Sperm and Water

[omnomnonny]

What happens if sperm is mixed with water? In one of your articles it says that sperm is fairly fragile so if they were to be mixed with water would that damage the sperm and thus make it less likely for them to travel and fertilize an egg?

And how fragile is sperm actually? Just curious since I’ve read a few articles that say that they are pretty resilient

[Heather]

Sperm cells are nothing close to resilient. I'd be curious about where you read that they were. Sperm cells also need the fluids they are in to even have a shot at making reproduction happen, not to mention the company of at least several hundred other sperm cells and super-specific conditions on the side of things where it all actually happens: if and when they get into the vagina.

If someone were to ejaculate (that's semen, not sperm: sperm are the cells that are just one part of semen) into water then someone would have ejaculated into water. But once they do that, there's no conversation to be had about if those cells can do anything when it comes to reproduction because those cells are in water then, not inside someone's vagina, a place sperm cells can only wind up if someone puts them very directly there with an ejaculation OR in a lab setting.

This question is kind of like asking what could happen to someone in Portugal who not only is in Algeria, but has never even been to Portugal in their whole life. It just doesn't have any relevance. Make sense?

[omnomnonny]

Ah, I suppose my question doesn’t really make sense haha.

What if that sperm and water mixture did come in contact to the vagina? Does the water create an easier passageway so to speak? Or does the water affect the sperm since it requires such a specific environment to survive in?

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions! Even if they seem ridiculous.

[Heather]

Of course.

That's just not how human reproduction works, at all. If it was, people would be getting pregnant all the time when they just were in pools or lakes!

How human reproduction happens is truly very specific and absolutely requires some very specific things, like very direct contact (outside of lab conditions, anyway). Why don't you read up about that process here, so you can have a better sense of all this: Human Reproduction: A Seafarer's Guide. It should give you a few big AHA!s and make more sense of all this for you.

[omnomnonny]

Thank you so much! Super grateful you took the time to reply to me

I will definitely read the article you suggested.

[Heather]

You're welcome. . If you have any questions after you've read it, I'm happy to talk about them with you.

[omnomnonny]

Back again!

So without very (as in VERY) deliberate contact between semen and a vagina (or vulva), it’s highly unlikely that it would result in anything? Regardless if it was mixed with water or not.

Just to clarify, sorry!

[Sam W]

Correct, pregnancy (with the exception of the kind that is created in a lab) requires that semen be ejaculated directly in the vagina or on the "outside" genitals like the vulva.