Sex Myth Busters:
Does Sex Make For A Loose Vagina?

Written by: Angela Watson | Updated: February 26th, 2019

Today is our first installment of Sex Myth Busters, where I dispel many of the common sex myths that have been perpetuated throughout the years.

Today's focus is on whether a busy pussy is a loose pussy.  It's a myth that usually rears it's ugly head sometime in high school, typically used against a girl just beginning to form her sexual identity as a way to put her down, everybody knows how well versed high school children are in matters of sex, that's to say: they don't know jack. These are children, people, they don't even know where Venezuela is on a map, don't let your high school myths affect your adult sexuality.

Notice how the term is usually applied: if a woman has sex with five men people will say that her vagina is loose, but if she has sex with the same man fifty times nobody has a care in the world, that's just a girlfriend being faithful. So it's easy to see where this myth came from, it's another way to put down a woman for having multiple sexual partners. In adulthood, it's also leveraged against women who have given birth to suggest that their vagina is less desirable than others. These propositions aren't based in biology or science whatsoever.

Vaginal Elasticity​​​​

The vaginal canal itself is very elastic, it can stretch to accommodate a penis or sex toy, this is much is obvious. But also the vagina accommodates things going out, ie a newborn baby. The average penis is around 1.3 inches across and the average head of a newborn is about 4.3 inches across, so the average penis only stretches a vagina 30% of how much it stretches during childbirth, hardly pushing even a tight vagina to anywhere near it's true limits. Try stretching out a rubber band to only a third of how far you can possibly stretch it, it won't even feel significant and that's a weak rubber band, not a sex organ supported by the regenerative abilities of the human body. Pictured to the right is the difference in scale between a circle with a diameter of 6 units vs a circle with a diameter of 1.8 units (30% of 6 units) to really drive the point home.

How aroused a woman is has an effect on how subjectively loose or tight their vagina may be, a woman who isn't aroused is extremely tight and essentially closed for business. This is why many couples absolutely need to have some form of foreplay involved before moving on to intercourse, if a woman isn't aroused the vaginal muscles will not relax enough to accommodate anything, much less a penis. 

Once intercourse has begun, the vagina tends to have an average tightness based on the woman's genetics and if she exercises her pelvic floor muscles. This is not to say the vagina does not expand or contract dynamically with response to sexual stimulus, if a woman is pleasured in the right way or is approaching orgasm the muscles will tense up and the vagina will tighten, followed by their relaxation again.

The only two ways a vagina can become "looser" over time are childbirth and age, and this process is entirely manageable with proper exercise of the pelvic floor muscles. Even without exercise, the female vagina returns to it's pre-childbirth state in approximately 3-6 months, so new moms need not fret that they're "ruined" or anything ridiculous like that, assuming your partner can even tell. You just pushed an eight pound living creature out of your body, give yourself a break. No amount of sex will ever make a difference in a woman's vaginal tightness, even if she has two hour long romps every night for her entire life. If anything, the consistent exercise & engagement of the muscles in the vagina would make the vagina stronger and as tight as ever.

This brings me to my next point: how to maintain the muscles within the vagina so that over time you aren't losing subjective tightness.

Pelvic Floor & Kegel Exercises

Much like all muscles, exercise is the key to keeping them strong and at their full capabilities. The vaginal muscles can be exercised all the same. This can be achieved through kegel exercises that strengthen the pelvic floor muscles. For older women, this can also help battle incontinence among other miscellaneous health issues.

The biggest mistake people make when trying to do kegel exercises is that they are actually activating muscles in their abdomen or hips as opposed to their pelvic floor muscles. You know the muscles you engage when you try to stop peeing halfway through? Those are your pelvic floor muscles.

To do a proper kegel workout and activate that pelvic floor, sit yourself down comfortably and sit up straight. Breathe normally and contract these muscles for ten seconds at a time before relaxing for ten seconds at a time.

If ten seconds is too long, don't be afraid to start at smaller number of seconds and work your way up. Where you start is irrelevant, where you end is what matters. Repeat this ten times to complete a single set. Three to five sets a day is more than enough to keep these muscles engaged and healthy.

Conclusion

So there you have it, everybody. No amount of sex will affect the tightness of the vagina, and anyone else telling you otherwise is trying to put you down to cover up their own insecurities or just to be a plain ol' asshole. The vagina is a very resilient organ, think about what it goes through during childbirth, let alone sex. Sex won't make for a lopsided vagina, a loose vagina, or an ugly vagina. It just doesn't work like that.

With the increase in women's ability to have casual sex without risk of pregnancy, this myth was probably perpetuated to keep women from having sex and keep them ashamed and reserved about their sexuality to keep up with prudish ideals of ages long past. Don't fall for it.

For more sexual health information & sex toy reviews, check our blog reel found on our homepage.

About Angela Watson

I'm a sex therapist by day and a sex blogger by night. I love to crush the taboos surrounding sex toys and help people become more sexually liberated. There's no topic too risqué for me to cover and I hope to educate and inform my readers on all things sex. All things that concern the female anatomy or require a more clinical approach than my husband Don can provide is covered by me. Have any questions? You can contact me via email.

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