Hi Sunshine,

Thanks for writing us! I will try to give you the answer you are looking for.

You are wondering if you can get pregnant after the tip of your friend’s penis touched your vagina through your clothes. You say it felt dry and that there was no pre-cum on it.

I hope I can reassure you by telling you that it is impossible to get pregnant that way.

For you to get pregnant there needs to be some conditions fulfilled.

First, you must be in a moment of your menstrual cycle where you are fertile. Here is a web page that explains it. There are of course some individual variations, but this web page explains how it generally works. If you are not in the ovulation phase of your menstrual cycle, the sperm cannot reach your egg (ovum). It is important to understand that the sperm can live around 5 days in your uterus. Accordingly, you will be most fertile for about 5 days before your ovulation and the day of your ovulation. The ovum has a life span of about a day.

Second, the sperm has to reach your ovum. To reach your uterus and then your ovum, the sperm must pass through the vaginal canal. Although clothes are not an impenetrable barrier, they still offer some protection.

Third, and most importantly, you said the penis was not wet and did not have precum or semen on it. Precum can contain sperms under certain circumstances. After ejaculating, some sperms remain in the urethra until pee clean it out. If the person does not pee before ejaculating again, there can be some sperm inside the precum. However, you said his penis was dry, so there is no sperm to get you pregnant with.

If pregnancy is not in your plans for the near future I encourage you to look up birth control methods. Some, like the condom can protect you from unwanted pregnancy but also from sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBI).

Don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you have anymore questions!

Gab Simard (they/them), sexology intern at AlterHéros