What is squirt made of, a plain look at the chemistry

Why people ask this question

Once someone has squirted or seen a partner squirt, curiosity often follows. Where did all that fluid come from, and what is in it? For years the answers ranged from "it is just pee" to "it is a magical sexual fluid". Neither is quite right. The real answer sits in between, and it is more interesting than either extreme, because it shows how two separate parts of the body can take part in the same moment of arousal.

Chemistry gives a much clearer picture than opinion. When researchers test the fluid, they look for markers, substances that point to a specific source. Urine has its own markers. Prostate type tissue, including the Skene's glands, has others. Comparing them tells us where the fluid comes from.

Two fluids, two recipes

The first thing to know is that there are two different fluids involved, and they have different recipes.

• Squirting fluid is the larger, clear, watery release that most people mean when they say "squirt".
• Female ejaculate is a small amount of thicker, milky or whitish fluid.

Zlatko Pastor made this distinction central in his 2013 review in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, and Pastor and Chmel revisited it in a later review in 2018. If you only take one thing from this page, take this. Many old arguments about squirting happened because people were talking about two different fluids as if they were one. Our comparison of squirting vs female ejaculation shows the differences in a table.

What is in squirting fluid

The best known analysis comes from Salama and colleagues in 2015. They studied a small group of women who reported regularly releasing large amounts of fluid during sex. They took urine samples before arousal, collected the squirting fluid, and used ultrasound to watch the bladder.

The squirting fluid contained the main chemical markers of urine.

1. Urea. A waste product made when the body breaks down protein, and a standard urine marker.
2. Creatinine. A waste product from muscle activity, filtered by the kidneys and found in urine.
3. Uric acid. Another waste product filtered by the kidneys.

These levels were broadly similar to the urine samples. Together with the ultrasound, which showed the bladder filling during arousal and emptying after squirting, this points strongly to the bladder as the main source.

The study also found PSA (prostate specific antigen) in most of the squirting samples, even though it was absent from the urine taken before arousal. PSA is made by prostate type tissue. In people with a vulva, that means the Skene's glands. So squirting fluid is mostly urine, with a little gland secretion mixed in.

What is in female ejaculate

Female ejaculate is a different story. It comes from the Skene's glands, the tissue Milan Zaviacic called the female prostate after studying it through the 1980s and 1990s. Researchers who analysed this fluid have reported these features.

• PSA. Wimpissinger and colleagues found PSA in female ejaculate in a small study published in 2007.
• Prostatic acid phosphatase. An enzyme typical of prostate tissue, described in Zaviacic's work.
• Low levels of urine markers. Unlike squirting fluid, classic female ejaculate does not look like urine on testing.

In short, the ejaculate is a gland secretion, much closer in type to the fluid of the male prostate than to urine, though it is not semen and contains no sperm. To learn more about the glands that make it, read our guide to the Skene's gland.

A side by side summary

This table describes general findings from small studies. Individual samples vary, and some people release both fluids at the same moment, so a real sample can contain a mix.

Why the fluid looks so different from urine

If squirting fluid is mostly urine, why does it often look like water and have little smell? The main reason is dilution. Urine color and smell depend on how concentrated it is. When the bladder fills quickly during arousal, the result tends to be very pale and watery. Hydration before sex, food and medication also change how urine looks.

That is also why squirting fluid can vary between sessions for the same person. Our page on what female ejaculation looks like describes amount, color, texture and smell in practical terms.

What we still do not know

The honest summary is that the main sources are clear, but the details are not. Studies have been small, often with fewer than a dozen volunteers. Researchers have not fully explained how the bladder fills so fast during arousal, why some people squirt and others do not, or exactly how much gland fluid mixes in. Older studies from earlier decades sometimes reported very different results, partly because they did not separate squirting from female ejaculation and partly because testing methods have improved. That is why recent work, which tested urine before arousal and used ultrasound at the same time, is more convincing than single samples analysed on their own.

There is also very little research on how factors like hydration, the menstrual cycle, age, childbirth or menopause affect the makeup of the fluid. It is reasonable to assume they play some role, since they affect urine and gland tissue in general, but nobody has measured this carefully. Experiences vary widely, and the science is still catching up. For a broader look at whether squirting is a real phenomenon at all, see is squirting real.

When to talk to a doctor

The fluid itself is harmless. See a gynecologist or urologist if you notice blood in the fluid, a strong unpleasant smell, burning when you pass urine, pain in the pelvis, or urine leaking during daily life. A pelvic floor physiotherapist can help with leaking or pelvic floor tension.