Exploring Female Ejaculation and G-Spot Pleasure: A Journey Through Sex Science and Self-Discovery

“It’s another delicious, wet, and beautiful thing a woman can do.”

Throughout history, some women—and their partners—have questioned the Masters and Johnson model of sexual response. While the model rightly emphasizes the clitoris, it left out women who deeply enjoy vaginal penetration and can climax through it. Some women even experience fluid release during orgasm, something they hadn’t expected. Around 1975, I received a letter from a shy young woman who said that even five stacked towels weren’t enough to keep her mattress dry. Like many women with this experience, she initially feared she was wetting the bed—but there was no smell of urine. At that time, we didn’t have a good explanation for what she was experiencing.

Although descriptions of “ejaculation” during female orgasm could occasionally be found in old erotic literature, for much of the 20th century, they were dismissed as the fantasies of male writers—many of whom were later revealed to be overtly sexist. But by 1980, influenced by the active lesbian feminist movement, a group of American sexologists began to reframe the understanding of female sexual physiology.

Some women with particularly sensitive vaginal walls could accurately identify the most pleasurable spot inside them—on the anterior wall, a few centimeters in. This area had already been described by German gynecologist Ernst Gräfenberg, for whom the G-spot is named. Anatomically, it is located where the bladder transitions into the urethra. In men, this tissue develops into the prostate, which is why some researchers refer to it as the “female prostate.”

Though this area is harder to stimulate through intercourse, it can be effectively reached using fingers—with proper pressure and motion. Later, many vibrator companies began developing curved devices specifically designed to reach this spot, allowing even solo exploration. The G-spot can swell during arousal, leading to strong muscular contractions and, in some cases, fluid release. Chemically, this female ejaculate is similar to male prostatic fluid.

(Some men—particularly gay men—also describe two distinct types of orgasm: one from direct penile stimulation and another from prostate massage via the anus. Many report these as distinctly different experiences.)

Initially, it all seemed straightforward. By the early 1980s, “finding your G-spot” became a must for educated young women and their partners. This journey often involved training the pelvic floor muscles, since women who ejaculate may have better muscular control. Researcher Beverly Whipple noted that aroused women could learn to use abdominal pressure more effectively than sucking in or tightening reflexes. Public interest grew, with cultural figures like Dutch scholar Karin Spaink writing about this intimate experience in The Hague Post, encouraging women to explore it firsthand. When the G-spot is not engorged, it feels slightly ridged. But with stimulation—by finger, penis, hand, or dildo—it can lead to orgasm and sometimes ejaculation.

(English-speaking women often call this “squirting,” while Dutch speakers may use the term sproeien.)

After reading the works of Ladas, Whipple, and Perry, Spaink set out to find her own G-spot. She claimed it was purely out of scientific curiosity—of course. As a rationalist, she believed in the power of knowledge and wanted to explore where scientists were redrawing the boundaries of understanding. Within minutes, her self-examination confirmed the G-spot’s existence. It was, in her words, a senti, vidi, vici moment—"I felt, I found, I climaxed.” Later, she humorously added that she could also say ejaculati—"I ejaculated.” Her most impressive record: a powerful spray that reached her own shin. Her mattress and her partner could both vouch for it.

Medical science has long struggled to explain how the “female prostate” could produce such volumes of fluid, or what mechanisms control its release. Anatomy and conventional physiology have yet to fully explain it.

Still, the most compelling and imaginative insights about the G-spot come from the grassroots women’s health movement that began on the U.S. West Coast in the 1970s. Women from feminist health centers provided invaluable firsthand knowledge. In The Truth About the Clitoris, Rebecca Chalker quotes one woman who said she used to think the large, wet spots on the bedsheets after sex were caused by her male partner—until she had sex with women and realized she had greatly overestimated men’s contribution.

Some anecdotes describe impressive volumes of female ejaculate, though the authors stress that this isn’t the norm. Many women don’t recognize their own ejaculation or mistake it for general vaginal wetness. It’s a bit like when a small squirt of saliva unexpectedly sprays from the sublingual glands during a yawn—barely noticeable until you spot the tiny drops on your newspaper. You don’t feel the squirt, but the evidence is there.

Chalker believes most women can learn to ejaculate—just as many can learn to have multiple orgasms. Those curious about this form of sexual release might benefit most from visual examples. Before I saw a video of women discussing their own squirting experiences, I had spent nearly a year training my vaginal muscles. But it was after watching that video with my partner that I squirted for the first time. We were sitting face-to-face on chairs, just a few feet apart, masturbating. Suddenly, I sprayed toward him—for 30 to 40 seconds. I don’t squirt every time I orgasm, but it happens often. The amount varies. Sometimes, I squirt without even having an orgasm.

Chalker provides an excellent list of educational video resources. And while “squirting” has become a fashionable topic in erotic media, many porn scenes feature dramatic, waterfall-like effects that likely owe more to special effects than biology.

There’s even a physical indicator of orgasm: the pupils dilate. It’s one of the few physical signs exclusive to orgasm, although it’s hard to notice in real time—even during intense arousal. Because of its specificity, researcher Beverly Ogden used pupil dilation as a measurement in her study of women who reported experiencing orgasms without physical touch.