What kills sperm

[vivi_valentine]

Hello! I just want some clarification on some certain things. I have heard that washing your hands with soap and water can kill sperm, but I just want clarification wether it needs to be bar soap or hand washing soap specifically?

What if I had nothing else, would dishwashing liquid kill sperm just as how soap would? I couldn't find any answers to this specific question, so I decided to ask here! I hope that's okay

[KierC]

Hey there Vivi_valentine,

Washing your hands with any soap and water will kill sperm — it doesn’t have to be any specific kind of soap, just any soap will do the trick — that’s because sperm cells are SO fragile, they will die super quickly when exposed to the air, to temperatures hotter or colder than the body, or to environments more acidic or more basic than ejaculate. Sperm likes to be in a specific environment to be able to move, so any type of soapy mixture (or even just non-room temperature water) will start to kill sperm cells!

It sounds, though, like you’re having some persistent questions about what sperm can/can’t do, and perhaps how human reproduction works. I want to send you these two articles, they explain in-depth how pregnancy occurs, and what sperm cells can/cannot survive in. Feel free to look through these, and know that we’re happy to help you digest any of the information in those articles.

1. Human Reproduction: A Seafarer’s Guide
2. Who’s Afraid of Sperm Cells?

How do you feel after going through those articles? Does knowing how human reproduction works help a bit, or would you like to talk about it more?

[Heather]

I want to add that sperm cells are cells, not germs. We can’t “kill” them, but we also don’t need to because pregnancy doesn’t work like disease does.

Rather, it’s just a matter of keeping sperm cells away from someone’s vagina. So if you have semen on your hands, which contains sperm, and wash them, that all goes down the drain, not to your vagina. Make sense?