93
Vulcan Sex Workers (lemmy.world)

It has occurred to me that Vulcan must have some form of sex industry to handle those going through Pon Farr who aren't currently married or otherwise involved. Otherwise, they'd have constant issues with violence from those suffering the "blood fever" whose spouse was far away, or had died, or for some other reason had no one to mate with.

Given Vulcan attitudes towards sex, it's probably kept out of sight, and is only "officially" available to those experiencing their "Seven Year Itch," but it has to exist, right?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] qantravon@lemmy.world 22 points 11 months ago

Meditation had been shown to be less than effective (Tuvok and Vorik both tried and failed to use meditation to get through their Pon Farrs).

It seems that, in universe, something about Vulcan physiology also prevents medication from being particularly effective as well (also failed for both Tuvok and Vorik).

[-] SatanicNotMessianic@lemmy.ml 12 points 11 months ago

Coming from someone with an academic background in biology, the treknobabble in biology and medicine is pretty terrible.

There’s a concept called the neural correlates of consciousness that basically states that every thought, memory, emotion, or other mental process has a direct correlation with the wiring and states of the cells in your brain. We can debate on whether or not to include other body states or gut bacteria, but the essence of the argument is that there is no “mind” as a phenomenon apart from the brain. This being a more serious sub, I’d argue that something like transporter technology implicitly assumes this, since you arrive with the same thoughts, memories, and emotional states as you had when you were decompiled.

So you’d be able to say that the Vulcan amygdala becomes hypertrophic during pon farr due to signaling by some other physical brain structure and activates the limbic system which itself becomes hypersensitive to stimulation and so on. So you can govern your pointy-eared patient some space Xanax, which increases the effectiveness of Vulcan GABA, which calms them down. Or using your advanced knowledge of physiology that no doubt extends down to the level of quantum effects, find another avenue of intervention.

Basically, I’m acknowledging your point - it’s a necessary complication that makes for interesting plot lines - but it really doesn’t line up with a justifiable in-universe answer.

[-] T156@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

So you’d be able to say that the Vulcan amygdala becomes hypertrophic during pon farr due to signaling by some other physical brain structure and activates the limbic system which itself becomes hypersensitive to stimulation and so on. So you can govern your pointy-eared patient some space Xanax, which increases the effectiveness of Vulcan GABA, which calms them down. Or using your advanced knowledge of physiology that no doubt extends down to the level of quantum effects, find another avenue of intervention.

Applying human neurobiology to Vulcans might not be too useful, since there are too many variables that come into play, from their telepathic abilities, to vastly different blood chemistry.

We know that at the very least, the Ponn Farr is more than just a simple neurochemical rush, at least in a way that makes it so that it isn't possible to safely suppress, or deal with via other methods. Otherwise, Voyager could have dealt with Tuvok's by giving him an epinephrine shot, rather than the somewhat complicated affair with a holodeck.

[-] Dasus@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago

but it really doesn’t line up with a justifiable in-universe answer.

I went over to have a little look-see about Pon Farr on Memory Alpha.

"You only take a mate once every seven years?" "The seven-year cycle is biologically inherent in all Vulcans. At that time, the mating drive outweighs all other motivations." "And is there nothing that can disturb that cycle, Mister Spock?" "Extreme feminine beauty is always disturbing, madam." – Droxine and Spock, 2269 ("The Cloud Minders")

There's pretty much no justification for the biological reason behind the seven year cycle that I can remember. But do we know what cycle it is? Perhaps it's something to do with the planetary bodies around Vulcan? Like in humans, the menstrual cycle is about the same as one moon. (Sandi Toksvig once noted how it was definitely women who came up with the earliest calendars [in context they were talking about the "earliest man-made calendars"])

So if their planet had some sort of a cycle that every seven years there's a nice long summer because of some planetary alignment, it could be a good time for fighting and fucking.

Oh but I was just supposed to say "nice comment, thanks", and not babble on about something I was thinking about, lol.

[-] Seasm0ke@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago

Shoulda paired it with a wank. There's gotta be a holodeck treatment for this that can fool the body

[-] qantravon@lemmy.world 10 points 11 months ago

The holodeck can work, but seems to be less than 100% effective. It worked for Tuvok, but not for Vorik.

[-] T156@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

Something that also seems to work is a fight, so it is possible that a boxing match, or something like that might be effective in letting off steam enough to deal with it.

this post was submitted on 26 Dec 2023
93 points (97.0% liked)

Daystrom Institute

1 readers
12 users here now

Welcome to Daystrom Institute!

Serious, in-depth discussion about Star Trek from both in-universe and real world perspectives.

Read more about how to comment at Daystrom.

Rules

1. Explain your reasoning

All threads and comments submitted to the Daystrom Institute must contain an explanation of the reasoning put forth.

2. No whinging, jokes, memes, and other shallow content.

This entire community has a “serious tag” on it. Shitposts are encouraged in Risa.

3. Be diplomatic.

Participate in a courteous, objective, and open-minded fashion. Be nice to other posters and the people who make Star Trek. Disagree respectfully and don’t gatekeep.

4. Assume good faith.

Assume good faith. Give other posters the benefit of the doubt, but report them if you genuinely believe they are trolling. Don’t whine about “politics.”

5. Tag spoilers.

Historically Daystrom has not had a spoiler policy, so you may encounter untagged spoilers here. Ultimately, avoiding online discussion until you are caught up is the only certain way to avoid spoilers.

6. Stay on-topic.

Threads must discuss Star Trek. Comments must discuss the topic raised in the original post.

Episode Guides

The /r/DaystromInstitute wiki held a number of popular Star Trek watch guides. We have rehosted them here:

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS