Ejaculation

If you get really aroused, you have an orgasm or ‘come’. When you have an orgasm, you ejaculate – semen comes out of your penis.

Semen and sperm – what’s the difference?

Semen is the liquid that comes out when you ejaculate. It is a sticky white liquid that contains millions of tiny sperm cells. Each healthy sperm cell is able to fertilise an egg. Sperm can live for three to five days after ejaculation in the vagina. Some sperm has lived up to eight days after ejaculation.

First ejaculation

Some time between the ages of about 11 and 16, you may have your first ejaculation. This means a sticky white fluid called semen comes out of your penis.

Your first ejaculation can happen when you’re asleep – people often call this a ‘wet dream’. It could also happen when you masturbate or when you make love with someone.

No two men are the same. This means some men have their first ejaculation when they’re 11, while others have it when they’re 16.

Wet dreams

A wet dream is when you ejaculate in your sleep. When you wake up and feel the damp patch on your bed, you might think you’ve peed on your bed. But in fact, you’ve just ejaculated semen during your sleep. Often you can have a wet dream without even dreaming about sex.

How much do you ejaculate?

As you go through puberty, the amount of semen you ejaculate tends to increase and change in texture and quantity.

First ejaculation:

Average amount of semen: 0.5 millilitres
Colour and texture: clear, jelly-like
Average amount of sperm: little sperm – less than a million per millilitre

Six months after your first ejaculation:

Average amount of semen: 1 millilitre
Colour and texture: clear, jelly-like
Average amount of sperm: 20 million sperm per millilitre

One year after your first ejaculation:

Average amount of semen: 2.5 millilitres
Colour and texture: clear or white jelly-like or sticky liquid
Average amount of sperm: 50 million sperm per millilitre

Two years after your first ejaculation – the same as an adult:

Average amount of semen: 3.5 millilitres
Colour and Texture: white sticky liquid
Average amount of sperm: 300 million sperm per millilitre

For the sake of comparison, a teaspoonful is 5 millilitres.

If my pee and semen come out from the same hole – does this mean my semen contains pee too?
No. It’s true that both pee and semen come out through the urethra opening. But the urethra is a tube with two branches, one that goes to the bladder and one that goes to the vas deferens. When the penis releases semen, a valve blocks the branch to the bladder so urine doesn’t escape too.

First ejaculation and pregnancy

In 90 per cent of men, when they ejaculate for the first time the semen doesn’t actually contain any sperm – the cells that fertilise an egg to get a girl pregnant. But… there’s no way to guarantee whether your first ejaculation will contain any sperm or not. So always use contraception when you have sex with a girl. The safest is to go ‘Double Dutch’ – wear a condom and use another form of contraception!

Did you know…?

In the early 20th century the British secret service discovered that semen made good invisible ink.

Each time you ejaculate, 200-500 million sperm are released.