It's ok for “transsexual” men to use the ladies' room? A mother should accept her daughter making a living by running porn sites?
Dear Abby, what have you come to?
For more than 50 years, Dear Abby has been counseling people on how to live their lives. People usually associate Abby with common sense, but in reality she's an unsung warrior in the sexual revolution—firmly on the side of Playboy, NARAL, and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
Dear Abby consistently steers people into the arms of Planned Parenthood, homosexual activist groups, and the now-infamous Kinsey Institute. The column has supported abortion on demand, condom-based “safe sex” education, nudism, cross-dressing and pornography.
Abby's daughter took over the column several years ago, and the message has grown even more radical. After years of promoting acceptance of homosexuality as normal and in-born, Abby on October 10, 2007, went all the way and openly endorsed gay “marriage.”
The Dear Abby column runs in 1,400 newspapers worldwide, reaching 110 million readers daily in print and on-line. Because Abby is a major cultural media figure, the Culture and Media Institute took a detailed look at what kind of advice she gave in 2007. CMI also looked at The Best of Dear Abby (1981), her Web site, and a Nexis search of columns over the years dealing with sex. The new study by CMI researcher Colleen Raezler, “Down a Dark Abby,” reveals that:
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Of Abby's 365 daily columns in 2007, nearly a third (108) deal with sex. And of those, more than half (58) reject traditional morality and instead offer moral relativism and sexual liberation.
Ten address homosexuality, which Abby regards as morally right.
Fifty-four address sex between unmarried adults, and only once does Abby suggest that marriage should precede sex.
Twelve address teen sex, and only three suggest abstinence.
Twenty other columns project a permissive view of nudism, stripping and cross dressing.
The 2007 columns reflect themes that Abby has embraced for years. Here are some of Abby's Blasts from the Past, starting with nudism:
DEAR ABBY: …What is this world coming to when a person of your stature condones nude hot-tubbing with the neighbors? Enjoying the “therapeutic benefits” of soaking together in the nude—unless it's a husband and wife alone—is a new low in moral behavior.
DEAR HORRIFIED: It's neither new nor necessarily low. I have never condemned nudity—as long as it's on the up and up. And while I might hesitate to grin and bare it (all), scores of wholesome people from many cultures enjoy the naturalist way of life. (August 2001)
In August 2006, a woman wrote that she was shocked to see a six-foot-tall man in a wig and dress in the ladies room. Abby tells her to chill:
DEAR BEWILDERED: … Before a transsexual is allowed to have gender reassignment surgery, he or she must live for one year in the role of someone of the opposite sex. This includes using the restroom facilities of the opposite gender. It is not against the law, and it was no threat to you.
Abby vigorously supports homosexual adoption. In a 1999 column, she advises an 18-year-old who has “lived with a gay man since I was 6” to “tell your friends exactly what you told me—that he is your mother, father, aunt, uncle, counselor and – most of all— your best friend.”
Abby has been remarkably easy on porn. When a mother wrote her in November 2002 concerned about her daughter operating “soft porn” Web sites, Abby told her:
DEAR LOVING MOTHER: You and your daughter have very different moral values. While it's against your principles, what she's doing is legal. She has built a successful business and wants you to respect what she has accomplished. …try to accept that this is a choice she has made, and focus on her positive qualities. She's bright, sweet and loving, not to mention a whiz at business.
Abby is unabashedly “pro-choice.” In March 2000, her column “Life Makes Grandma Pro-Choice” related the horrors of illegal abortions and happy outcomes from “terminated” pregnancies. Here's the takeaway message from Grandma:
DEAR ABBY: ….The key word is “choice.” Only the girl or woman should make the decision to have an abortion or carry the pregnancy to term and keep the child or place the baby for adoption. The decision should NOT be up to self-righteous, ambitious politicians.
DEAR GRANDMA: Right on. Only the individual knows how much she can handle, and the decision should be hers to make. The key word, indeed, is “choice.”
The bottom line? When it comes to sex, Dear Abby is no friend of the family.
Robert Knight is director of the Culture and Media Institute, a division of the
