# Pregnancy **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 22, 2000, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnancy/20241 "2000-05-22T23:23:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Superfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/48db29/32.png) [@Superfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfly)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2000, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnancy/20241/1 "2000-05-22T23:23:06Z")
I was told by a friend that it’s possible to get a girl pregnant from dry sex. Is this true? If so, how possible? It seems rather silly… ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2000, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnancy/20241/2 "2000-05-22T23:26:37Z")
Define “dry sex” for those of us who are square and dusty. ---
**Author:** ![Vestal\_Blue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5e9695/32.png) [@Vestal\_Blue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vestal_Blue)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2000, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnancy/20241/3 "2000-05-22T23:28:07Z")
Define ‘dry sex’. It sounds painful! If you mean ‘dry humping’, ie, crotch to crotch rubbing while fully clothed, then no. Sperm still has to reach the egg for that to happen, and I don’t think even Supermans’ gametes could do that through layers of cloth, and without penile penetration! ---
**Author:** ![nashiitashii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2000, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnancy/20241/4 "2000-05-22T23:48:39Z")
it’s possible, but extremely rare for it to occur. i just think dry sex is kinda silly anyway. go for the real thing. ---
**Author:** ![Superfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/48db29/32.png) [@Superfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfly)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2000, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnancy/20241/5 "2000-05-22T23:50:20Z")
Yeah, that’s what I meant by dry sex. Sex with all your clothes on. I’m not sure if it’s a urban myth or what. I was also told that you could get a girl pregnant from penetration without ejaculation. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2000, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnancy/20241/6 "2000-05-22T23:52:04Z")
Vestal Blue wrote: > [@](#): > > \*\* > …I don’t think even Supermans’ gametes could do that through layers of cloth, and without penile penetration! > \*\* You are grossly underestimating the sperm of the man of steel. In response to the OP. If by “dry sex” you mean that the man doesn’t ejaculate, it is possible for pregnancy to result. Preseminal fluid (prec\*m) contains live sperm. ---
**Author:** ![kiffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/d78d45/32.png) [@kiffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiffa)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2000, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnancy/20241/7 "2000-05-23T04:11:35Z")
Let’s get our terminology straight: there’s humping which really doesn’t result in anything and there is wet sex and dry sex. Our culture focuses in on wet sex [just read a bit of pornography and all those wet descriptors and you will see what I mean]. There are cultures which are into dry sex: meaning the dryer, less lubrication the better. Ouch! Women in dry sex cultures will use herbs, douches etc to literally dry out their genitals. I wonder if HIV transmission among women is facilitated by these practices in dry sex cultures. Anyone know? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2000, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnancy/20241/8 "2000-05-23T04:32:18Z")
Ann Landers (or Abby… one of 'em anyway) used to occassionally run a column about some girl who was messing around with her boyfriend and giving him manual sex. He ejaculated upon her jean clad nether regions and apparently the little guys hiked through denim and cotton panties to reach the gates of the Holy Land, work their way in and make her pregnate. A few notes: (A) I’m not saying this occured, only that Ann/Abby said it was true. Needless to say, they’ve claimed many a thing in the past which turned out bogus. (B) I find it hard to believe that semen could soak through two layers of underwear and two layers of denim jeans, but I guess if you and your special someone were grinding away in your undies and you ejaculated, it could soak through and put her in a family way. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2000, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnancy/20241/9 "2000-05-23T04:45:23Z")
> [@](#): > > I was also told that you could get a girl pregnant from penetration without ejaculation. This, by the way, is 100% true. Pre-ejaculate fluid (i.e. pre-cum) contains sperm cells which are just as capable as knocking your female friend up as the sperm cells in actual ejaculate. This is why “withdrawl” doesn’t count as a successful form of birth control. ---
**Author:** ![Zhen\_ka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecccb3/32.png) [@Zhen\_ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zhen_ka)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2000, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnancy/20241/10 "2000-05-23T06:12:23Z")
peaches, Just read an article in Scientific American which describes HIV transmission and dry sex. The focus of the article was on the AIDS crisis in Africa, but it does mention this phenomenon in the body of the piece. It’s titled : “Care for a Dying Continent.” I’m including the link below, but if I somehow mess it up, it’s in the May 2000 issue. [http://www.sciam.com/2000/0500issue/0500ezzel.html](http://www.sciam.com/2000/0500issue/0500ezzel.html) ---
**Author:** ![Tomcat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Tomcat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tomcat)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2000, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnancy/20241/11 "2000-05-23T11:17:44Z")
I just posted this in the Splash Pregnancy post- My HS Biology teacher got the point about the ease of pregnancy across to us know-it-all teens: “10,000,000 sperm. 1 egg. The system is designed to work folks!” Pull-and-pray methods DO NOT WORK. I was at my ex-GF’s work late one night (she works in a lab). We wondered about seminal fluid, so after a little help and a cotton swab of fluid we looked under a microscope: Little buggers swimming all around! ---
**Author:** ![kiffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/d78d45/32.png) [@kiffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiffa)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2000, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnancy/20241/12 "2000-05-23T12:26:24Z")
One\_madjack: Thank you very much for the lead on the Scientific American article on HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe - lots of information there. I am sorry, however, that the authors did not talk about STD [sexually transmitted diseases] and male circumcision on the virus transmission. ---
**Author:** ![hedra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/779978/32.png) [@hedra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hedra)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2000, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnancy/20241/13 "2000-05-23T13:49:33Z")
re: the Dear Abby column what, you never heard of a girl soaking through her jeans? (don’t ask me how I know, but it can happen) If that happens, AND sperm make contact - they swim in that stuff, even through fabric. The little buggers can even dig their ways in between cells into the vag walls (which may be part of the trigger process for making pregnancy conditions optimal, but that’s just a wild theory so far…). They just can’t swim DRY (we’re talking BONE dry - not even a hint of maybe a little damp) - they need a medium, his or hers, but then it still only takes one of the little guys! ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2000, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnancy/20241/14 "2000-05-23T15:42:44Z")
Jophiel Wrote: > [@](#): > > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > I was also told that you could get a girl pregnant from penetration without ejaculation. > > This, by the way, is 100% true. Pre-ejaculate fluid (i.e. pre-cum) contains sperm cells which are just as capable as knocking your female friend up as the sperm cells in actual ejaculate. This is why “withdrawl” doesn’t count as a successful form of birth control. > \*\* According to the FDA, withdrawal, if properly executed, is 96% effective. A male latex condom without spermicide is 97% effective, if used properly. Withdrawal is also listed as being more effective than the diaphram, the vaginal sponge, the cervical cap, and the female condom. BTW, according to the FDA site, praying is 15% effective. For more info: [Consumer-Friendly Birth Control Information](http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/1997/conceptbl.html)