It’s not easy being a spider. After an intense love-making session—that lasts a mere seconds—male Larinia jeskovi spiders cut off part of the female’s genitalia (cringe).

This drastic measure prevents her from doing the deed with a future suitor, according to a new study in Current Biology shared by Reddit user 9999monkeys in the Science community.

Competition over females is pretty damn rough in the animal kingdom. Some animals will physically guard females to stop other males from hooking up with her.

Many animal species like Drosophila will “transfer substances” to the female, which makes the female unattractive to other males, according to Spider Ecophysiology.

Still, it seems like spider sex is somewhat more extreme when compared to other animals. Some male orb-weaver spiders will castrate themselves to ensure paternity.

It’s a bizarre strategy, considering they can’t regrow their, um, nob. But the severed genital will continue to dispense sperm inside the female while obstructing other males from copulating with her. So, it’s a win-win situation?

Larinia jeskovi are also orb-weavers, but scientists are unsure if maiming female genitalia actually causes the spider any harm. Females are able to store sperm for years, so she would still be able to reproduce.