Getting “Wet” – Understanding Why and How Women Do and Don’t

That having been said, it is reasonably well accepted by scientists around the world that well-lubricated sex is safer sex. Female sexual fluids, as well as artificial lubricants, reduce friction during penetration, and this reduces the likelihood of microscopic tears, or even visible damage, occurring during sex that might increase the chance of one or both partners acquiring a sexually transmitted infection.

It’s easy enough to find out what’s in a bottle of lubricant, but what do you find in a woman? As it turns out, it’s all about keeping her in circulation.

Many of the physical changes that take place during sexual arousal have to do with blood flow, and lubrication is no exception. In the same way that a man develops an erection, when a woman becomes physically aroused, her genital tissues become engorged with blood. This not only causes swelling of her breasts and labia, and increased sensitivity of the clitoris and other sexual tissues, but it is responsible for a major component of female lubrication. Tissue transudate—filtered blood, in plain English—makes up a good portion of vaginal fluid. As blood pools thicker and thicker in the surrounding tissues, the increased pressure causes filtered plasma to leak into the vagina… making a woman wet.

Although they say that blood is thicker than water, that is not why female lubrication is thick and slick. By the time the blood filters through the tissue to become lubrication, it is basically salt water with some sugars and proteins added for “flavor”. The slickness of female lubrication is actually thought to primarily come from mucus.

Mucus is produced in the cervix, and the amount and quality of mucus produced varies throughout a woman’s menstrual cycle. Other glandular secretions, such as from the Bartholin’s glands, also make up a small component of vaginal fluids, but they are not thought to play a significant role in lubrication.

Finally, vaginal fluids contain numerous protective factors that help keep the vagina healthy. Antibodies are present to help protect against infection. Even the bacteria that are normally present in the healthy vagina play an important role. The lactic acid they make serves a protective function by keeping the vaginal pH mildly acidic to protect against viruses and other nasty bugs. Peroxide and other anti-microbial products may also be produced by some vaginal bacteria, as well as the vaginal cells themselves, as another way to ward off unfortunate invaders. During sexual arousal all of these protective defenses become diluted by the increased amount of fluid that is made, which makes them less effective. This may seem unfortunate, but no woman would ever get pregnant if her vagina stayed at the normal acidic pH during intercourse… that level of acidity is toxic to sperm!