F*ck Around and Find Out with Anna Lee: Can you nut before the big game?

Hello, my sweet freaks! This month's column feels especially exciting because not only is it the 40th (!) article, but y'all have been submitting questions that are sending me spiraling through research papers and gloriously unhinged corners of the Internet. I've spent way too much time this month reading about men sniffing women's armpits in the name of science, and how many times famous boxers like to nut before a big fight. Trust me, it'll all make sense if you keep reading. Now without further ado, let's get this 40th one started.

You know how athletes say they don’t have sex or masturbate before a big match. Is there actually a scientific reason behind it? -PY

Oh, this is a juicy one to tackle right now—especially with the World Cup in full swing. (And no, we are NOT going to talk about the South Korea versus South Africa game. My heart can't take it.)

The "no nut before competition" myth is honestly one of the oldest in the book. Boxer Muhammad Ali, the patron saint of this whole belief, reportedly abstained for six weeks before a fight. And as recently as 2023, Jake Paul blamed a wet dream the night before his fight with Tommy Fury, claiming the lost testosterone left him with weak legs in the ring. Right.

But does any of this actually hold up? Eh, not really!

A couple of big systematic reviews found that sexual activity the day before a competition has no negative impact on an athlete’s performance. The energy thing people worry about? Sex burns roughly 25 calories, hardly the great athletic drain everyone fears. The only real catch is timing: doing the deed within about two hours of competing can mess with your recovery, but past the 10-to-12 hour mark, the research shows no measurable hit.

The idea that having an orgasm drops testosterone and ruins your big game? Endocrinologist Emmanuele Jannini straight up calls that a really wrong idea, pointing out that going months without sex can drop testosterone down toward childlike levels. If anything, the trend points to sexual activity raising testosterone, not lowering it. Sorry, Jake.

And most delightfully, there's a 2025 study in which male athletes did a workout after a week of abstinence versus after masturbating 30 minutes beforehand. Not only did orgasm not hurt them, the masturbation group showed small improvements in handgrip strength.

So if it's not the sex, what's the actual culprit? Most experts think it comes down to sleep. Baseball legend Casey Stengel put it best: "The trouble is not that players have sex the night before a game. It's that they stay out all night looking for it." So go forth and nut…just maybe set an alarm.

(But also, you know, Ali is one of the greatest boxers of all time, so maybe science doesn't have it all figured out.)

Scents that are turn ons? -Anonymous

I won't lie, at first glance I almost brushed this one aside because I wasn't sure there was anything substantial to write about besides listing smells I like. (The lobby of the Baccarat Hotel in New York, thanks for asking.) But then I did a quick looksee and boy, did I fall into a deep rabbithole for three hours. I could create a 60-minute PowerPoint presentation on everything I learned, but I'll keep it as brief as I can here.

Turns out there are not only rich historical anecdotes around smell and romance, like Henry IV of France writing to his mistress, "Don't wash my love, I'll be home in eight days" (yum!), but also a substantial chunk of actual research on scent and attraction. Two studies in particular got me. 

The first is the famous "sweaty t-shirt study." Swiss biologist, Claus Wedekind,  had women sniff shirts that men had slept in for a few nights and rate which ones smelled sexiest. Overwhelmingly, the women preferred the men whose immune system genes were most different from their own, which happens to be the genetic combo that makes for healthier, more robust babies. Fun fact: another study found that women on hormonal birth control flipped the script and preferred the men with the most similar immune genes instead. But that's a story for another day.

And for women? A 2025 study out of the University of Tokyo had men sniff women's armpit samples, and the men rated the women who were ovulating as smelling more pleasant AND rated the faces attached to those samples as more attractive. The kicker? Those same ovulation scents also lowered the men's stress, like an actual measurable drop. So your scent at peak fertility doesn't just read as hotter, it literally chills men out.

Henry IV was onto something, the OG dirrrrty boy.

Hi Anna! I've been talking to this guy. We haven't met yet but we've been sexting a lot. He's not comfortable sending dick pics until we meet (which I totally get!) but he boasts a hefty 10 inches, which is bigger than at least two dicks I've seen combined—like, stacked on one another. Ummm...should I be scared? Is it gonna hurt me? Is there any way to prepare for our eventual meeting? - Anonymous

Okay, I tried so hard to read this question but instead my brain just fully derailed by picturing two dicks stacked on top of each other. First like a 2x2 from In-N-Out, and then, in a line like the Human Centipede. I'm back now. Let's talk about your incoming 10 inches.

Deep breath: bigger doesn't automatically mean it'll hurt. The thing to actually think about isn't girth, it's depth. Your vagina is wildly elastic and built to accommodate, but your cervix at the far end is often not a fan of getting repeatedly bonked. That's usually what "too big" really means, and depth is the most controllable thing in the whole equation.

Two products can help. Leading up to it, vaginal dilators let you work up through graduated sizes to gently stretch the tissue and teach your pelvic floor to relax instead of clench. And in the moment, the Ohnut is a set of stackable rings that go on his base and act as a little bumper so you control how deep things go (not sponsored, I just adore them).

But your best tool is free: tell him to go slow and follow your cues. Good luck and have so much fun.

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I promise you that there is truly NO question too unhinged for F*ck Around and Find Out with Anna Lee. Have a question you’d like me to answer for the next article? Submit them anonymously here!