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Virgin Geek

You'd think that it would be a logical conclusion that a healthy, handsome, intelligent man like Doctor Daniel Jackson would have had at least one relationship by the time he was 30 years old. You'd think he'd certainly have had adult relationships from college onwards at minimum, adult relationships that include sex. Yet there are a surprising number of people who seem to believe that this would not be the case at all. They believe that Daniel, prior to being involuntarily hitched to Sha're, never had sex. That he was a blushing virgin on his wedding night (or to be more accurate, a couple nights after his wedding night). These people are deluding themselves.

A bit harsh, you say? Not in the slightest. Those who proclaim Daniel a 30-year-old virgin also tend to write or speak of him as if he was a boy, or "young man" as the common parlance goes. They give him such characteristics as low self-esteem, stuttering bashfulness, and willingness to let other people treat him like dirt. None of these things stand up to the harsh light of canon, and yet they are still fanon myths that persist despite what is on-screen. It's all part of a cliché being applied to the character of Daniel, against his nature, that he is a little geek lost, who needs constant protection from himself and others. But that's a larger issue, of which the virgin cliché is only a part.

So back to Daniel's sex life. This is mind-bogglingly easy to debunk, thanks to an entire episode, "The Curse," devoted to Daniel's graduate school flame, Sarah Gardner. While Daniel was studying under Professor Jordan at the Oriental Institute of Chicago, he was, for an indeterminate time but probably a couple of years, in a serious relationship with Sarah. Their relationship ended badly, probably in part over Daniel's deteriorating academic reputation. But we saw from their comfortable ease with each other's physical closeness, from their conversations about their shared past, and from Sarah's need to understand what Daniel's life has been since they parted company, that they clearly were very close for some time. And in America at that time, adults in such a relationship... ready for this? They have SEX. Generally a LOT. I know it's a shock, but you have to accept it. And even further, Daniel no doubt had at least one or two more sexual relationships prior to Sarah; yes, it's speculation, but not much of a stretch, and your average healthy, attractive male, geek or not, has had at least that by 30. It's called hormones, it's called puberty, and it's called the human sexual drive. And yes, Virginia, Daniel Jackson has a penis and he's not afraid to use it.

"Oh no," you say, "but maybe he was saving himself for marriage." At this I can only roll my eyes and point out that Daniel Jackson is no conservative, traditional middle-American type growing up. This is a man whose life is living in, exploring, and understanding the complexities of all different cultures and peoples, across the globe and throughout time. He grew up surrounded with all manner of influences and is clearly a very open-minded person. In other words, he'd not likely just accept the idea that sex before marriage is Bad, or that God wouldn't like it. It's also extremely unlikely that he would even decide on his own that he wanted to only have sex with "that special person" merely by examination of his personality. This is someone who loves to explore, to experiment, to try out new things even if they have an aspect of danger to them. To cut himself off from an entire area of such exploration of himself, of the human body and its erotic possibilities, would simply not be something he would do.

Okay, so it's contrary to his personality type, he's canonically shown to have prior serious relationships with women... so why do some people still think he was a virgin groom? Apart from the helpless virgin geek cliché discussed above, there's the fact that in the movie, he didn't act like a typical oversexed, macho guy when a woman from another planet and culture, who he hadn't even exchanged a single word with up to that point, suddenly came into his tent and started taking off her clothes. That he didn't spring to her aid and strip her down and proceed to prove just how manly and experienced in such matters he was became proof to people that he had no experience in such matters. But all it really showed was that Daniel was polite, understanding, and didn't want to jump in the sack with someone who he'd just met and who he didn't know at all. All that scene showed was that Daniel was a man with a good heart who wouldn't take advantage of another culture's ways to get some quick and probably meaningless sex. It's no coincidence that, after he got to know Sha're, talked with her and fought alongside her, it was only then that he agreed to accept her as his bride for real. Though she was given to him by Kasuf, her father, it was only by their mutual consent that their marriage was consummated. (There are even some who think that Daniel's marriage to Sha're was itself a sham, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.)

So there you have it. Canon sexual relationship during his 20s, highly probable prior relationships, a personality that would not welcome the idea of not exploring his own sexuality, and the reality of what the tent scene with Sha're was about. If you still think of Daniel as a blushing virgin ripe for the picking, I suggest you stop trying to make him into something he's not. He's a full-grown, world-wise, and fully-functional male, not an innocent lamb.

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