It isn’t just me who thinks the whole way the show approaches Ferengi ears is weird, right?
They have women stroking them in public, which gives the Ferengi pleasure.
They have women and men grabbing them in public, which causes them pain.
At one point Ishka (Quark’s mother) grabs both her sons’ ears as some kind of discipline.
So are ears sexual organs? Or just pleasure organs? Or just very sensitive organs?
Or some kind of combination of all three?
They are very sensitive organs that can be touched in a variety of ways, some evoking pleasure, others evoking pain. It is a unique feature of the Ferengi in that they have such a weak spot on full display at all times. It’s as if the human species were to have the prostate on our foreheads. I think it could be a reason why the Ferengi culture evolved the way it did.
They’re like testicles. A nice touch is pleasurable, but a grab or strike to them is painful as hell.
I entirely understand that, being a middle aged guy.
But no one ever stroked mine (or anyone else’s) in public. And my mother DEFINITELY never grabbed them to drag me home or make me behave :)