Tuvok's gender/sexuality is so interesting to me.
Because he's Vulcan he isn't written as having any kind of sexual attraction towards women (a la Spock) but unlike his predecessor he has a wife and multiple children and obviously feels a strong bond with T'Pel which is both sexual and romantic (pon farr episode + it's established multiple times that his deepest wish is to be with her again).
Spock is mainly shown to find women attractive when his mind is being tampered with ("Once the fever broke, I found I'd lost all interest in the girl") whereas Tuvok is shown to naturally be romantically interested in women. His adolescent crush, his wife, arguably Marayna and definitely Noss. However, with the exception of T'Pel, Tuvok's attraction to these women is typically framed as purely romantic, (if anything) - not sexual.
Typically, these desires are portrayed as inexorably intertwined, especially so for male characters. When Tom or Harry find a woman attractive there's usually a clear sexual element, even when that woman is actually a shuttlecraft. With Tuvok, there's none of that.
Well, with women there's none of that. I've noticed that there's often an air of sexuality around his interactions with certain, usually antagonistic, men.
I can think of three off the bat. Suder (which also has a romantic connotation), Tieran (which Tuvok is completely unreceptive to), and Guill.
Suder, a serial killer, is someone Tuvok feels drawn to. There's no reason for them to meld and he's warned against doing so but he can't help himself, he's so curious about him...it's an intimate act likened to sex BY Suder and at the end of the episode Tuvok is cradled in Suder's arms. Suder will later name a new breed of orchid after Tuvok and Tuvok will pray over his body.
Tieran, a warlord inhabiting Kes' body, asserts that Tuvok secretly desires Kes. This is implied to be incorrect, a goad, (though I have to say - it IS interesting that TECHNICALLY Tuvok is kissed by a man in this scene. It's gay in a mirrorverse 'evil bisexual' way.) He says "all those intimate moments touching each other's minds, you've never even wondered what it might be like?" again likening the mental arts Tuvok has mastered to the physical, the sexual.
Guill, a black-market dealer, has a scene with Tuvok that's coded in the language of seduction. Tuvok coyly teases him by saying "That is what you want, isn't it? To see what's buried in my unconscious?" and I'm sorry but this whole scene, while textually about exchanging mental images, is spiritually about having sex. Guill wants to be balls deep in Tuvok's mind and Tuvok knows it and uses it against him. He is a femme fatale in this moment.
This then transitions to an analogous assault which canonically doesn't phase Tuvok because he's a man and this a serialized show. Tuvok DOES allow Guill into his mind again but it's only after he's been battered and he's being held down by Guill's goons. "If I show you, will you let me go?" Tuvok bests him in this interaction.
I find this all quite interesting. Tuvok can be in sexual situations but only if they're with other men (a narrative no-homo) and these situations can be sexual ONLY because they're ALSO portrayed as dark, frightening, and nonconsensual (with Suder as the sole exception, just as T'Pel is the exception when I say Tuvok shows no sexual interest in women).
It's as if we must be assured that Tuvok, our hero, doesn't enjoy being intimate with these villainous men but I do have to wonder why the only melds Tuvok does that are framed as sexual are with men. He melds with women too. B'Elanna, Janeway, Seven...none of these are framed as anything but utilitarian or perhaps intimate (in Janeway's case) but in a strongly platonic way. The one time I can remember him melding with a woman where it isn't portrayed that way is with Noss and that's not sexual either - it's intimate, romantic in a way, but it's a tender goodbye. It's a way for her to understand what he can't verbalize. It's beautiful but again non-sexual.
