Petting is sex without undressing, which is still risky

Petting is foreplay before sex

Petting is a term that covers many different sexual activities to achieve sexual pleasure without even penetration. Petting is often referred to as making out or dry humping (frottage), aka "sex without undressing".

Petting can include giving and / or receiving hickeys, kissing, biting, licking, and sexual touching the partner's body such as touching, massaging, caressing, squeezing, to stimulating the nipples with mouth or hands. Stimulating the clitoris or penis by hand is also often classified as a make-out activity. Using sex toys also includes petting, for many couples. More specifically, Indonesians associate the term petting with rubbing their genitals with each other.

Petting can be done fully dressed, half-way (stimulation is done behind the clothes), or even naked. Regardless of whether the clothing is still on the body, petting does not involve penetrating the penis anywhere - whether it is inserted into the vagina, into the anus (anal sex), or into the mouth (oral sex).

For many couples, petting is an "appetizer" alias foreplay before penetration to reach climax. However, there are also many couples who can orgasm just by making out.

Is petting a health risk?

In general, petting is a sexual activity with the lowest risk of sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy when compared to penile penetration sex (oral, vaginal, or anal).

However, the risk of petting itself actually depends on what you do, how you do it, and whether you or your sex partner are clean from infectious diseases. So, we better peel the examples one by one to make it clearer.

If you are both clean from venereal disease and making out (wearing clothes or not), whether by touching, kissing, stimulating the nipples, touching, or rubbing each other's genitals, of course there will be no transmission of infectious diseases. Unless maybe you or your partner has the flu or mumps, kissing can transmit the disease.

It's a different story if one party has a sexually transmitted disease. This is what should really be considered. This is because many sexually transmitted diseases can change hands through body fluids such as saliva, vaginal fluids and semen, as well as through direct contact with injured skin or with warts. Syphilis, gonorrhea, and herpes are diseases that can be transmitted by mouth and skin contact.

When you touch canker sores, a sign of oral herpes in a partner's mouth, for example, or touch their genital warts during oral sex or handjob (manual stimulation by hand; either the vagina or the penis), then moving to hold onto your own genitals or other parts of your body puts you at risk of transferring the disease to your body.

Likewise, rubbing each other's genitals without using a condom. Seminal fluid that contains infection can drip and touch the vaginal skin, even into it - enough to transmit venereal disease.

However, if petting (rubbing genitals) is done with both of them still fully clothed, the risk of disease transmission is relatively small. This is because body fluids will dry out quickly when they meet the material of clothing. Sperm cannot penetrate the fabric, and any viruses or bacteria contained in them will quickly die.

What about the risk of pregnancy?

The risk of pregnancy from petting, making out, or dry humping is very small - especially if you are wearing one another's clothes. Sperm cannot penetrate the fabric. Sperm also cannot penetrate the pores of a woman's skin and cause pregnancy.

The chances of getting pregnant from this activity only increase when the two people involved are both naked and the man ejaculates outside (near the vaginal opening) so that it is very possible for the semen to drip into and eventually the sperm swim to meet the egg, which then culminating in pregnancy.

Also note that ejaculation outside the woman's body (for example on the face or chest) can still carry the risk of transferring venereal disease infections from the semen when attached to open wounds on a woman's body.

Watch out for too much!

One petting risk that may be overlooked is “excess”. Petting activities, whatever you do, usually don't use condoms. Some types of activities are safe to do without a condom, for example, squeezing the breasts, hugging, massaging and caressing.

However, the passion and enjoyment that continues to increase during this making out session can make you and your partner fall asleep to forget yourself. In the end, it's not impossible for the two of you to unconsciously undress each other and engage in penetrative sex before you hit the condom. This is what can double the risk of transmitting venereal disease or even unwanted pregnancy.

How to safely petting?

Even though it doesn't involve penetration, you still need to be careful. Things that need to be done to ensure you and your partner stay safe during petting are:

Know your partner including your partner's sexual history.
Not sharing sex toys without washing them first.
Make sure your hands are clean of body fluids (saliva, semen, vaginal fluids) when touching yourself or your partner's body.
Do not change partners.
Make sure to use a condom or dental dam for oral sex.