Editing Vulcan (Star Trek) (section)

===Mating drive===
Every seven years, Vulcan males and females experience an overpowering [[hormone]] imbalance known as pon farr. Once triggered, a Vulcan must have [[sexual intercourse]] with someone or the chemical imbalance may cause insanity, loss of self-control, and death.<ref>Star Trek:TOS "Amok Time"</ref>

Despite popular opinion, ''TOS'' writer and story editor, [[D. C. Fontana]], insists that pon farr is not the only time that Vulcans feel sexual desire or engage in sexual activity:

<blockquote>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 that are not seven years apart.<ref>Edward Gross, Mark E. Altman, ''Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages'', Little Brown & Co, 1995. p. 53</ref></blockquote>

If a mate is not available, there are other ways to relieve the effects of the pon farr, including [[meditation]], violence,<ref>''[[Star Trek: Voyager|Voyager]]'' episode "[[Blood Fever (Star Trek: Voyager)|Blood Fever]]", when [[B'Elanna Torres]] and [[Vorik|Ensign Vorik]] fight in the traditional Vulcan manner. The violence ends the ''pon farr''</ref> "shock",<ref>in the ''TOS'' episode "[[Amok Time]]", [[Spock]] believed he had killed [[James T. Kirk]], his "best friend", thus providing sufficient shock to nullify the effects of pon farr</ref> and simulation.<ref>When he experienced ''pon farr'', Tuvok of the [[USS Voyager (Star Trek)|USS ''Voyager'']] made use of a [[holodeck]] simulation of a temporary mate that resembled his wife</ref>