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Don’t Listen to HER ADVICE IS UNSOUND, HYPOCRITICAL, AND CRUEL Dr. Laura Sharon Presley

maliciously asserted: ”If she was my daughter, I’d probably put her up for adoption. . . .When she makes her marriage vows, and her husband has sex with someone else, let’s see if she thinks that this philosophy works. She also suggested that the r. Laura Schlessinger may just be the most girl be “sacrificed,” Inca style!4 Apparently “family values” controversial talk-show guru ever to hit the air only count if the members of the family toe the party line. waves, surpassing even conservative Rush DLimbaugh as both the most loved and most hated personality DR. LAURA’S MORALISTIC VALUES on radio (and now television). Her claim that homosexuals are “Schlessinger’s platform,” says Sarah Blustain in Lilith, the “biological errors” created a firestorm that resulted in a thriv- independent Jewish women’s magazine, “could have been ing anti-Schlessinger Web site (stopdrlaura.com) but intense written by the Religious Right.”5 Called moralistic and dog- support from the Religious Right. matic by her detractors, Dr. Laura, a convert to Orthodox At least 250,000 people attempt to call her radio program Judaism, stridently asserts that abortions are murder, sex out- every week, while 18 to 20 million more tune in to hear her on side of marriage is a sin, no one should divorce except in the topics that range from relationships to religious values. Her Web case of abuse, and that mothers should stay home with their site dispenses not only her five best-selling books, but coffee children. The accusation that Dr. Laura is moralistic is hard to mugs, tapes, T-shirts (“I am my kid’s mom,” one coyly proclaims) dispute. On the subject of sex before marriage, for example, and techniques for political activism. In spite of outraged she writes in her book The Ten Commandments, “Holy sex is protests from gays, lesbians, and other supporters of tolerance, between husband and wife. . . .Unholy sex is everything else.”6 Paramount put her television show on the air in September 2000. Hopping full-tilt onto the “family values” bandwagon, she MEAN DR. LAURA smugly decries women who dare to have careers instead of staying home with their children (in spite of the fact that she Though seen as a dispenser of indispensable advice by millions, has a teenage son at home). Reinforcing this advice, her Web Dr. Laura claims she doesn’t give advice. “I preach, teach, and site has had links to magazines and organizations such as At 1 nag,” she was quoted as saying in 1999. “But it’s not a shrink Home Mother magazine and Full Time Parents.org. show. I give my never-to-be humble opinion.” And humble she is Being married is not only the sole permissible ticket to sex not. “I’m very grateful that God put me in the right place,” she but apparently to mental stability as well. In August 2000, a piously expounds. Curt and abrupt with callers who don’t mea- man who needed a trustworthy executor for his will called in sure up, she is quick to impart not only her opinions but abra- to her radio program to ask Dr. Laura if she thought he should sive and even abusive commentary as well. She has not hesitat- name his sister. When Dr. Laura learned that the sister was ed to call those she sees as morally unfit, “sluts,” “bums,” and, not married, she advised the man to pick a married person. A Lilith according to magazine, “sickening,” “selfish,” “stupid,” single woman, she claimed, would be too unfocused and unsta- 2 “gutless,” “termite,” and “pig” as well. ble.7 Apparently, based on her comments in this program, Dr. Dr. Laura’s intolerance is not confined merely to name-call- Laura imagines that single young women are all dithery and ing. Besides trashing gays as “deviants,” and same-sex mar- intent on only one thing—getting a man. Ironically, social sci- riages as “despicable,” she has said of feminists, “They nau- ence research actually shows that married women have high- 3 seate and sicken me.” Even more shocking was her treatment er rates of depression and instability than single women.8 But of a Connecticut eighth-grader for an award-wining essay on Dr. Laura, as we will soon see in more detail, is not troubled by free speech on the Internet. Attacking the girl by name, she what legitimate research shows. Dr. Sharon Presley has a Ph.D. in social psychology. She Religious morality looms large in her thinking. It is a reli- teaches psychology and critical thinking courses at gious point of view that brooks no opposition. When Skeptic California State University, Hayward, and is the magazine published its issue on the “God Question,” she Executive Director of Resources for Independent Thinking demanded that her name be dropped from its editorial board. (www.rit.org), a nonprofit educational organization. Her When Skeptic publisher Michael Shermer called to discuss her forthcoming book, Think for Yourself, will be published by resignation, she replied: “There is a God. Period. End of dis- Ronin Press later this year. cussion.”9 Shermer pointed out that the arguments presented

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in the magazine came from writings of theologians and philoso- So it’s only fair to ask whether Dr Laura’s psychological phers of the last 2,000 years, but she angrily responded, advice has any merit. That depends on the advice. Some of the “Arrogant all. God is not open for discussion.” When Shermer ideas in her earliest books, Ten Stupid Things Women Do to asked “Which God?” her answer was “the God of Abraham” Mess Up Their Lives and Ten Stupid Things Men Do to Mess Up Their Lives is consistent with “kick- in-the-butt” cognitive therapy, as prac- Dr. Laura’s pious brand of morality allows ticed by psychologists such as Albert for no weaknesses, no dissension, and Ellis. (The message: Take responsibility for your beliefs and your mistakes. You no slack. But does she measure up? can change if you want to. Now do it.) The demand for individuals to stop playing (which she clarified to include Christianity and Islam, as well victim and blaming others for their plight is recognized by as Judaism). To hell, apparently both figuratively and literally, many psychologists as desirable. Research shows that cogni- with Hinduism, Buddhism, and the rest of the world’s religions. tive therapy is the single best treatment for depression, for example. However, calling people who are struggling with their DR. LAURA AS HYPOCRITE life issues “pigs,” “sluts,” and “stupid” goes far beyond even Dr. Laura’s pious brand of morality allows for no weaknesses, what the irascible Dr. Ellis advocates, and may represent a no dissension, and no slack. But does she measure up? Not breach of psychotherapeutic ethics, which call for respecting according to her detractors. One of the criticisms most leveled one’s clients. against her is hypocrisy, and with good reason. Under the heading “Doctor, Heal Thyself: Hypocrisy in Lauraland,” the DR. LAURA VS. THE RESEARCH Newsguy Web site lists the following tidbits: More serious than Dr. Laura’s name-calling and fudging about • Laura and the Sanctity of Marriage: Laura started dating her credentials is her willingness to play fast and loose with her current husband, Lew Bishop, while he was still married to research. Increasingly, her on-air time is spent on parenting. someone else and lived with him for nine years before they got Much of what she says is both out of sync with social science married.10 research and pernicious as well. In her latest book, Parenting • Laura and Family Values: she has not spoken to her moth- by Proxy: Don’t Have Them If You Can’t Raise Them, she con- er in 15 years and is estranged from her sister.11 tinues her shrill attacks on abortion, birth control, feminism, • She claims that women with young children should stay and, most especially, single mothers and mothers who work out- home rather than have a career, but she is on the radio five side the home.14 days week and recently began a television show, in spite of the On air, she has backed up her rants by citing studies from fact that she has a teenage son at home. Gary Bauer’s ultra-conservative Family Research Council.15 • She will not discuss her past on her show, claiming that it The FRC is an advocacy group, not a social science research is irrelevant now, but, as several critics have pointed out, she institute, and hardly an objective source. refuses to take responsibility for her “wild” past and angrily In Parenting by Proxy, the citations aren’t much better. dismisses charges of hypocrisy. Most of those that support her position come from newspaper Schlessinger’s brand of moralism apparently includes articles that are hardly persuasive or authoritative. Were the stretching the truth. In her book The Ten Commandments studies reputable? Was the research described correctly or (ironically enough), she calls herself a “licensed psychothera- was it distorted? We don’t know. However, my experience with pist.”12 Her Ph.D., however is in physiology, not psychology. newspaper articles on behavioral topics makes me very suspi- Though she does have an MFCC (a certificate in marriage, cious indeed of such sources. Schlessinger rarely cites an family, and child counseling), the State of California, where actual academic journal except to distort and attack it. In she resides, does not consider her a psychotherapist. In fact, it other words, very little of the “documentation” in the book is illegal in California to call oneself a psychotherapist without comes from the kinds of primary sources considered appro- a state license, which she does not have.13 No one could receive priate and reputable by academic researchers. an MFCC without knowing about this requirement; it is com- What does real social science research say about the mon knowledge in the psychological community. Whatever one effects of working moms on their children? Typical of the con- may think of the requirement for state licenses, her claim that clusions that most psychologists and sociologists have she is a “licensed psychotherapist” is on shaky ethical ground. reached, based on years of research, is the one cited in Dr. Laura has avoided this criticism in recent times by Engendering Psychology, a recently published textbook: steering away from calling what she does psychological “. . . there is no scientific evidence that women shortchange advice. According to her Web site FAQ, her purpose is “to dis- their infants and toddlers by working outside the home. Not pense morals, values, principles, and ethics,” which is safer only are the much-touted negative effects of day care ques- and much more subjective. tionable at best, but studies usually show that working moth- ers spend close to the same amount of time with their children IS DR. LAURA’S ADVICE GOOD? as do the so-called stay-at-home mothers.”16 Though she does not qualify as a psychotherapist either legal- Social science research also shows the following: women ly or by custom, this does not necessarily prove that Dr. with multiple roles (e.g., job and family) have higher self- Laura’s advice is worthless. Ann Landers doesn’t have a esteem; working has positive impacts on self-esteem; women degree in psychology either but her advice is often sensible; in satisfied with their roles, whether as homemakers or in a fact, far more sensible and less strident than Schlessinger’s. career, are better for their children than women who are dis-

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satisfied. As for the “menace” of day care, overall, studies speech, and respect for individual differences and individual show that language and cognitive development, as well as rights. Chances are, her fanatical conservative social agenda relationships with the mother, are more directly linked to will not succeed on a large scale. But it behooves us to add our family qualities and children’s temperament than to whether voices to those who oppose her, as extra insurance that she the child has been in day care.17 does not get her way. fi Dr. Laura’s misrepresentation of research does more than merely distort. Many women, already made to feel guilty by a culture of ingrained and outdated stereotypes, will feel even Notes worse. Trapped between the false dilemma of economic neces- 1. “Dr. Laura Preaches, Teaches and Nags Her Way to the sity and the desire for self-expression on the one hand, and Top,” by Bob Rusk. Radio World, September 20, 1998. feelings of duty to their children on the other, women who buy Reprinted at www.calling hollywood.com. into Dr. Laura’s rap will lose no matter which choice they make. 2. “The Stealth Politics of Laura Schlessinger,” by Sarah Nor will Schlessinger’s call for “sacrifice” or her haughty dis- Blustain. Lilith, Summer 2000. Reprinted at www.lilithmag.com. missal of the idea that wives work because of economic neces- 3. “Dr. Laura, Talk Radio Celebrity.” Newsweek, March 20, 2000. Reprinted at www.newsweek.com. sity, be useful to the divorced mother who works two jobs to 4. Ibid. keep a roof over her children’s heads or the middle-class fami- 5. Blustain, op. cit. ly struggling to save for their children’s education. 6. The Ten Commandments: The Significance of God’s Unquestionably, some concerns that Schlessinger raises Laws in Everyday Life, by Laura Schlessinger with Rabbi are important ones that many of us share. Too many people Stewart Vogel (New York: Cliff Street Books, 1998), p. 216. 7. Dr. Laura Radio Show, August 13, 2000. are overly self-involved, lots of people who have kids should- 8. Sex and Gender, by Hilary Lips (Mountain View, Calif.: n’t, raising decent children with good moral values is very Mayfield Publishing, 2001), p. 286. important, many parents don’t give children the attention they 9. How We Believe: The Search for God in an Age of need. No good evidence, however, suggests that these attitudes Science, by Michael Shermer (New York: W.H. Freeman), p. xii. are the province solely of two-career families. 10. Newsguy: http://extra.newsguy.com/~satire/hippo. Original sources for “started dating”: “The Just Do-It Shrink,” DR. LAURA’S ACTIVISM by Rebecca Johnson, New York Times Magazine, Nov. 17, 1996; “living together”: Leslie Bennett, Vanity Fair, Sept., Schlessinger doesn’t confine her intolerant moralizing to 1998. her books and programs, she is a powerful social activist as 11. Ibid. Original sources: “mother”: “I Don’t Do Therapy,” well. Her Web site provides detailed instructions on how to by Janet Wiscombe, L.A. Times Magazine, Jan. 18, 1998; “sis- protest on behalf of her ideas as well as links to advocacy ter”: Johnson, op. cit. 12. Schlessinger, op. cit., Ten Commandments, p.xix. groups. This last year’s effort was a campaign against 13. California’s Business and Professional Code Sections pornography on the Internet, including a vicious attack on 2902 and 2903 define the practice of psychology, which the American Library Association. Calling the ALA “evil” includes the use of such terms as psychotherapy and psy- because it had a link to a Columbia University Web site for chotherapist. The use of these terms in describing one’s teens (“Go Ask Alice”) that frankly discussed (among other services to the public is restricted to licensed clinical psy- chologists and medical doctors. MFCCs are not allowed to issues) sexuality, she distorted and misrepresented the ALA advertise themselves as providing psychotherapy. This is stand to make it sound like the ALA was saying porno for also the position of the Board of Behavioral Science “children” is O.K.18 Examiners, which has jurisdiction over MFCCs. Schlessinger technically gets away with it because she is IN BED WITH THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT not “advertising,” but her claim is grossly misleading and violates the intent of this regulation. The agenda of the fundamentalist Right has long been of con- 14. Parenting by Proxy: Don’t Have Them if You Won’t cern to humanists. Now Dr. Laura has been added to their Raise Them, by Laura Schlessinger (New York: Cliff Street arsenal. Adored and supported by the ultra-conservative Books, 2000). Christian Right, Dr. Laura has appeared on television pro- 15. Blustain, op. cit. grams like Pat Robertson’s “700 Club,” Robert Schiller’s “Hour 16. Engendering Psychology, by Florence Denmark, Vita Rabinowitz & Jeri Sechzer. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2000), of Power,” and the increasingly political James Dobson’s p. 220. “Focus on the Family.”19 The Family Research Council has 17. Ibid. placed national ads on her behalf while other conservative 18. “Dr. Laura Schlessinger, Tabloid Deejay.” http:// groups have run prominent ads in their magazines. members.ncbi.com/XMCM/onevoicenow/drlaura. Others are concerned with where this unpleasant political 19. Blustain, op. cit. 20. Ibid. coupling may lead. Dismissing those who consider Dr. Laura just another Howard Stern or Dear Abby, Blustain writes in Lilith, “Laura Schlessinger represents those who have made Additional References: serious inroads into our political dialogue, and anyone con- Dr. Laura: www.drlaura.com. cerned with the encroachments of the Religious Right would Stop Dr. Laura: www.stopdrlaura.com. be wise to watch Schlessinger as well.”20 “Dr. Laura Will Hector You Now” by Laura Miller: www.salon If Laura Schlessinger succeeds in her Internet censorship, magazine.com/aug97/stupid970820. “There Is No Evidence That Mothers Harm Their Infants and it will be only a beginning. Even if her television shows bombs Toddlers by Working Outside the Home,” by Diane E. Eyer. In (as of this writing, it is “temporarily” off the air), this is a Mary Roth Walsh, ed., Women, Men and Gender: Ongoing woman who will not give up. She is a not-so-hidden menace to Debates (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997). those of us who care passionately about tolerance, free

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