A Woman’s Guide on How to Pee Standing

When the original Woman’s Guide on How to Pee Standing was first created in 1997, we only had the “finger-assist” method, listed halfway down this page. A lot of water has gone under the bridge since then. We’ve had over three million visitors to the Guide, and thousands of women from all walks of life, from doctors to forest firefighters, to policewomen have sent us encouraging e-mail, sharing their mostly positive thoughts on this very personal topic.

During our first year on the web, we learned that many women wanted the pee standing option, but did not want to touch their inner labia or get their fingers wet in the process of urinating. Touching the inner labia, however, is a requirement for most women if they want the stream to go forward rather than straight down when using the device-free method.

To get the urine stream to go forward without touching the labia in most cases requires an assistive device of some kind.

There were no pee standing assistive devices available that worked well in the last millennium, so we decided to hire an engineering firm with experience in feminine hygiene products to help us design and manufacture one of our own for our Woman’s Guide on How to Pee Standing viewers.

It took 18 months, a fair amount of money, a lot of patience and the help of more than 900 prototype testers from around the world, but we’re pleased with the result. The new device, dubbed “TravelMate” won a prestigious Medical Device Excellence Award at New York City’s Javitts Convention Center in 2001.

We established a new web site for the TravelMate where you can find out more about it and purchase one for yourself. You’ll find it here: www.travelmate.info.

Some women master this skill on the first or second attempt, others take several months of practice. A survey we took of over 600 respondents indicated the success rate was about 70%. If you are having problems, be sure to see our Problems and Solutions page.

The shower or bathtub is a good place to begin. (By the way, contrary to what you may have been told by family and friends, a healthy person’s urine is STERILE as it leaves their body. Once outside the body, airborne bacteria can contaminate it fairly soon, so be sure to rinse the shower or bathtub surfaces with fresh water)

Don’t expect to master this skill on your first attempt. After you’ve practiced a few times, you should see some improvement. (aim for the drain)

Finger-assist method

Wash or wipe your hands clean with a moist towellette.
Adjust clothing. Pants should be pulled down in front a few inches. Skirts should be lifted. Underwear should be pulled down at the waistband or move the fabric at the crotch to one side.
Wipe your labia area clean.
Using either hand, make a “V” with your first and second finger and spread the inside of your labia minora. (the INNER lips) Beginners may want to try using the fingers from both hands for better control.
Lift to the desired angle, then pee. (If you don’t spread and lift, it could run down your leg.)
Wipe your labia if necessary.
Wash your hands and you’re done!

E-mail from our readers...
All names have been changed to protect the privacy of these people.

Diane writes... I’ve used urinals many times when working late at my office (at first, because the men’s room is much closer, and now, because I find a urinal to be more convenient).

I do it facing, and it works fine now that I know the posture (nothing extreme). I don’t make any kind of mess, and don’t even have to undress as much as to sit down.

I’m starting to think women have been kept in the dark about this for a reason. Maybe Oliver Stone will do a movie...

Emily writes: Fabulous page I’ve stumbled on! I am 24 years old and single. Since I first started wearing jeans (my favourite garment!) I have worked on overcoming a woman’s problem, namely how to pee without having to pull your pants down and squat. I also developed a method which enables me to pee through the open zip of my jeans as conveniently as a man. It comes down to a strong start and a rapid shut-off finish (i.e. no dribbling). My technique is simple. At first I pinch myself shut until the pressure builds up, then as the stream starts to die, I push to keep maximum flow, then I can stop it fairly suddenly. From the age of 16 I have had this down to a fine art, never leaving more than the odd spot on my clothes

Debbie writes... One wonders what circumstances led you to know about this, and also just how many of us will secretly try this out! (And how few will admit to it afterwards?)

Janice writes... Well I’m in college and you’d be surprised to see how many college girls use men’s urinals. I personally find it boring to pee in regular stalls. Its much more exciting and daring to pee standing up at urinals. Any woman can pee standing up, facing a urinal, looking at the wall or whatever men look at. Down here in Texas at one of our stadiums, they are installing urinals for women in addition to the stalls. Usually there are long lines for the women’s bathroom. My friends Judy and Karen will sometimes stand at the urinal and see who can get the furthest arc. It works best when we are all drunk!

Gabrielle writes... Here’s a little about women using men’s urinals (my personal experiences). I usually pee standing up in any location, and can use just about any type of men’s urinal with ease. I stand with my feet slightly apart, about shoulder width, and my pants and panties pulled down to my knees. I lean back slightly at the waist, with some arch in my back. When I start to pee, I push hard to start a strong stream, and push again at the end to keep the stream up until I’m done. I find that I have good control over where the stream goes, and it’s a pretty clean process. Sometimes I dribble a little when I’m finishing up, but not too often. Most of the time I don’t even need to wipe when I’m done. If I’m wearing pants with a long enough zipper, I just unzip, pull my panties aside, and go through the fly. Once while doing this outside, another woman asked if I had a penis. She asked how I could urinate standing up without making a mess. My, what our mothers never taught us!!

Gabrielle writes more... regarding drips: I don’t really have any problems with drips, as I said, I can often get away without even having to wipe when I go standing up. I always seem to need a wipe when I go sitting down, however. Perhaps the lack of drips is due to 1)the fact that I give a hard push to get the last of the flow out as I stop, or 2) the fact that women simply have less length of plumbing between the bladder and urethra to contain urine, making it easier to drain completely. Regarding aim: It wasn’t great when I started peeing while standing on a regular basis (probably 10 years ago), but it has improved over time. I am now precise enough that I can go through the fly in a pair of jeans. Aiming and stream control are accomplished mostly with the hips. When learning, a good technique is to place your hands against your lower abdomen, on the pubic hair triangle. By pressing with either hand your stream can be angled. By pulling up or pressing with both hands you can point the stream upward. Try this in the shower where it doesn’t matter if you are sloppy the first few times. Eventually you may become good enough to be able to write your name in the snow. (yes I’ve done this!) Hope this insight helps.

Lisa writes: My secret to peeing without exposing myself is to press the edges of my jeans around my labia so that it actually protrudes through the fly. Then I’ll spread the lips slightly. Pinch and pull up on the pants opening in order to direct the stream out front. Sometimes I get a few drops on my jeans when finishing, but it sure beats going the traditional way.