Hi Abrit,

The short answer to your question is : no, your girlfriend can’t get pregnant in this situation. Of course, in order to help you have a better understanding of why that is, I should explain a bit more. Hopefully some of this is new information that is helpful to you or anyone else reading this.

The reason why your boxers get wet in such a situation is what is commonly called pre-cum. This liquid is not the same as sperm, both in its coloration (transparent instead of opaque and white) and in its content and purpose. This liquid’s purpose is to prepare the way for if-and-when sperm comes out and it doesn’t contain any spermatozoa by itself. It is, in theory, possible for pre-cum to contain a small quantity of spermatozoa, if one has had a very recent ejaculation. Even then, the concentration would be very small and they wouldn’t last long. Without sperm, they die off quickly (they’re not very resilient) and without penetration and an ejaculation, their chances of reaching an ovum is almost nil. 

In your particular case, they would have had to go through a lot of fabric and then find a way to enter your girlfriend’s vagina (spermatozoa have no guidance or “intelligence”, they just move in a random direction for as long as they can) and survive the acidic and very hostile environment within. That brings the chances from extremely unlikely to impossible.

Now, I need to add a disclaimer. Knowing this, some people sometimes come to the idea that with penetration, as long as you “pull-out” in time, there are no risks of pregnancy. The pull-out method is risky not because of pre-cum, but because nobody (whatever they think) perfectly controls or senses when they will ejaculate, and even a small amount of sperm can make someone pregnant. It’s dangerous to play those odds. I would add that the person that can become pregnant should, in my opinion, have the last say in any such practices since they are the one that is the most affected by the pregnancy in most if not all parts of the world.

But in your specific case, you have nothing to worry about.

Sophie (elle/she), volunteer for AlterHéros