8 Of Your Embarrassing Sex Questions, Answered With Science

We asked for the science questions you didn’t want your name attached to, and now we’re answering them. This time: morning wood, squirting, and "penis captivus".

A while ago we asked for your (anonymous) embarrassing science questions.

We've answered some of the weirdest requests and ones about bodies. Now we're tackling sex. All questions are pretty much as we received them.

1. "Can being in a hot tub get you pregnant?"

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Nope, because sperm can't take the heat. BuzzFeed Life spoke to Dr Mary Jane Minkin, clinical professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences at Yale School of Medicine, for a quiz about what can and can't get you pregnant. She said that if the water temperature is hotter than average body temperature (37ºC or 98.6ºF), sperm will die.

So even if someone literally just ejaculated into the hot tub before you got in (which, ew) the sperm would be dead before they get anywhere close to ~making a baby~.

2. "During sex, can the penis get stuck in a vagina?"

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Yes – but it's rare, and usually fixes itself within a few minutes.

It probably happens because of contractions in a woman's pelvic muscles when she orgasms. "Sometimes, the contractions cause the vaginal walls to clamp down on the penis, making it difficult for the man to withdraw," according to the Sexual Medicine Society of North America.

On very rare occasions medical assistance can be needed. In response to a letter published in the British Medical Journal in 1979 that speculated that the predicament, known as "penis captivus", was no longer a thing, Dr Brendan Musgrave wrote:

The year was 1947 and the case occurred when I was a houseman at the Royal Isle of Wight County Hospital. I can distinctly remember the ambulance drawing up and two young people, a honeymoon couple I believe, being carried on a single stretcher into the casualty department. An anaesthetic was given to the female and they were discharged later-the same morning.

3. "Why do guys have morning wood?"

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The scientific name for morning wood is "nocturnal penile tumescence", and it doesn't actually have anything to do with sex. It's just part of a normal sleep cycle.

One explanation of morning wood is that during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, your body turns off some neurotransmitters. When neurotransmitter noradrenaline decreases, blood flow to the penis increases – causing an erection.

You actually have several instances of REM sleep per night, so probably have several nighttime erections. And it doesn't just happen to men: Women have more blood flow to the vagina and get clitoral erections during REM sleep, too.

4. "Does pineapple make you taste better down there?"

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This myth has been around for what seems like forever and has sparked a ton of Yahoo Answers. But there's no evidence for pineapples making your vagina (well, vulva) taste "better", family physician Dr Djinge Lindsay told BuzzFeed for this post of things everyone with a vagina should know about food. And there's no scientific evidence (though plenty of anecdotal evidence) that pineapple makes semen taste better either.

Basically, if you're worried about a weird or strong smell coming from down there, you should see your doctor rather than stock up on pineapples. But if you just want to try eating some pineapple to see if it does anything for your partner, don't let us stand in your way. 💁🍍

5. "Can you get pregnant from giving a blow job?"

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In most cases, you absolutely cannot get pregnant from giving someone oral sex. (Although you can still get STIs this way, so use protection, kids.)

BUT there was one case where a woman did end up getting pregnant after giving a guy oral sex, albeit in a very specific set of circumstances. The first thing you should know is that she did not have a vagina, so when she presented in hospital with abdominal pain that turned out to be a pregnancy, it was a bit of a surprise. The second is that 278 days before this hospital trip, she'd given her boyfriend a blow job and immediately afterwards was stabbed in the stomach during a knife fight involving her boyfriend and her ex.

A paper published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in 1988 about the incident concludes that "a plausible explanation for this pregnancy is that spermatozoa gained access to the reproductive organs via the injured gastrointestinal tract."

6. "When a woman squirts during sex is she really peeing?"

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Science has spoken and it says yes – or at least, the liquid that comes out is urine. During the study, published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine last year, scientists found that the small amount of urine in the women's' bladders (seen on an ultrasound) was gone after they orgasmed and squirted. The scientists also found that the chemical composition of the liquid was the same as urine.

“A lot of gynecologists and sexologists know it’s urine," lead author Dr. Samuel Salama told BuzzFeed Life shortly after the paper came out. “We’ve known it’s urine for a long time, but no one wants to hear it. This is not glamorous, this is not sexy, this is not magical, but this is the truth.”

7. "Why do I always have to pee after I have an orgasm?"

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It could be due to all that stimulation going on during sex. Your G-spot (which is a complex of nerves and tissues, not just the magical orgasm button some people make it out to be) is pretty close to your bladder, so when you or your partner stimulate it you could make you feel like you have to pee. If it's been a while since you last went to the loo, that will obviously contribute too.

As long as it's not stopping you relaxing during the act, don't sweat it – you should be peeing after sex anyway as it'll help stop you getting a UTI.

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8. "If you blow air in to a girl's vagina will it kill her?"

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It could. Blowing air into a woman's vagina with sufficient force can lead to an air embolism, where a bubble of air gets into a blood vessel and blocks it, and those can be fatal. (This is why nurses tap a syringe and push the plunger in before giving you an injection.)

There's only been a few reported cases, and those seem to just be in pregnant women. But it's probably not worth taking the risk.