sperm

[userSG1400]

Okay this might sound stupid but i needed to reach out. Im very worried that i have spread my semen after masturbating. After ejaculating i showered like normal and wrapped in a towel, however, im worried that after i took the towel off there may have been some sperm leakage and that i may have without knowing touched this sperm leakage on the towel with my hand, after potentially touching this i touched my family's washing (that was just cleaned), i was so worried about touching this washing (which included of towels, pants, etc. that i put it all back in the washing machine to wash it again. My ocd is spirallig however, because now i think that by putting it in the washing machine (of which i only did a very fast wash/15minute wash) that i have spread ejaculation onto all of these clothes and now they are being used in my house by my family. Please can somebody help, is there anything here that should be worrying me, surely it cant be possible for sperm to contaminate these clothes and survive to make somebody pregnant?

[Elise]

Hi there userSG1400, I'm really sorry to hear that you're having a flare up with your ocd, that sounds really tough.

I can reassure you that there is no way for your sperm to have "spread all over" the clothing like you describe, nor have survived the washing process. This is because:

1) the process you describe would have completely destroyed the sperm, it cannot survive the washing process, the heat, the soap etc. just like washing would break down other bodily fluids, like sweat or snot.
2) further to this, washing garments removes things like sweat, dirt, snot, rather than spread it all everywhere, if it did, washing wouldn't achieve any cleaning at all.
3) Even if the clothing wasn't washed, the sperm would have died in the open air really quickly, and even before then, indirect contact with a sperm cell in this way cannot make anyone pregnant - you can read more about that in these articles here:

• Are My Sperm Still Squirming? (there is some good further reading listed at the end of this one, too)
• Human Reproduction: A Seafarer's Guide

I hope this helps. Do you currently have support from a therapist for your OCD, and/or have any good coping mechanisms that you like to use?

[Elise]

I also just noticed that you asked this question earlier, did you happen to miss the response? No problem if so, if you need a hand finding threads you've made earlier on the boards, let me know and we can give you a hand with that.