Where Do Girls Pee From? How Do They Pee?

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Where do girls pee from? If you’ve got questions about female anatomy, we’ve got answers.

In this article, we will go over the basic anatomy of the female genital area and answer the question: how do women pee? We’ll also discuss how it differs from men’s urinary system and answer other FAQs about women and their pee holes.

 

Where Do Women Pee From? The Basic Anatomy

If you’re wondering “what hole does pee come out of for women?” or “where do girls pee from?” you’re far from alone. Lots of people of all genders don’t know that much about female anatomy. Education systems don’t always do a great job making all this information clear. Additionally, it’s often a taboo topic, and people are afraid to ask questions.

People often think that women pee from the vagina, especially since men pee and ejaculate from the same tube—the urethra. But for women, urinary systems and sexual systems are separate. A woman has a separate “pee hole” from the vagina.

To understand where women pee from, you need to know the basic anatomy of a woman’s vulva area. The vulva refers to all of the external genitalia—the parts you can see. While people often refer to this entire area as the “vagina,”  this is not technically correct. The only part that is actually the vagina is the muscular canal that leads up to the cervix and uterus. You can’t really see the vagina of a standing naked woman; you can only see her vulva.

So where do girls pee from? Well, just like in boys, pee comes from the urethra, the tube that lets urine pass from the bladder to outside the body.

And where is a woman’s pee hole? The urethral opening, or meatus, is between a woman’s clitoris and her vaginal opening.

Here’s a diagram of women’s external genitalia so you can get a sense of where everything is:

 

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Fyrstinnen/Wikimedia Commons
      1. Clitoral hood/prepuce: a fold of skin covering the clitoris.
      2. Clitoris: the main site of female sexual pleasure, which has about 8,000 nerve endings (note that the clitoris has lots of internal tissue in addition to the small part that you see here!)
      3. Labia majora: the outer lips of the vulva.
      4. Urethral meatus: where urine exits the body; the pee hole
      5. Labia minora: the inner lips of the vulva
      6. Anus: where solid waste exits the body
      7. Vaginal opening: entrance to the vaginal canal
      8. Perineum: the area between the vaginal opening and the anus

 

If you are female-bodied, you can check all of this out yourself. Just head to a private, well-lit room, grab a hand mirror, and squat over it. If you spread your labia majora and minora you should be able to see your urethral meatus—the entrance to your urethra or, more colloquially, your pee hole. It will be below your clitoris and above the opening to your vagina.

Additionally, if you check out a cross-section of a woman’s internal pelvic area, you can get a sense of where the bladder and urethra are located relative to a woman’s internal reproductive organs.

 

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Tsaitgaist/Wikimedia Commons

 

There’s a lot going on in this diagram, but the important thing to note is that the bladder is in front of and slightly below the uterus (the organ where pregnancies develop), right behind the pubic bone. From the bladder, the urethra leads down and outside the body, as we discussed above.

For comparison, let’s quickly go over the male anatomy. Here’s a cross-section:

 

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Tsaitgaist/Wikimedia Commons

 

Like women, men have a muscular bladder located right behind the pubic bone with a urethral sphincter and a urethra leading outside the body. However, the male reproductive organs are very different. Externally, men have the penis and the testes. (The testes produce sperm and are inside the scrotum, but they are visible externally). Internally, they have the epididymis and vas deferens, which bring sperm up from the testes to all of the glands and ducts that help make semen—the seminal vesicle, the ejaculatory duct, the prostate gland, and the Cowper’s gland.

The main difference with respect to the “pee hole” is that other than the anus, men only have one opening from the penis, the urethral meatus. This means that both urine and semen (the sperm-filled fluid ejected during ejaculation/male orgasm) travel through the urethra and out of the body through the same hole. For women, the urinary and reproductive systems are mostly totally separated, and they have separate holes for those functions.

 

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However you pee, you should wash your hands afterwards.

 

How Do Women Pee? Urinary System Function

So you now know what hole a woman’s pee comes out of (the urethral meatus) and where women’s pee holes are located. But how does a woman’s urinary system function? How do women actually pee?

In terms of how the urinary system actually functions, the urinary system works pretty much identically in men and women.

Your two kidneys filter your blood, removing waste and some water. This liquid travels down the ureters, two muscle tubes that lead to the bladder. The bladder is a muscular, balloon-shaped, hollow organ that stores this liquid, urine (or pee). When the bladder starts to get full, you’ll feel the urge to urinate.

When you do decide to urinate, your brain sends signals to the muscles of the bladder to contract or squeeze. At the same time, your urinary sphincter, which normally holds the bladder closed, relaxes, allowing urine to flow out through the urethra.

 

Here are side-by-side diagrams of the male and female urinary systems:

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Cancer Research UK/Wikimedia Commons
Diagram_showing_the_female_urinary_system_CRUK_301.svg
Cancer Research UK/Wikimedia Commons

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, the main difference between men and women is that a woman’s urethra is a lot shorter than a man’s. A woman’s urethra is about two inches long, and a man’s is eight-ten inches. This means that women are more prone to urinary tract infections because bacteria doesn’t have to travel as far to reach the bladder and other urinary system organs.

So how do women pee? Pretty much the same way that men do: by contracting the bladder so that the urinary sphincter relaxes and pee flows out of the urethra through the meatus (or pee hole). Of course, because of the differences in external anatomy, women typically sit down while men often stand to pee. But what’s going on internally is pretty much the same.

 

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And asparagus can make anyone’s pee smell weird.

 

Can Women Pee Standing Up? And Other FAQs

In this section, we’ll answer all your questions about women’s pee holes and how women pee.

 

Can Women Pee Standing Up? How Do Women Pee Standing Up?

It’s more difficult for women to direct the flow of their urine than it is for men, so women typically sit to pee. However, women can pee standing up if necessary. There are several tutorials out there on standing to pee as a woman.

For a little extra assistance, you can get an STP (stand-to-pee) device. This may be especially helpful for trans men who are hoping to blend in at the urinal.

 

Can Women Pee During Sex?

Men pee and ejaculate (emit semen) from the same opening, the urinary meatus. When a penis becomes erect (or hard), the urinary sphincter closes—so an aroused man cannot urinate (unless he has a medical problem). Because women’s pee holes are separate from their vaginas, you might wonder if women can pee during sex.

Many women actually feel like they need to pee during certain sexual positions or acts. However, the urethral sponge—tissue that surrounds and cushions the urethra—actually swells up when a woman is aroused, which should prevent her from peeing. Women may feel like they need to pee from the pressure of the urethral sponge on the urethra, or from pressure on the bladder from penetration. For most women, peeing during sex is unlikely. You may feel more comfortable if you pee before sex. You could also put down a towel if you are worried about your fluids.

With that said, it is possible for women with weakened pelvic floor muscles (for example, from childbirth) to experience some minor urinary incontinence during sex. You can address this with kegel exercises or see a doctor about it.

Additionally, some women are capable of “squirting,” and may confuse this for peeing (see the next question).

Overall, though, I wouldn’t worry too much about the possibility of a little pee during sex. There are already all kinds of body fluids going everywhere, and urine is not any “dirtier” than the rest of those fluids.

 

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Don’t worry too much about a little leakage, just grab a towel.

 

Is Female Ejaculate Pee?

Some women are capable of “squirting,” or emitting lots of fluid from the urethra when they orgasm. While many people call squirting “female ejaculation,” they may not be the same.

Female ejaculate is a milky, whitish fluid released from the female prostate (or Skene’s gland) which is similar to the secretions of the male prostate. Some women don’t secrete female ejaculate at all, some women secrete only female ejaculate at orgasm, and some squirt.

Squirting is the emission of a large volume of liquid from the urethra around the time of orgasm. Women who can squirt report that it is a pleasurable experience.

The liquid emitted during squirting appears to be a combination of female ejaculate from the Skene’s glands and a larger quantity of liquid released from the urethra. This liquid appears to come from the bladder. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s urine; most women who experience squirting report that the liquid is appreciably different from urine. Meta-analysis also supports the conclusion that squirting is a different phenomenon from coital incontinence.

Basically, we don’t really understand how squirting works, but it’s definitely more complicated than “women are just peeing during sex.”

 

Can You Have Sex With a Urethra or Pee Hole?

If you haven’t had sex before, you may be worried about the possibility of things going in the wrong hole—the pee hole instead of the vagina. There are a number of urban legends to this effect, in which women report to doctors that they are having trouble conceiving and, upon examination, the doctor realizes the woman’s partner has been penetrating her urethra.

However, the urethra is very narrow compared to the vagina, and if someone tried to penetrate it, it would be incredibly painful. So it’s very difficult—if not nearly impossible—to accidentally penetrate the urethra. You can help your partner reach the correct hole by guiding them with your own hand(s).

Some people like to penetrate the urethra deliberately for sexual pleasure. This practice is sometimes called “sounding,” after the name of a medical device—the urethral sound—that is sometimes inserted into the urethra for medical purposes by doctors.  However, this is very dangerous as it can permanently stretch the urethra, causing urinary incontinence. It can also cause serious urinary tract infections or even lead to the rupture of the urethra or bladder.

 

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I have to advise against sticking anything into your urethra.

 

Key Takeaways: How Do Women Pee?

Where do girls pee from? Girls pee from the urethra. The entrance to the urethra is located on the vulva below the clitoris and above the vagina.

How do girls pee? Women’s urinary systems are similar to men’s. The kidneys filter blood to make urine, which travels down the ureters to be stored in the bladder. When a woman is ready to pee, her brain causes the muscles of the bladder to squeeze and the urethral sphincter to relax so that pee can flow out of the body through the urethra!

We also answered your FAQs about how women pee:

  • Can women pee standing up? Yes, they can, with either special techniques or devices.
  • Can women pee during sex? Usually no, although some women do have slight coital incontinence.
  • Is female ejaculate pee? When women squirt, they release some liquid from the bladder, but it’s not necessarily clear if this is pee or not.
  • Can you penetrate a urethra? It’s very unlikely that you’d penetrate a woman’s urethra by accident because it’s so narrow compared to the vagina. Some people do this deliberately, but it’s very dangerous.

 

What’s Next?

Have other questions about female anatomy? We can let you know how to tell if a hymen is broken, how to put in a tampon, and what to do about ovulation pain.

Interested in more self-exploration? We can tell you how to masturbate and how to finger yourself.

Reproductive health complaints? We can tell you what white vaginal discharge means, what brown vaginal discharge means, what to do about bleeding during sex, and if there’s a herpes cure.

Curious about other things about your body? We can tell you what side of your body your heart is on, what green poop means, and why blue waffles disease is fake.