Guy Gardener said:
From a stray comment in Dear Doctor, I took it to mean that Denobulan mating involved, going on heat like Terran dogs, then throwing teems of spouses, as many as 300 or so more and more distantly connected, into a pit and they just go at it like Romans... But here's the rub:
Denobulans don't like to be touched. Well, the boys at least.
Frankly no mater what sort of pheromonal(Please note that those Orion Slave girls made Phlox Dose off. Do Denobulan girls stun their sexual partners into a state of unconsciousness from the stink of their sweaty eagerness before they make their babies with snoring restlessly sleeping blokes? How does the "Hybernation" cycle work again?) attributes the girls might have... If Phlox is a typical "man" in their culture, I think by average any of the boys are going to run away from all three of their wives in that pit that it would have to rimmed with at the very least barbed wire. Which is probably why a wife needs three husbands so she has decent odds of finding one of them in the scampering melee terrified about being violated, or even that the wives if need be can hunt in packs before taking what they need.
Phlox's wife that we did meet, Feezel, was as oversexed as Phlox is under sexed(Did you see Cutler? C'mon!), which would follow through with my delightful hypothesis about who is the dominant gender in however they arrange their "arrangements".
Well, there are several things I agree with you on this and several I don't. It does sound like Denobulans (from what was said anyway) go into heat like many animals do. AKA the mating season. Which, doesn't sound all that 'complicated' to me, so I'm guessing that the act of chosing a mate is what's complicated or perhaps the fact that they may need more than one husband to get the wife pregnant.
And you are right that the guys don't like to be touched (though clearly Phlox was getting used to being touched by humans after 4 years). And I did laugh at the image of a whole bunch of them in a pit going after one another.
But perhaps the dynamics of taking their wives to bed (or wherever) doesn't come about easily. Perhaps (purely supposition here), they simply battle each other for the right to mate with her. Now this isn't sex for sex's sake. I gather that they can easily 'hook up' whenever the mood hits them. So this begs the question why marry in the first place? What's to be gained by the marriage since Fidelity has been thrown out the window. I'm thinking it's to legitimize any offspring. To continue bloodlines (however that's figured out), or simply to raise children in a particular environment. Phlox has 5 kids. He says they are HIS not someone else's within the extended family but ones which he considers his. I got the feeling they were biological children and perhaps marriage helps tie those children to that aspect of the vast family.
But you are right that sex would be an interesting affair considering that the women aren't afraid to let the guys know what they want (and are doubtless the aggressors) and the men are almost painfully shy about touch and disrobing etc. Then again, perhaps these cultural inhibitions get dropped once the pheromones start pumping or once they have reached an agreement between them over where they can go for privacy. Obviously physical affection of any sort in public isn't practiced (Phlox and Feezal never touch in their greeting, even though 4 years had passed and they were clearly happy to see each other).
Your imagery concerning a melee was pretty funny. But I'm thinking they do limit their contacts. Sounds like the old threesome isn't unusual (remember him telling Dr. Lucas about what goes on in a Kaybin bar, and finding a pleasing companion "or two".)
On the other hand, if the men are as patient (read "controlled") as Phlox says, then I guess it's no wonder the women are more aggressive. LOL!
Someone else was right, the Orion pheromones weren't the same as Denobulan ones. Caused incompatibility and in Phlox's case, drowsiness. And I agree, they don't sound like they are having any trouble breeding though it also doesn't sound like they go crazy with producing babies either. If all of them were constantly breeding, there'd be far more than 12 billion on that world. And Phlox only had 5 kids, so I'mwondering if making those babies isn't just a bit more complicated than it would be for humans :-) I'm not saying they have trouble breeding, only that fertility may be limited, as implied, to the mating season, and perhaps, if conception didn't take place, then they'd end up waiting another year. Sex would still go on of course, but not reproduction.
Now, one of the reason I thought this was because of E2. Phlox marries someone named Amanda, and together they have 9 children. So there are "many descendants of Phlox" on board that ship. And it didn't sound like Phlox lived all that long either in that alternate reality. So he was a busy boy. But humans are also able to get pregnant during any given month rather than just once a year.
I do wish they would have shown more backstory for him and his culture. They certainly made the courtship process sound complicated.
BTW: Phlox isn't undersexed, he's just very controlled (look at his age and maturity level), and not looking to rush into sex with humans though he's open to the idea if the right one comes along (Dear Doctor). And perhaps his species simply doesn't 'need it' as often as human men claim they do. The Denobulan men seem more intellect oriented rather than body oriented. This doesn't make him undersexed, it may make him normal for his species.
Well, let's see now (sex)...what can we (sex)...Oh, I'd better go (sex)...now where was I? (sex). 