Do Romulans undergo Pon Farr?

[M.A.C.O.]

We know Romulans and Vulcans share a common ancestry. However their mating rituals are unknown. Do you think Romulans possess a similar compulsion to mate like Pon Farr or thousands of years of separation have spared the Romulan race of such an embarrassing affliction?

 

[T'Girl]

If pon farr is purely a biological process, natural to all Vulcans, then yes.

But if there are other factors involved then ... maybe.

There is conjecture among some fans that the current Vulcan cultural practice of emotional suppression make pon farr more intense, than it normally would be.

The Romulan's pon farr, owing to their ability to express themselves emotionally during the course of their everyday life, might experience a much milder form of pon farr.

And because the two peoples have been separated for thousands of years debatably the Romulan might not have pon farr at all.

 

[HIjol]

Not if "The Enterprise Incident" is any indication; that Romulan Commander (Joann Linville) was pretty randy, and I think she was not entirely faking it...I think they go through the "Pon All-The-Time"...ole' Spock got it goin' ON, now...

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

No, they rut as they will. Possibly there are surges at multiple year intervals.

 

[2takesfrakes]

When puberty kicks in, they get Pon Farr, I'd imagine. But this probably passes by, or before, adulthood.

 

[HIjol]

No, they rut as they will. Possibly there are surges at multiple year intervals.

"Rut"..."surges"...

 

[Melakon]

No, they rut as they will. Possibly there are surges at multiple year intervals.

In other words, Romulans may actually be an offshoot of humans?

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

No because everything is better. Humans might be some kind of fail subgroup.

 

[The Wormhole]

This issue is brought up pretty frequently. The two common theories are that:

-Vulcans only go through ponn farr as a result of repressing their emotions. Since Romulans don't repress their emotions, they don't get ponn farr.

-Or, yes Romulans do get the urges every seven years, but since their society doesn't stigmatize sex the way Vulcans seem to, it's not as big an issue. For a Vulcan, having an overwhelming urge to have sex means flying off the handle until a ceremony can be arranged which ends in sex or a duel to the death. For a Romulan, an overwhelming urge to have sex just means a wild night on the town, presumably ending in the scoring of some tail.

 

[TheSubCommander]

If pon farr is purely a biological process, natural to all Vulcans, then yes.

But if there are other factors involved then ... maybe.

There is conjecture among some fans that the current Vulcan cultural practice of emotional suppression make pon farr more intense, than it normally would be.

The Romulan's pon farr, owing to their ability to express themselves emotionally during the course of their everyday life, might experience a much milder form of pon farr.

I agree. I always had the sense that Pon Far was a result of Vulcans suppressing their emotions, and their mating drive was over-riding that suppression. If I had to guess, I would say Romulans probably get that same mating drive biologically (probably something equivalent to puberty and hormonal changes, but more intense), but since they don't suppress their emotions, they don't experience Pon Far the same way Vulcans do.

And because the two peoples have been separated for thousands of years debatably the Romulan might not have pon farr at all.

I know you can say that Vulcans are an imaginary, alien race so all this goes out the window, but if you used humans as a model, I find it unlikely that Romulans would have many significant physiological changes, and should be virtually identical to Vulcans, UNLESS there was hybridization with other species that took place during that time. But then, that would make Romulans a Vulcan hybrid race, not true Vulcans.

Not if "The Enterprise Incident" is any indication; that Romulan Commander (Joann Linville) was pretty randy, and I think she was not entirely faking it...I think they go through the "Pon All-The-Time"...ole' Spock got it goin' ON, now...

Well who says Vulcans don't get horny,too? Do you seriously think Amanda would have stayed married if she had to wait once every seven years to get laid by Sarek? I am pretty sure Vulcans can mate at any time, just like Romulans and humans, when it's "logical" to have sex (IE procreate, release emotion so it doesn't get out of control, a "logical" expression of commitment to one's mate, etc).

Vulcans are MASTERS of RATIONALIZATION! Otherwise, if Vulcans only mated once every 7 years, Vulcans would soon become extinct!

 

[sonak]

This issue is brought up pretty frequently. The two common theories are that:

-Vulcans only go through ponn farr as a result of repressing their emotions. Since Romulans don't repress their emotions, they don't get ponn farr.

-Or, yes Romulans do get the urges every seven years, but since their society doesn't stigmatize sex the way Vulcans seem to, it's not as big an issue. For a Vulcan, having an overwhelming urge to have sex means flying off the handle until a ceremony can be arranged which ends in sex or a duel to the death. For a Romulan, an overwhelming urge to have sex just means a wild night on the town, presumably ending in the scoring of some tail.

yes, this makes sense. It's only Vulcan repression that makes pon farr a big deal. If sex or violence outlets were widely available and not stigmatized, it'd be regarded like "oh, Teskalon got his pon farr, so he's going out to the brothel."

 

[mos6507]

It sure seemed like adolescent Spock in Trek III goes through pon farr purely for biological reasons, as he had no emotion repression training. Of course, you could deny that it was actually pon farr, but that's what it seemed like at the time.

 

[Timo]

Let's remember that some Vulcan characters seem to miss out on pon farr, either explicitly or implicitly (Tuvok vs. the crews of the fully Vulcan-crewed ships). And then let's recall that the chaste 1960s episode "Amok Time" defined pon farr not as the urge to mate, as in madly copulate, but as the urge to find a mate, as in get married. Indeed, apart from that ST3 thing, all known occurrences of pon farr have been resolved without copulation!

It might well be that pon farr is a bachelor-only thing, explaining why it's so extremely unlikely to occur on screen despite Vulcanoid-heavy settings or storylines. When the couple is formed, there's no further mating urge.

This would jibe with Spock's second puberty, too: one time with Saavik was enough, even though Spock clearly matured several seven-year cycles beyond the biological age at which the X-rated finger-rubbing was first shown happening.

Copulation would take place regardless of pon farr, with personal rather than species-specific variation to the frequency and details. But I'd assume Romulans would be a bit more openly passionate about it, and as the result their pon farr would not stand out that much from the rest of their sex life.

(Also, since the Romulans are an Evil Empire, naturally they also force everybody into loveless marriages at an early age so none of the characters we meet is going to have pon farr. )

Timo Saloniemi

 

[varek]

I do not believe that Romulans go through pon farr, since it is related to Vulcans' suppression of emotions, which Romulans do not attempt--at least to the same extent.

 

[sonak]

I do not believe that Romulans go through pon farr, since it is related to Vulcans' suppression of emotions, which Romulans do not attempt--at least to the same extent.

except, as pointed out, for the TSFS occurrence. Also, doesn't Spock say in "Amok Time" that it has to do with biology? He didn't say that it was about culture. Incidentally, is the resolution of the pon farr in "Amok Time" because of Spock's devastation at the seeming death of Kirk or just the fight itself? It would be funny if a strong biological urge for mating can be resolved by getting into a big fight.

 

[Enterprise1701]

Well the proto-Romulans departed Vulcan during the Time of Awakening/Sundering. As ludicrous as it would be, maybe Vulcan genetics were affected by the Time of Awakening and thus the logical lifestyle and pon farr didn't come around until after the proto-Romulans left Vulcan.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

IIRC, Spock says something about pon farr being the price Vulcans pay for the repression of their emotions. Keep them bottled up long enough and eventually they'll force their way out. (Side note: This is also why the Red Hour exists in that Landru episode.) Of course Romulans, being very emotional all the time, don't have this problem, so therefore they have no reason to have pon farr.

 

[Melakon]

@ Enterprise 1701:

That's so illogical, it's the only thing that Vulcans would be able to accept as a logical concept.

Some Trekno-med hormone produces pheromones in ProtoRoms that amplifies the libido of regular Vulcans. War breaks out due to all the orgies, ProtoRoms leave to create their own perfect society, and the poor schmucks left behind turn into geek nerds.

 

[mos6507]

is the resolution of the pon farr in "Amok Time" because of Spock's devastation at the seeming death of Kirk or just the fight itself? It would be funny if a strong biological urge for mating can be resolved by getting into a big fight.

I think the Pon Farr comes and goes on a schedule whether it's "resolved" or not. So the length of the ceremony is probably timed with the natural cycle.

 

[alpha_leonis]

My thought, based on nothing but "reading around through other Science Fiction" -- was that any Romulan equivalent of Pon Farr would be more like the concept of "kemmer", as described in Ursula LeGuin's "Left Hand of Darkness".

For those who haven't read it, that book describes a race of humans on another planet (either genetically engineered or evolved from the original proto-human race on a planet called Hain) who are biologically androgynous. Every month they go through a cycle called "kemmer" (their equivalent of the human female menstrual cycle) that causes them to take a gender. One or the other -- it's entirely random which one -- so that it's possible for the same individual to become both male and female at different times of their life, during different kemmer cycles.

When they go through kemmer, they can (but don't need to) participate in reproductive activities. But culturally they've decided, why waste the opportunity, recreationally speaking?

Perhaps pon farr for the Romulans would be more like this (minus the additional random-gender component): a stronger-than-normal sexual drive, but without the biological-emotional imperative that goes along with it.