Hi Kathy,

I hope you are doing well,

Thank you for sending us your question and apologies for the delayed response. If I understand well, you are worried about whether rubbing the penis on the vulva (the external genitalia, outside of the vagina) carries the possibility of a pregnancy, is that right?

Firstly, from what you are describing, the chances of being pregnant seems to be low, especially if your boyfriend didn’t ejaculate near the entrance of the vagina. However, the pre-ejaculatory fluid, a clear liquid that comes out of the tip of the penis in response to arousal and before ejaculation, can still contain a few spermatozoids. If those spermatozoids get inside the vaginal canal, they could theoretically swim their way up and fertilize the egg. This is why “pulling out” is not considered an effective way to prevent pregnancy. Even if that possibility is way less probable than if there is an ejaculation inside of the vagina, it is still not entirely impossible, and the only way to know for sure is to take a pregnancy test, which can be accessible at the drugstore, at the doctor office, at some organizations and programs for youth or women (such as here and here), or even in other online stores such as Amazon. 

Secondly, the fact that you are saying that you have gotten your periods regularly afterwards since then makes it even more unlikely that you could be pregnant since periods usually stop during pregnancy (even though some women will continue to have light bleeding at the beginning of the pregnancy). 

Finally, you didn’t specify if your boyfriend and you are using safer sex practices or birth control methods. If you are not trying to conceive at this moment, there are a few options that you could explore to prevent accidental pregnancy, and some of them, such as the condom, can also protect you from sexually transmitted infections (depending on these infections, they could be contracted through vaginal sex/oral sex/anal sex/rubbing/etc.). Here’s a link about it if you want to have a look. There is also emergency contraception that can be taken in the hours/days following intercourse in case of an emergency. 

I hope that answered your question and don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you have more.

Take care,

A.b.