# Pon farr **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 12, 2016, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735 "2016-09-12T03:18:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/1 "2016-09-12T03:18:23Z")
So according to [Memory Alpha](http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Pon_farr) both male and female Vulcans mate once every 7 years. How they have survived as a species is beyond me. The likelihood of two Vulcans being on the same cycle seems minuscule. On earth females often have a mating cycle, are there any earth species were the males go through a mating cycle? ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/2 "2016-09-12T03:24:03Z")
Did you read the article? > [@](#): > > A common misconception is that Vulcans only have sex once every seven years. However, TOS writer and continuity story editor Dorothy C. Fontana once explained that pon farr is not the only time Vulcans feel romantic attraction, sexual desire, or engage in sexual activity: > “Vulcans mate normally any time they want to. However, every seven years you do the ritual, the ceremony, the whole thing. The biological urge. You must, but any other time is any other emotion – humanoid emotion – when you’re in love. When you want to, you know when the urge is there, you do it. This every-seven-years business was taken too literally by too many people who don’t stop and understand. We didn’t mean it only every seven years. I mean, every seven years would be a little bad, and it would not explain the Vulcans of many different ages which are not seven years apart.” – D. C. Fontana (Captains’ Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages) ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/3 "2016-09-12T03:25:34Z")
yes but those are from an unauthorized source… ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/4 "2016-09-12T03:37:43Z")
> [@drewder](#): > > On earth females often have a mating cycle, are there any earth species were the males go through a mating cycle? [Elephants](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant#Musth) come to mind. And [rutting season](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rut_(mammalian_reproduction)) in deer and the like. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/5 "2016-09-12T03:57:25Z")
In a multiverse with warp drives and goatee-having Spocks, Pon-farr is whatever you want it to be. I want to see gay Vulcans doing Pon-farr, you heterocentric cis-federationalists. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/6 "2016-09-12T04:00:39Z")
> [@drewder](#): > > yes but those are from an unauthorized source… Since T’Pring and Stonn had obviously been getting it on for quite some time in Spock’s absence, I’d say Vulcans are far randier than they care to admit. Judging from Spock’s description of the mating ritual, there’s apparently some sort of empathic bond between the betrothed that alerts the female as to when it’s time for _pon farr_. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/7 "2016-09-12T04:05:43Z")
> [@drewder](#): > > yes but those are from an unauthorized source… Dorothy is pretty much the go-to source now that Roddenberry and Coon are long gone. It would be nice if we could ask Theodore Sturgeon, who wrote “Amok Time,” but he’s long gone too, unfortunately. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/8 "2016-09-12T04:51:30Z")
I thought they were like [cicadas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodical_cicadas) but what effect time dilation has on this is anyone’s guess. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/9 "2016-09-12T05:02:52Z")
> [@drewder](#): > > yes but those are from an unauthorized source… Seconding what **terentii** said. Fontana was the story editor and author of 10 episodes of TOS. You can’t get much more authoritative than her. You could say she literally wrote the book on Star Trek. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/10 "2016-09-12T15:18:06Z")
> [@drewder](#): > > yes but those are from an unauthorized source… bit windy today, keep hearing these loud whooshing noises 😃 ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/11 "2016-09-12T15:31:56Z")
Maybe that childhood ceremony syncs them up. Or maybe a Vulcan couple sync up the way many women do living in close quarters. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/12 "2016-09-12T15:40:50Z")
Are their pink parts green? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/13 "2016-09-12T15:44:00Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Judging from Spock’s description of the mating ritual, there’s apparently some sort of empathic bond between the betrothed that alerts the female as to when it’s time for _pon farr_. A bond which travels faster than light. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/14 "2016-09-12T16:49:44Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > A bond which travels faster than light. A prime example of Einstein’s spooky action at a distance! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/15 "2016-09-12T16:53:17Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > Are their pink parts green? Vulcans have pink parts? More copper-colored, I should think. :dubious: And probably green once they’re, uhm, engorged with blood. :o ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/16 "2016-09-12T19:27:29Z")
IIRC, Vulcans are one of the most passionate humanoid races when they do not engage in their superhuman self control and emotional suppression. If they go 7 years without mating the super urges they suppress come to the surface and they can’t control them. Spock had apparently not mated in 7 years and was in “gotta have it” mode. What I’m not sure of is why he had to go back to Vulcan to get him some. I’m sure there were some other she-Vulcans out there, and if not his father certainly was able to make do with a human and he was full Vulcan, unlike Spock who was already half human. I just don’t think they ever fully developed it. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/17 "2016-09-12T19:37:57Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I just don’t think they ever fully developed it. An interesting scene in a Voyager episode. Tuvok is discussing something about Pon Farr with another Vulcan. Both stare out of the view port, not looking at each other. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/18 "2016-09-12T19:40:41Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > What I’m not sure of is why he had to go back to Vulcan to get him some. Because he was bound to T’Pring as a child. Not quite a marriage but more than a betrothal. She might have been able to walk away from it, but he clearly was not ready to. Women! :mad: It would have been interesting to learn more about Sarek and Amanda’s courtship and marriage, beyond “it seemed the logical thing to do.” ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/19 "2016-09-12T19:48:29Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Women! :mad: They are frequently illogical. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/20 "2016-09-12T19:50:02Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Because he was bound to T’Pring as a child. Not quite a marriage but more than a betrothal. She might have been able to walk away from it, but he clearly was not ready to. Women! :mad: Even she was only willing to walk away from it using the Vulcan cultural system that allowed for that. She wanted a proper divorce, and engineered a situation where it would happen. Still, it does make the whole idea that “Spock will die if we don’t take him back to Vulcan” seem wrong. Kirk deliberately disobeys orders to pull it off. The only thing that makes it work for me is that Spock was so emotionally agitated that the other option didn’t occur to him. I’m not saying he wouldn’t have preferred to go back to Vulcan, just that he wouldn’t have portrayed it as life or death. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735.md?page=2)