I had this thought too. My best guess is that it's down to the length of the urethra. Have you ever lifted liquid out of a glass using a straw, by capping the upper end of the straw with a finger? That liquid wants to fall, but that causes the gas volume above the liquid to expand, so vacuum pressure pulls the water upward, counteracting gravity, and also pulls your finger into the straw slightly. I imagine that, for a longer column of fluid, that vacuum pressure is at least a contributing factor to the unpleasant feeling. (Not to mention that, when urinating, that column of liquid is already moving rapidly!)
Male here: it's a lot more manageable if you control it with your pubococcygeal(sp?) muscles, the ones you can also use to control ejaculation. I've had to do this while peeing into a bottle that wasn't necessarily big enough. It still sucks, but not so much due to physical discomfort.
> The perineal muscles are involved in ejaculation when they are involuntarily contracted. The ischiocavernosus muscle is responsible for male erection, and the bulbocavernosus muscle is responsible for ejaculation. By actively contracting the perineal muscles with Kegel exercises regularly, strength and control of these muscles increase, possibly aiding in the avoidance of premature ejaculation.
Uh, yeah. It's surprisingly difficult to find really reputable sources online that directly address it, but you can kinda just try it. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/22211-kegel... "Pelvic floor exercises" is probably the right search phrase.
As a guy I found this article oddly riveting — the author seems super cool for being so candid. But the “pee slowly” thing had me coming to the comments to learn more: is this something ladies can typically do?
I learned—embarassingly recently—that ladies can apparently just stop pissing at will, or slice the loaf for number 1, it's incredible. Once I start going I'm pretty much committed.
I'm a guy but for me it just... takes more time to finish pissing?
Then again I found out in my teenage years that not everyone is able to stop urinating on command, too. Something to do with excessive drinking, pissing in public places, and some friends not being able to haul their little firehoses in before the cops took notice.
Does pinching it off mid-piss hurt for you, as well?
I would say that a primary reason to do it slowly is to not put too much pressure into it, which is true for both women and men. The p-valve involving gluing it on your body, and the tube is soft which can easily get kinks. It can balloon and there is always the risk that the pressure find an alternative way that is not the outside of the drysuit.
I do not find it too uncomfortable myself. The fear of rapture is fairly major one, especially the first time of a dive when your trust in the glue are a bit low. After that you can increase the speed a bit.
Never had that problem. Also male. I used to play games with it in middle school, hopping from urinal to urinal, now I modulate my flow to reduce splashing.
If there are anatomical differences, they're not entirely gender-based.
Ok, this has got me curious - is this an anatomical difference? I'm male and I find it very, very uncomfortable to pee slowly. Almost painful.