'Dear Abby' a shock jock for promiscuity?

A new report is warning Americans to beware of reading or following the Dear Abby column, especially when writer Jeanne Phillips dispenses advice about sex.

"Publications that carry Abby might want to consider carrying a label: 'Warning: Although Abby has a reputation as the stern aunt who can deliver a well-placed kick to your backside when needed, on sexual topics her foot will push you further in the wrong direction at least half the time,'" said a report from the Culture and Media Institute.

The organization, which is designed to "advance, preserve, and help restore America's culture, character, traditional values, and morals against the assault of the liberal media elite," has examined the publications of "Dear Abby."

An icon in America, the advice column runs in 1,400 newspapers worldwide and reaches an estimated 110 million readers daily – about three times the combined viewership of ABC, CBS and NBC, the report said.

"Phillips enjoys a tremendous platform to promote her beliefs on everything from wedding etiquette to handling the crazy uncle in the attic," the report, assembled by research assistant Colleen Raezler, said.

However, the CMI analysis noted that 30 percent of her 2007 columns addressed issued associated with sex, and in more than half of those, she took "a distinctly non-traditional approach toward moral questions."

"Many of her columns on sex could have been written by Dr. Ruth (the sex therapist)," the report said.

"Fifty-four columns address sex between unmarried adults, and only one column suggests that sex should be preceded by marriage," the report summary said. "Thirty-six columns address infidelity. In only 10 of these columns does Abby suggest breaking off an affair, or not getting into an affair in the first place. Only once does Abby flatly state that an affair is 'wrong.'"

"At times Abby appears to condone adultery, even homosexual adultery," the report said. "'Confused in Illinois' wrote Abby that she had no interest in intimate relations with her husband, but she is now involved in a 'passionate sexual relationship' with a female friend. Abby told her to 'look at the bright side. At least you now finally understand what has been missing…'"

Of 12 columns dealing with teen sex, only three times did she suggest abstinence, and that was only for teens who were not yet sexually active, the report said.

Ten columns addressed homosexuality, "and Abby never says homosexual behavior is morally wrong. Instead she treats it as normal and ignores the well-documented, associated health risks."

She even adopts as normal quirky behavior. "Twenty of Abby's sex columns address topics such as stripping, nudism and cross-dressing," the report said. To a woman whose "significant other" wanted to dress as a woman, she said, "If I really cared about him, I think I'd ask to spend some time with his 'other self.'"

The column, founded by 1956 by Pauline Phillips and now taken over by her daughter, Jeanne, doesn't view sex as part of traditional morality that is "limited to married, heterosexual couples," the report said. It said a review of columns back to 1981 supported the fact that "Dear Abby … has consistently espoused sexually 'liberated' viewpoints for the past 30 years."

There have been alarms raised in the past. In 1997, W. Patrick Cunningham wrote about "Abby" and her sister, Ann Landers, who until her death in 2002 wrote that advice column.

"Their pithy dictums have seduced many into accepting the reasonableness of moral relativism; they have, over the past 40 years, helped legitimize the revolution in morality that has taken Western culture to the brink of extinction."

Among her other causes, Ann Landers advocated abortion and legalization of prostitution, the report said.

"Abby" regularly refers teens to Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider, for information about "family planning.'

And for her work, column founder Pauline Phillips was awarded the Margaret Sanger Award from Planned Parenthood. She explained why she referred to Planned Parenthood.

"I knew that Planned Parenthood would advise her about her entire range of options," she later explained.

Crisis pregnancy centers, however, should be avoided, she said, because of the "color videos of aborted fetuses."

On homosexuality, the 2007 columns were unanimous in their sympathy to the homosexual agenda in the United States. In October, Phillips told the Associated Press that she supports same-sex "marriage." She said, "I believe if two people want to commit to each other, God bless 'em."

On sex between unmarried individuals, she endorsed it 53 of 54 times the subject arose. And the one exception was, in fact, a joke.

"Only once did Abby suggest waiting until marriage before engaging in sexual activity, and that was to a 59-year-old widow who asked how to respond to her 71-year-old widower companions' question about how she feels about sex. Abby suggested, "The next time the gentleman asks how you feel about sex, say, 'I love sex. How do you feel about marriage?'"

The Media Research Center, parent of the Culture and Media Institute, said it was offering a way for concerned newspaper readers to take action. It is providing a link that allows readers to demand that newspapers print a disclaimer above the "Abby" columns, "warning readers that she is not an accredited professional and her advice on sexual morality cannot be trusted."

"The logical result of following Abby's advice is fewer marriages, more sexual experimentation and fewer strong families producing self-governing citizens," the report concluded.