Squirting: What It Is and How to Achieve It

A somewhat elusive sex term, squirting is often hailed as the ultimate goal of a great time in bed – the body signalling that, ladies and gentlemen, the orgasm of all orgasms is happening.

But thanks to a lack of open conversation on the topic (it doesn’t tend to be something that comes up at the pub on the regular) and no scientific definition ever having been pinned down, what squirting really is and means is still largely misunderstood.

What Does Squirting Mean?

‘We actually don’t have any specific research on what it is, why it happens,’ psychosexual therapist Kate Moyle says on the latest episode of WH’s Just As Well podcast. ‘What we think is that basically it’s the expulsion of fluid from the urethra, which is probably a mix of something: a fluid from a place called the Skene’s glands and maybe some urine.’ (Although, it’s not peeing, she clarifies.)

What Makes Someone Squirt?

‘Most people experience it when they’re having a particular type of pleasure, which is G-spot stimulation,’ says Moyle. So, where exactly is the G-spot? ‘Rather than being an anatomical structure, it is a highly sensitive zone on the inside front wall of the vagina, which is why a lot of sex toys might have that slightly curved shape and it’s a part of the clitoral network,’ she explains.‘Most people – and this is anecdotal experience – [report] squirting when they’re having intense pleasure through that area being stimulated.’

As far as any kind of definition or scientific explanation goes, though, Moyle says there are currently no specifics, and that’s the best information we’ve got right now.

How Can You Achieve Squirting?

Ironically, says Moyle, someone is more likely to squirt if they don’t focus on doing so. ‘One of the things that we know with orgasm is that the more pressure we put on it, the harder it becomes,’ she says.

‘The more [you] try and get it, actually, the less likely it is to happen because that provides an anxiety, a goal, a distraction, and so we actually try to take pressure and expectation off in order to get people to a more relaxed, comfortable place.’

However, adds Moyle, squirting is an involuntary response and if you’ve never made someone squirt, it doesn’t necessarily mean they didn’t have a good time – it might just not be how someone’s body responds to an orgasm.

‘It has become a kind of holy grail in a way of people being like, oh my god, if that happens then it means it’s really good. For some people, it is a real indication that they’ve had a good time,’ says Moyle.

‘For a lot of people it will never happen. It doesn’t mean anything more than you had a great time. It might feel really satisfying for the people that are having it, but it isn’t a kind of unicorn to be hunted and a thing to put pressure on.’