The Facts... without the Lecture
B4uDecide.ie is closing down at the end of May 2024.
Alternative sources of relationships and sexuality information and resources:
- For 16-25 year olds: SpunOut.ie is an information provision website, including relationships and sexuality issues.
- For 17+ year olds: Sexualwellbeing.ie is the HSE website that provides information and resources on a wide range of information such as consent, contraception, sexual transmitted infections, vaccinations and unplanned pregnancy
- For parents: The HSE’s ‘Making the ‘Big Talk’ many small talks’ series of booklets to help parents and children talk about relationships and sexuality is available online, and to order free of charge from healthpromotion.ie. HSE funded RSE workshops are available at npc.ie and ifpa.ie
- For teachers: Junior Cycle SPHE Resources are available to support the new 2023 SPHE specification , including the Relationship and Sexuality strand.
- For youthworkers: HSE funded training on relationship and sexuality issues is available at REAL U | Foroige and Tailored Training Courses – National Youth Council of Ireland
Boys
When puberty begins, between the ages of 10-14 boys will produce millions of sperm cells every day. Each sperm is extremely small: only 1/600 of an inch (0.05 millimeters long).
This development means that the boy is fertile and can now physically make a woman pregnant.
Sex, Sperm and Pregnancy
The penis, which usually hangs limp, becomes hard when a man is sexually excited.
The penis fills with blood and it becomes stiff and erect (an erection). The rigidity of the erect penis makes it easier to insert into the woman’s vagina during sexual intercourse.
Semen spurts out of the male’s body through his urethra — this process is called ejaculation. Each time a man ejaculates, it can contain 350 million sperm.
When the man ejaculates during intercourse, semen goes into the woman’s vagina. The sperm swim up through the cervix and through the uterus. If the woman has ovulated (released an egg), a single sperm may penetrate it, and a pregnancy may occur.
To learn more, do the Male Body Quiz