No, said Aziraphale, it's ineffable.

forpolitenesssake

Hear me out on this one, it’s been bugging me for a while. Rule’s number 112 and 113 of the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition state:

112. Never have sex with the boss’s sister.
113. Always have sex with the boss.

When I first heard these rules brought up in DS9, I was like, yeah ok, that’s silly. But during one of my many sleepless nights, I realized:

Ferengi women aren’t allowed to work. They aren’t allowed to even leave the house, not allowed to leave the world. They aren’t even allowed to wear clothing. So this rule applies to the males of Ferengi society. Right?

I don’t think that this is a metaphor or a rule that applies to other races because Ferenginar was so isolated until the got warp technology, and by then the rules were already well established.

I personally would like to think that homosexuality is accepted and promoted on Ferenginar. I mean, they treat their women like property, a wedding like brokering a deal; there’s no love involved (most of the time) and it’s like renting a tool. To find an actually meaningful relationship you look for someone who is equal to you, so it stands to reason that it would be acceptable to be in a relationship with a man who is of equal financial standing.

What are your thoughts on this?

laurelhach

There’s also the gem in “The Dogs of War” about instituting laws prohibiting sexual harassment in the workplace, where previously employers were allowed to require sexual favors from workers.

I always figured Ferengi didn’t really give a shit about sexuality. Oomox is oomox, right, no matter who’s giving it XD

teroknortailor

Also, I have a headcanon that the Ferengi are a species closely related to bats. Male bats have the highest rate of homosexuality of any animal. Also, when compared to the ratio of 48:52 male to female ratio in humans, I think Ferengi are more like 73:27 m/f which, in turn, makes the females rather a commodity. That of course plays in to their insanely capitalist society.

obstinatecondolement

I’ve been thinking about this for years. See also: Oo-mox for Fun and Profit. Women are prohibited from earning profit.

My personal headcanon is that sex between men is okay in the context of a someone powerful and someone less powerful with some kind of a transactional or quid pro quo nature to it, but outside of that paradigm it’s Not Okay, because in Ferengi society somebody is always degraded by sex, so sex between equals is an alien concept.

I have a bit about this in the fic I’m writing at the moment. I also have this idea that it’s okay for men to be in love and that it’s a common enough thing that two men will be each other’s legal heirs and promise to take care of the other’s business interests and take responsibility for their dependents if they should outlive them (having a wife doesn’t affect this arrangement, because hooow could you be in love with your wife, a naturally inferior feeemale who isn’t smart enough to be a true companion to you /misogyny) but it’s REALLY NOT okay to sleep with a man you have this relationship with, because it’s a partnership of equals and, as aforementioned, sex is always degrading for *someone* on Ferenginar and why would you want to ~ruin~ your relationship like that?

kithandqin

I had a very similar theory based on some of that, but also on the entire coming-of-age thing with Nog. Basically Ferengi males who come of age seem to seek out a ‘patron’, someone who will ensure they have opportunities. I’m guessing that normally this makes the ‘apprentice’ Ferengi basically beholden to their patron and this is a power circumstance where the patron Ferengi gets a kickback in the form of sex and having a toady to do your bidding. If sex between equals isn’t a thing, it’s definitely an incentive to have this ‘lesser’ Ferengi around.

I’m guessing that someone already from a powerful or wealthy family is pretty much assured a good patronage, but for someone who’s not (like Nog), they save up Latinum in an effort to ‘buy up’ the ladder into a better patronage and better future opportunities for themselves.

It seemed implied that Quark was actually hoping that Nog would become his own apprentice, thus keeping his nephew from being taken advantage of in such a fashion (Quark does seem a protective sort, even though he does it with his own views strictly in mind).

Of course then Nog decided to join Starfleet instead and totally buck Ferengi tradition, so there’s that.