Scarleteen

hi! i've got a few questions about sperm
if sperm in semen on surfaces like hands, tables, clothes, etc are left out for a few minutes, do they just "die"?
and does transferring sperm from surface to surface like hand-to doorknob-to whatever other surface just kill them?
thank u in advance!

Naurmi008,

Sperm cells are very delicate and need very particular conditions in order to survive. Anything that is outside of the conditions of the body, such as temperature, causes the sperm cells to die. I can include this source that touches on this topic further: https://www.scarleteen.com/about/announ ... perm-cells

hi! i'm back with another question
so i know semen can be transfered from one plave to another, but when that happens, does the sperm in it just get "smushed" and dies?

Hi there,

that’s pretty much what happens. But pressure isn’t the only thing that kills sperm cells, like Willa mentioned, they are very fragile and need specific conditions to survive. So other mechanisms that destroy them when being left on some surface can be drying of the fluids composing semen that provide nutrition to them, using up all the energy resources in there or simply being too cold/hot when being in temperatures below/over the usual body temperature. Does that make sense?

yep it does!
is that also the reason why there needs to be direct and immediate contact with ejaculate for there to be a pregnancy risk?

That’s exactly it!

I'd add that there's also the fact that sperm also need the "push" that comes with ejaculation to be most effective, which is another reason why indirect transfer just isn't going to pose a risk.

thanks for the additional info sam!
i'm a bit confused, i've read some of the stuff here and i'm a bit confused as too why this push is needed when certain situations like semen dripping down to the vagina during anal sex (basically high risk activities where the semen isn't being directly "pushed" by the act of ejaculating into the vaginal canal) can cause a pregancy risk
sorry if my question's a bit all over the place, i hope that made sense

It may help to think of it this way: in order for a pregnancy to happen, a lot of different, biological things have to happen all at once. An ovum has to be available, sperm have to not only make it into the body but then make it to the ovum and join up with it, etc. And for each of those things, there are factors that make them more or less likely to occur (or make it impossible for them to happen). So you can think of the "push" sperm get from ejaculation as one of those factors; pregnancy can still technically happen in situations without it, but now a factor that helps sperm with their role in pregnancy is missing.