fandomhigh | Sex Thru The Ages, 12/8, Period 3

Algren was standing at the front of the class today, eyeing Jim out of the corner of his eye, warily. They were tantalizingly close to the end of the semester, now. And it seemed as though they were getting on into material that had some sort of educational merit, and he couldn't for the life of him figure out if this was all too good to be true, or if he was smiling and nodding and going on with teaching what he could only suppose had to be fact.

Somebody hadn't gotten over the giant ear thing from last class, no.

"Today," he said, looking to the students, "we're going to continue on the topic that we had begun last week, discussing the sexual customs of other, nonhuman races." Races? Species? Algren had no clue, here. "We've arranged for this lesson to come from far more reliable sources than we-" Jim, "-could possibly provide simply from textbooks and notes."

Jim was perfectly knowledgeable! But when you had students who knew more...

You couldn't pass that up.

"So please be polite and courteous to your classmates and don't speak until they've finished with their speechs, alright?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

When he tags in!

Spock's posture was upright and he gazed off at a point on the wall above his classmates' heads as he said, "On Vulcan, traditionally, children are betrothed to a partner selected by their parents somewhere between the ages of seven and ten. Criteria for selecting a partner generally include clan alignment and other logical factors. In many cases the pair have not met one another, and may not see one another after the betrothal ceremony for many years. The betrothal ceremony initiates a low-level psychic bond between the pair, who will be wed when both have reached full adulthood. In the interval between betrothal and marriage, it is acceptable for either member of the pair to form other bonds. If the male member of the pair finds that his bond with an unattached female is more powerful than that with his betrothed, he may break the betrothal at any time."

He took a deep breath. "The marriage ceremony is known as koon-ut-kal-if-fee, which translates into Standard as, roughly, marriage or challenge. In this ceremony, either the pair will be married, or the female may break the betrothal by issuing a challenge, in which case her betrothed must fight to the death against her champion. This ceremony is partly a holdover from Vulcan's more warlike past and partly predicated by Vulcan biology, as breaking a betrothal may prove lethal to a Vulcan male." No, he wasn't going to explain why. The first rule of pon farr was that you did not talk about pon farr.

"After marriage, Vulcans are traditionally monogamous, as it would be highly illogical to call the paternity of children produced of the union into question. Divorce, which splits the communal assets and childrearing responsibilities, is likewise considered illogical except in very specific circumstances. Vulcans who have been widowed generally will remarry within seven years, though as adults, they are trusted to make logical decisions on their own and may select their own spouse." Never mind that many thought his father had been highly illogical in his choice of second wife. They were clearly wrong.

Look at that, he'd managed to get through an entire lecture on the sexual practices of his people without mentioning sex!

"Are there any questions?"

Edited 2009-12-08 20:48 (UTC)

Of course Karla raised her hand. "From your explanation, it sounds like a Vulcan male can break off a betrothal at any point, but a female can only do this during the..." she paused to see if she wanted to try the proper name and decided she did not, "marriage or challenge? Is this true? If so, why? Is it related to the potential lethality to males?"

Sorry, Spock, but Karla can't read narration and had no idea the pon farr was off limits.

"That is correct," Spock said. "A Vulcan male left single may be unable to find a new partner prior to a certain deadline--" that he was not going to talk about in any sort of specificity-- "at which time they will go insane, then die."

Karla was kind of bad at picking up subtle signals. "Why? It seems a most inopportune trait to have been bred into a species. Not necessarily detrimental to its survival, but certainly not conducive to growth, either," she said thoughtfully. "What's the deadline?"

Her nod to the delicacy of the topic was NOT bitching about how unfair it was to the female of the party.

Sex Thru The Ages, 12/8, Period 3

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