never be curious enough to look at them. Now, that is simply willful ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-urinate/190570/31 "2003-07-24T18:46:56Z")
Imagine you’re an astronaut, and you land on a far-away planet that’s populated by all kinds of life forms. So you figure out what the most intelligent species is, you meet a representative of that species, and you ask it some really basic questions about its anatomy. And the creature opens its mouth and displays a total ignorance of its very own body, punctuated with “duh” and some drool. I’d conclude that there’s an absence of intelligent life, and the planet is ripe for colonization. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-urinate/190570/32 "2003-07-24T19:00:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dogzilla \* > \*\*This is why we should bring back Encyclopedica Britannica. Remember in the “Reproduction” section, all those nifty anatomical graphics? That’s where I learned the names of all my girly bits… when I was _seven_. > > Egad. \*\* Yep, same here! I think I still have the old Brittanica set someplace. I saw the diagram (inquiring 7 year olds are fascinated by that stuff!!) and had it figured out. I thought. Then the subject came up at Boy Scout camp, I mentioned the “hole” and the “pee hole” (and I wasn’t talking about the anus…different side of the coin). An older, more “worldly” guy told me I was an idiot, there was only one “hole”. I was shocked and embarrased…how could he be wrong?? I must have mis-read that diagram. Well, several years passed before my original suspiscions were proven to be true, and he was the idiot. Of course I had long since lost contact with him, so I couldn’t do a gloat dance. The female anatomy has baffled men (and it would appear, some women!) for eons. ---
**Author:** ![lammfile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e0b2c6/32.png) [@lammfile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lammfile)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-urinate/190570/33 "2003-07-24T19:21:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by panache45 \* > \*\*Imagine you’re an astronaut, and you land on a far-away planet that’s populated by all kinds of life forms. So you figure out what the most intelligent species is, you meet a representative of that species, and you ask it some really basic questions about its anatomy. And the creature opens its mouth and displays a total ignorance of its very own body, punctuated with “duh” and some drool. > > I’d conclude that there’s an absence of intelligent life, and the planet is ripe for colonization. \*\* You said it. I didn’t have much hope for humanity before and I don’t have much hope now. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-urinate/190570/34 "2003-07-24T19:24:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chronos \* > \*\* And in fairness to **HPL** , I’m pretty sure he’s a teenager, and I know I had some pretty weird misconceptions about female anatomy while I was growing up. Maybe his parents just never left a copy of one of those booklets lying around for him, when they noticed his voice changing, and the information he’s getting from his classmates probably doesn’t help much. > \*\* Actually, I’m 21 and with some College under my belt. Seriously, It’s something I don’t think about nor have a reason to ask about much, and I don’t spend a lot of time personally examining the various orfices on women to see what comes out each one. It’s been years and years since I took those Human reproduction classes in high school, and I don’t remember too much about the female parts. I know how the vagina, fallapion tubes, and Overies, etc, work(I could draw you a nice little diagram from memory if you want) They just didn’t go into how waste is disposed, at least as far as the female was concerned. Maybe they did and I don’t remember. It’s been at least 5 years. I’m trying to figure out why I seem to bear the brunt of the criticism here. Hell, I was closer then the guy who thought it all worked through the same hole, even if I was mistaken, and yet somehow I’m regarded as the class idiot in this regard. I know a fair bit about the human body, just not exactly how the female plumbing works in that area. I was wrong, I admit I was wrong, and I could see why I was getting this criticism if I stuck with it despite finding out I was wrong, but I made a statement off my knowledge as it was when I posted and it was wrong. I was told I was wrong. I now know better, so quit the “holier then thou” crap. Such an attitude does not help fight ignorance, but rather show arrogence. P.S. I have no idea what tubgirl is, though the title and context leads me to believe I don’t want to know. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-urinate/190570/35 "2003-07-24T19:31:47Z")
Congrats on your 10,000th post, **sailor**. > [@](#): > > The female anatomy has baffled men (and it would appear, some women!) for eons. Can’t be more than about 2 million years, I guess. I think **HPL** has a point perhaps - guys rarely have reason to ask (I never did and probably wouldn’t have thought about it if not for some of these boards), and if a fair share of WOMEN don’t know, how the hell are WE supposed to??? I think it says more about how uncomfortable the world in general is with the female body than it does about how stupid men are. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-urinate/190570/36 "2003-07-24T19:34:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by flodnak \* > \*\* > Way too often, boys and girls alike hear the word “vagina” used to mean all the external female parts - when they hear a real word at all, instead of just a vague term like Down There. “Vulva”, though not a common term, is a more accurate word for what can actually be seen from the front. \*\* Well, you worded it better, but that’s what I was trying to get at. It appears that many people use vagina as a catch-all word, never mind the specifics. Hence more confusion ensues than in that vegan/vegitarian pit thread. ---
**Author:** ![lammfile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e0b2c6/32.png) [@lammfile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lammfile)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-urinate/190570/37 "2003-07-24T19:35:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by skeptic\_ev \* > \*\*Well, **sailor** , most of us females use the same soap for all three openings, so hygiene is not really a big problem. 😃 > \*\* Speaking of which… To all you gals out there: You relly shouldn’t wash your genitalia with soap. Just letting you know. It’s bad for you. ---
**Author:** ![Mort\_Furd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mort\_Furd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mort_Furd)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-urinate/190570/38 "2003-07-24T19:52:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lammfile \* > \*\*Speaking of which… To all you gals out there: You relly shouldn’t wash your genitalia with soap. Just letting you know. It’s bad for you. \*\* That goes for you guys, too. Besides me, only three things touch the mighty Furd Wang: 1. Mrs. Furd 2. Big Ben condoms 3. Warm water. Warm water keeps it nice and clean without washing of the flavor that the keeps the Mrs. coming back for more. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-urinate/190570/39 "2003-07-24T20:07:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mort Furd \* > \*\*Warm water keeps it nice and clean without washing of the flavor that the keeps the Mrs. coming back for more. \*\* Too much information, dude! ---
**Author:** ![Mort\_Furd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mort\_Furd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mort_Furd)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-urinate/190570/40 "2003-07-24T20:11:54Z")
Hey, I’m just trying to help. I’m sayin’ that maybe if it didn’t taste like shampoo, your girlfriend/wife would be more inclined to get on your wang, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-urinate/190570.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-urinate/190570.md?page=3)