By Chinonye Anyatonwu
You may not be familiar with the term, but most women might have released gas from the vaginal canal during intimacy at least once in their lives. Scientifically, the gas is known by a number of terms, including vaginal flatulence, vaginal farts, vaginal gas, or simply queefing.
What Is Queefing?
Queefs, though may be colloquially referred to as vaginal farts, are not farts. They are merely an involuntary bodily function that occurs when trapped air is released from the vaginal canal.
Why do queefs happen in the first place?
Intimacy involves bodies, and bodies do weird things sometimes. Even if queefing sounds like a fart, it’s just air coming out.
This occurs because intimacy leads to air getting pushed in and trapped in the vagina. This can happen during some positions more than others, so you might notice it happening sometimes, but not all the time. Queefing can also happen during physical movements such as yoga, or exercise.
Is Queefing unhealthy?
Not at all. It is only natural for your vagina to release the air that’s trapped in it due to penetration. However, care may be taken if you are pregnant. The air can get in your pelvic muscles and can lead to a condition called air embolism. However, the situation remains very rare.
Why does it sound like a fart?
While queefs do produce a toot-like sound, we can assure you that queefing is not the same as passing gas. The sound you’re hearing is air that gets into the vagina being pushed out.
In queefing, the sound comes due to vibrations in the vulva and vaginal lips. Your vagina is not a straight, smooth canal. It has a wrinkly texture and this explains why air gets stuck in it a lot of times.
Do Queefs smell bad?
Unlike normal farts which are due to the breakdown of bacteria during digestion, queefs are merely due to air getting trapped in your vagina. There is no reason they should smell like your smelly farts. You can call them your vagina making fart sounds just like your mouth.
Is Queefing ever a cause for concern?
Generally, queefing is nothing to be worried about. While rare, if queefing is accompanied by pain or a foul smell, you should make an appointment with a doctor to rule out any more serious issues.
Can you prevent a Queef during intimacy?
There’s not much you can do to stop a queef in its tracks. You can’t just “hold it in” like you would a fart. If you try to contract the vaginal canal to prevent air from coming in, it can cause intimacy to be more painful.
All you must do is gracefully recover from the awkward position of a vaginal fart. Give your partner a heads up if he doesn’t already know and what you probably can do is just laugh it off.
