Do girls fart? Of course. All people have gas. They get it out of their system by farting and burping.

Each day, most people, including women:

  • produce 1 to 3 pints of gas
  • pass gas 14 to 23 times

Keep reading to learn more about farts, including why people fart, why farts smell, and what foods cause people to fart.

A fart is the passing of intestinal gas through the rectum.

When you’re eating and you swallow food, you’re also swallowing air that contains gases, such as oxygen and nitrogen. As you digest your food, small amounts of these gases move through your digestive system.

As food is broken down by bacteria in your large intestine, other gases, like methane, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen, are created. These gases, along with the gases you’ve swallowed, build up in your digestive system and eventually escape as farts.

Farts are also referred to as:

  • flatus
  • flatulence
  • intestinal gas

To support your pregnancy, your body produces more progesterone. This hormone relaxes muscles in your body, including your intestinal muscles.

When your intestinal muscles relax and slow down, your digestion slows, and gas can build up. This buildup can potentially result in farting as well as bloating and burping.

According to Cleveland Clinic, it’s not unusual for a woman to fart during penetrative sex. The anus lies next to the vaginal wall, and the sliding motion of a penis or sex toy in the vagina can cause gas pockets to release.

This isn’t to be confused with air escaping from the vagina.

According to the University of California, Santa Barbara, during penetrative sex, the vagina expands, making room for excess air. When a penis or sex toy enters the vagina, sometimes that air is forced out abruptly enough to make a noise. This is sometimes referred to as a queef.

A queef may also occur when you climax and the muscles around your genitals relax.

The gas in your large intestine — that’s eventually released as a fart — gets its smell from a combination of:

  • hydrogen
  • carbon dioxide
  • methane
  • hydrogen sulfide
  • ammonia

The food we eat influences the ratio of these gases, which determines the smell.

Although not everybody reacts to food in the same way, some common foods that cause gas include:

  • beans and lentils
  • bran
  • dairy products containing lactose
  • fructose, which is found in some fruits and used as a sweetener in soft drinks and other products
  • sorbitol sugar substitute
  • vegetables, such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and cauliflower

Carbonated beverages, such as soda or beer, are also known to cause gas for many people.

Excessive intestinal gas, which is defined by Mayo Clinic as farting or burping more than 20 times a day, may be the symptom of an underlying health condition, such as:

Yes, girls fart. Whether the passing of intestinal gas is odorless or smelly, silent or loud, in public or in private, everybody farts!