Silly question

[JCf316]

So I was reading a few threads on the old Scarleteen site out of boredom and saw something I'd like to ask about. It was said that fabric condoms used to be used, but weren't very effective. If sperm cannot go through fabric, why wouldn't cotton condoms work to prevent pregnancy?
I mean, if you can't get pregnant by dry humping, why could you if you actually had sex with a condom made of the very same material?

Lol sorry this is a dumb question, I was just wondering.

[Heather]

Since I tend to be our big sexual health history nred here, it was probably me you read talking about this.

Fabric condoms were made of linen, for one, which is an open-weave fabric: you can see clear openings on linen, easy. Underpants today aren't made out of linen, because they'd be scratchy as hell (I love linen, but when it is right on the skin, it's pretty itchy). Even boxers, the loose styles, are made from very tightly woven cotton now. How effective they were isn't something we can say, because methods weren't studied back then like they are now. Probably they were effective to some degree, just nowhere near as effective as the condoms we have now made from latex and other materials which don't have openings like linen.

But more importantly, those were used for intercourse: for sex where the penis was inside the vagina. Dry humping doesn't involve that kind of contact, it's people who are dressed rubbing against each other's bodies, not inserting one set of genitals into another. So, this comparison just isn't sound here, because you're not talking about the same activities, but things that don't resemble each other at all when it comes to the level of pregnancy risk, condom or no. Make sense?

It seems like you may still be having some trouble understanding how human reproduction works and what all is required for pregnancy to be possible. I think we've linked you to our pieces in the past that explain that, right? If not, holler and I'll give you a couple links. If so, any sense of what you think is tripping you up with understanding this so we can try and get it sorted for you?

[JCf316]

Thank you. I just think I'm having a very hard time grasping the fact that semen/sperm can't fit through the holes in the weaving of clothes. It just doesn't make sense to me. Is there anything I can do to somehow prove that to myself? I trust that you're giving me true and accurate information, it just seems crazy to me

[Heather]

When people get stuck on this, it's because they are thinking that even if they DID, that would then create a realistic risk of pregnancy.

But it still wouldn't: that's a much too simplistic (and also in some ways just plain wrong) understanding of how conception works than the complex reality of the thing. That's because way more is needed than just sperm cells getting to a place, including for the road to that place, as it were, to be without anything that can damage sperm cells or take absorb the fluids they are ejaculated with: fabric does both.

Have you already read our walkthrough of how human reproduction happens and ALL that is required for it to be possible? If not, here that is for you, so you can up the sophistication of your understanding of reproduction: Human Reproduction: A Seafarer's Guide.

[JCf316]

So what I've gathered from what you've said, previous reading, and the info in that article is that yes, sperm are small enough to fit through the holes in clothing, but:
A) the ejaculate, which contains the food and a way of travel for the sperm, gets either totally absorbed or at least partially (and even the partial absorption would screw up the balance of everything
B) sperm aren't intelligent enough to find their way through the weaving of one, let alone multiple, set of clothing without bumping around and either getting lost, destroyed, or both

Now what confuses me about this is that many sources state that if the girl is wet and the guy ejaculates onto that wetness then that creates a mechanism for the sperm to move through since it's going straight from the semen to vaginal fluid if it finds its way through the weaving.
Also, is it true that sperm literally have no control over where they go? I mean, they don't have the ability to purposely maneuver through obstacles, they just go wherever the semen drips and swim straight up the tubes in a woman based on chemical signals? So even if sperm gets on clothes, it's not smart enough to find its way around, it has to be purposely placed somewhere?
I feel like I'm understanding this! I just hope I'm right...

[JCf316]

Is all of that correct, Heather?

[Sam W]

Hi JCF,

We can't say why those other sources say what they do. And yes, as you read, sperm require very specific conditions to be able to move and survive, conditions that just don't happen when clothes are present.