Think you’re having a tough time self-isolating during the coronavirus pandemic? Spare a moment for those who are doing it alone. Sometimes the isolation can get lonely and imaginations can run wild.
So when we read a recent “Dear Abbey" post on Slate, it got us thinking all sorts of weird things.
In a nutshell, a worried reader reached out to Slate columnist Rich Juzwiak, asking if she should be worried about her friend living on the other side of the US openly discussing having an intimate relationship with a ghost while in lockdown.
“In a conversation in April or May, she mentioned to me that she’d been masturbating while thinking of a man who lived in her apartment in the 1920s. I assumed she meant it as a fantasy, and we had a good laugh. But in subsequent conversations, she named the man John, and she’s begun referring to him when I mention things my partner has been doing, like her stories are complementary: John said this, John did this, John is having a bad day," wrote the anonymous reader.
Juzwiak’s response was pretty cut and dry - basically saying “give me proof about your ghost lover and I’ll believe you."
It didn’t take other US publications long to jump on the story. In fact ghost sex was a trending topic on Twitter this past week.
But then The Cut’s Amanda Arnold offered her “own informed opinion” on the matter.
“As I see it, banging a ghost is the perfect solution to safe sex amid the coronavirus pandemic. If you don’t believe in the supernatural, you may see it as a sort of vivid fantasy, like masturbating with a few extra bells and whistles," she wrote.
Taking things further, Arnold said that if you believe in ghosts, it’s the ideal situation.
"Having a disembodied spirit as a sexual partner means you can carry on your affair from the comfort of your own home — ideal in a time of responsible social distancing — and you also don’t have to worry about Covid-19 transmission," she concluded.
Yes, ghost sex is apparently the safer sex route to take now during these trying times. Frankly, we don’t know how to feel about it - but each to his own.