Following Matthew from Colchester‘s question in Episode 68 about why white heterosexual ghosts seem to have a monopoly in the spirit world, Matt from Barnehurst has noticed another Shocking Inequity from Beyond the Grave:
I have always wondered why are all the ghosts that people claim to see from the Victorian age, why are there no cavemen ghosts walking about the place? Plus if there were such things as ghosts, wouldn’t there be over 30,000 years worth of them, rather then from a small period in time?
The plot thickens! Where are all the ghosts of 400BC or the 1980s? If any of you have connections with the Afterlife, be a dear and ask a spectre to come and explain it to us, preferably via the medium of whispering in an unnecessarily sinister way or making the toaster levitate.
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Answer Me This! Podcast 
August 31, 2008 at 2:05 am |
I think that the key answer to Matthew from Colchester’s question was that the people discussing it (M-Cizzle and the AMT crew) are white, and the most popular ghost tales in our culture (if sexualised at all) are going to be the ones that most appealed to the majority of people. Not only has heterosexuality been much more common for as far back in history as ghost stories come from, but for much of that time people in our society were not particularly fond of even acknowledging the existence of alternative sexualities. So even if the stories existed, they wouldn’t be passed on. In other words, you cold probably ask equally why so much classic TV is full of white heterosexuals (yes Trekkies, Nichelle Norris, I know – now go away).
Thanks to Get This, a sadly defunct radio show in Aus (podcast archives still available), I can also tell you on the existence of a film called “Poltergays”, about the ghosts of 3 gay clubbers.
Oh yeah, and on the “white” front, there’s always that Jesus guy from the middle east who they say came back as a ghost, though I guess that depends on where you draw the line about what you consider “white” to mean. I don’t think that the “spirits” in Voodoo count as ghosts even though they are associated with ancestors. but the Egyptian book of the Dead apparently featured ghosts.
As for Matt from Barnehurst’s question, I suspect that this is all about the literary sources that ghost tales seem to come from (Dickens is not the only one, but certainly the easiest to think of). As these become part of the collective consciousness, they are also the default in people’s dreams, ghost stories to tell when camping, and wild flights of fantasy when scared.
Wow, my reply is longer than the post. This is what happens on Sunday mornings, when I get time to myself.
Have a great month off, H-Zizzle, O-Mizzle and M-T-S-Mizzle.