Difference between contact

[emr1113]

Hi, I've been on this site in the past often, and I've read that if you have pre-ejaculate on your fingers and proceed to finger a girl, it doesn't pose any risk of pregnancy, due to it not being direct contact, and for that reason the pre-ejaculate can't survive(for whatever reason that may be). I've also been told on here that if male and female genetalia touch one another, there IS a risk, even if it's just touching and only pre-ejaculate involved as a possibility. Am I understanding one or both of these statements wrong? If what I'm saying is right, then could you please explain to me WHY it is that pre-ejaculate on a finger poses no risk(indirect), while pre-ejaculate on a penis does pose a risk(direct(I understand that direct contact is the main reason, but if it's fresh pre-ejaculate either way, I'm not sure why it would change the risk))? Imagine a scenario where the pre-ejaculate is fresh in both cases, the exposure value is the same, etc. with the only changing variable being the finger/ penis. What changes the risk?

[Johanna]

Have you seen this article, emr? Who's Afraid of Sperm Cells? Why don't you read this, first, and then we'll talk some more?

[emr1113]

Yes, I've read through it before, and I just read through again. Is this saying that fingers are too cold and/ or acidic for sperm to survive? Even if its only been on them for seconds before penetration?

[Johanna]

Yep, basically. What it is saying is that sperm are very fragile and need a very specific environment to do their job. So with indirect contact, we are talking about sperm that's been transferred to a surface, maybe brushed up against a sheet or clothes, been exposed to air and non-ideal temperatures, etc.

[emr1113]

But this article mentions a time range of an hour maximum. Am I misreading that?

[Johanna]

Can you rephrase that question? I am not sure I understand what you are asking.

[emr1113]

I thought I read something on the article implying that sperm expires at about an hour, but maybe I'm wrong. Either way, couldn't the sperm in pre-ejaculate be transferred from a finger to a vagina? I feel like this is possible, if you were to be quick with it and not rub your hands all over the place.

[Karyn]

It's not so much about sperm being alive, as being viable: in an environment that lets them move. They need fluid to move, and pre-ejaculate isn't a huge amount of fluid, so any disruption to that is going to ruin the chances of any sperm that might be there getting to where they need to be. Direct genital contact, on the other hand, doesn't interrupt that fluid environment in the same way, and gets any sperm a lot closer right away to where they're headed, as well.

Does that help clear things up?

[emr1113]

Yes, I think so. So, hypothetically speaking, if you were to get pre-ejaculate on a finger, and then that finger was instantly inserted into a vagina, there wouldn't be any chance of a pregnancy? Even then?

[Karyn]

That is not a way that pregnancy happens, no. If this is something that worries you, though, you might want to consider taking a break from any kind of sexual activity that freaks you out, until you feel more comfortable with what is and isn't a risk. (It's also really easy to just wash your hands, if that makes you feel better, before you touch your partner's genitals. In fact, from an infection-prevention perspective, that's a good idea anyways.)

[emr1113]

I'm sorry for asking the same things over and over again, but how could pregnancy not happen if there's still living sperm going into a vagina?

[Karyn]

I'm not sure how else to explain this. Sperm are delicate, there aren't many of them in pre-ejaculate (if there are any) and even a few seconds on a fingertip being transferred from penis to vagina is enough to disrupt their environment so that they cannot co-create a pregnancy. Even with direct genital contact, the chances of pregnancy without full ejaculation are quite low. Them's the facts: I really don't know what else I can tell you to make this clearer.

[emr1113]

Thank you, got it:)

[Karyn]

Glad that cleared things up for you.