I am trying to find out the chances of getting a girl pregnant from dry humping. I have read many, many articles on this, yet none have really specified percentages, etc. In addition, answers vary from "A definite possibility" to "very remote." Let me describe the situation to you:

My girlfriend is on the pill to help reduce the severity of her periods and has been for a few years. She takes it regularly, without fail. We have never had sex, nor has my naked penis ever touched her naked vagina. We do, on occasion, have dry sex. Most of the time it is with me having underwear on and her having underwear and shorts on. There have been a few occasions where she has been naked, but I have never been naked.

When we dry hump, I never ejaculate at all. I have never ejaculated near her vagina or anywhere on her body. Thus, the most that ever could happen is that there might be some pre-ejaculate that comes out while we are dry humping. I check my underwear frequently, and have never seen this pre-ejaculate soak through.

However, let us assume that some of it did on one of the occasions that we dry humped without my girlfriend having underwear on. Keep in mind that I do not ever have much pre-ejaculate, and I am almost never erect when we dry hump. I am usually only 1/3rd erect at most, and again, I never have an orgasm. If I do have an orgasm, I am always far away from my girlfriend, and usually ejaculate in my underwear, then wash and change. Given this scenario, how likely are the chances that some pre-ejaculate soaked through my underwear and made its way into her vagina and would cause her to be pregnant? I would be most interested in the percentage chance of this happening.

Again, to review, my girlfriend is on the pill; I have never toucher her naked vagina with my naked penis; I have never had sex with her; I never ejaculate anywhere near her body, nor have I ever ejaculated when we have been dry humping; at least one layer of clothing is always worn, usually more than one.

Any help would be appreciated, as I have seen wildly different answers on the many sites I have looked at. A medical answer would be the best. Thanks!

One more thing...let's suppose my girlfriend's birth control failed for some reason (worst case scenario) - how likely is it then, given all the same circumstances?

Thanks! B

First, she is taking the pill which is excellent protection, given that it prevents the presence of an egg which is necessary for conception. Since you are worried that the pill could possibly fail, let's go on to the other reasons.

Second, you are dry humping with clothes on both of you. Sperm is just not that strong. In fact, sperm is actually quite fragile and that is why within any one ejaculation that a male might have, there are over 100 million sperm produced. It is so fragile that so many sperm are lost in the process. Sperm cannot move through clothing. Even if the clothing are moist from semen. Sperm, though able to be motile (swim in our language), cannot move easily through any object with the presence of semen and vaginal fluids.

Third and most importantly for your scenario: Since you have not ejaculated and there is only precum, there is no sperm in that precum. This is one of the most misunderstood aspect of our bodies. Precum is designed to come out before the ejaculation of sement with sperm in it, to clean out the urethra (tube in penis of male) so that the acids left from urine will not kill the sperm going through. It does not have sperm in it. There is one exception and that is if a male has just ejaculated and has not urinated and then he goes through arousal again and has precum. Then there might be a small amount of sperm in the precum.

You can check the medical research on this by getting the book Contraceptive TEchnology written by several specialists, the first author Robert Hatcher, M.D. I urge you to look it up so that you can see it written for yourself. Note: There can be disease organisms (STD/AIDS)in precum, just not sperm.

I hope this helps answer your question and relieves any anxiety you might have.

Reviewed by: Scott Gross M. Ed.