Setting aside that that's one particular group of characters on one particular show, real-life studies are supporting the idea that people need intimacy and they'll pair up based on what's available to them when isolated from home and their usual support systems for long periods of time. Experts are concerned that, on deep space missions, even the "best of the best" will crack eventually if they don't get the intimacy they need. Check out the "Sex in Space" thing I mentioned earlier. Furthermore, some experts say that limiting missions to just men or just women won't preclude people from seeking out the intimacy they need. (I'm talking about missions that last years here.) They may try to hold off a little longer than if opposite sex options were available (assuming the crew in question was straight), and they're not saying that *everybody* will, but it'll happen.
That said, someone in Archer's position is still very human, and after long stretches away from home and a population he can date without breaking the rules, it stands to reason that eventually, there would be some things that a hand alone can't relieve. Furthermore, experts are saying it would be unhealthy to expect a person to cut themselves off from intimacy with someone else when they need it.
So while the people on MASH had different jobs in a different time period during a war, other people in situations where they've been isolated from their homes and loved ones and "approved" populations they can date from have done the same thing. (Prison sex, anyone? Not all of it is about establishing hierarchy/control/domination.) Yes, the Korean war is different from being on the Enterprise, but I'm sure that the weight of command while being so far from home carries its own set of mitigating factors.
Whether you're a doctor or a starship captain, you still have basic human needs.
That said, someone in Archer's position is still very human, and after long stretches away from home and a population he can date without breaking the rules, it stands to reason that eventually, there would be some things that a hand alone can't relieve. Furthermore, experts are saying it would be unhealthy to expect a person to cut themselves off from intimacy with someone else when they need it.
So while the people on MASH had different jobs in a different time period during a war, other people in situations where they've been isolated from their homes and loved ones and "approved" populations they can date from have done the same thing. (Prison sex, anyone? Not all of it is about establishing hierarchy/control/domination.) Yes, the Korean war is different from being on the Enterprise, but I'm sure that the weight of command while being so far from home carries its own set of mitigating factors.
Whether you're a doctor or a starship captain, you still have basic human needs.
