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Image:Dr-Laura
Schlessinger.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Laura
Schlessinger
Laura Schlessinger,  (born January 16, 1947) is an
United States|American culture|cultural and
morality|moral commentator, most known as host of
the very popular Dr. Laura radio call-in show. 
The show is nationally syndicated and runs three
hours a day on weekdays.

Schlessinger is an outspoken critic of practices
that have become common in modern American
culture. These include: sex outside of marriage,
living together before marriage, single
parent|single parenthood, daycare, mothers working
outside the home, marrying quickly or at a young
age, permissive society|permissive parenting,
abortion, euthanasia, easy or no-fault divorce,
and same-sex marriage. Her radio program often
features short editorial monologues on these and
other social and political topics, followed by
responses to callers' questions. Since her views
are often in opposition to political correctness,
she has been attacked in the mainstream media.  

She has also authored numerous self-help books,
including the best-selling Ten Stupid Things Women
Do to Mess Up Their Lives, and several religious
books. Her most recent book, The Proper Care and
Feeding of Husbands has been her most successful.
Her books are both controversial and extremely
popular.

A short-lived Dr. Laura television show was not
successful, however, and was cancelled.

== Personal history ==

Born in 1947 in Brooklyn, New York to Monroe
(Monty) Schlessinger and Yolanda Ceccovini
Schlessinger, Laura Catherine Schlessinger grew up
first in Brooklyn, then in Long Island, New York.
She has described her childhood in a dysfunctional
family as unpleasant, due to extended family
rejection of her mixed-marriage parents (her
father was a non-practicing Jew, while her mother
was an Italian Catholic) and due to what she has
described as an unloving environment. She was an
only child for eleven years until the birth of her
sister, Cindy. An excellent student, Schlessinger
received a bachelor degree from SUNY Stony Brook
University|Stony Brook and a Ph.D. in Physiology
from Columbia University. A brief marriage in her
early twenties ended in divorce, and she moved to
Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles where her
parents had resettled.

She received her certification in Marriage, Family
and Child Counseling from University of Southern
California (USC) and taught at University of
California, Los Angeles (UCLA), University of
California, Irvine, USC, and Pepperdine
University. While working at USC, she met Dr.
Lewis G. Bishop, who was married with dependent
children. According to the subsequent divorce
filings, they began an affair. Schlessinger's
contract with USC was not renewed, and Bishop
chose to leave his tenured job at the same time.
They married eight years later, in early 1985, and
he became her business manager. After the reversal
of a tubal ligation, and later suffering a tubal
pregnancy, Schlessinger bore their only child
Deryk Schlessinger in November 1985, when she was
38.

Schlessinger converted to Judaism in 1996, and she
and her son Deryk joined the Conservative
Judaism|Conservative branch (it is unclear if her
husband Lewis converted as well). Then in 1998 the
entire family converted to Orthodox Judaism under
Rabbi Reuven P. Bulka of Ottawa, Ontario.
Schlessinger often discussed religion on the show,
giving examples from Judaism. She would clarify
ethical and moral issues with her local Orthodox
Rabbi, Moshe D. Bryski, before mentioning them on
the air. She was embraced by the politically
conservative segment of Orthodox Judaism after
bringing more awareness of Orthodoxy to her radio
show. Schlessinger received a National Heritage
award from the National Council of Young Israel in
early 2001.

She has won awards from some media and many
conservative organizations, including the National
Religious Broadcasters' Chairman's Award. She also
lectures on the national conservative circuit, and
was the commencement speaker at Hillsdale College
in June 2003. Her son matriculated there the
following fall.

In July 2003, Schlessinger announced on her show
that she was no longer an Orthodox Jew. This was a
shock to both fans and detractors, given the
effort she had put into identifying as an Orthodox
Jew both on-air and off. In a series of monologues
over the next month, she explained that she did
not feel a connection with God and felt frustrated
by the effort she had put into following the
religion.  She also mentioned envying the
relationship with God described by her Christian
fans. Her religious approach on the show lessened
substantially after this announcement.

== Radio show ==

Schlessinger's first radio engagement was as a
guest on the Bill Ballance show in 1974. She did
her own shows on a series of small radio stations
before landing her current show at KFI AM|KFI in
Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles.  

The Dr. Laura Show was nationally
syndication|syndicated in 1994. Schlessinger has
characterized her show as a "moral health program"
rather than as an "advice program".  Her responses
to callers usually display a trademark frankness
and bluntness. She gets to the core of a caller's
issue quickly rather than letting them talk for a
long time. The show is tied for fourth
highest-rated talk radio show in the United
States. At its peak, it was the
second-highest-rated radio show after The Rush
Limbaugh Show and was heard on 471 radio stations.

She sold ownership of the show to Jacor
Communications, Inc. for $71 million. Jacor was
then sold to Clear Channel Communications. Once
the show joined the Clear Channel stable,
Schlessinger's opinions appeared to move in a more
politically conservative direction. KFI remains
her flagship station but Schlessinger now
broadcasts from her new home in Santa Barbara,
California.

As of November 2003, her show is syndicated to 275
stations, down from its peak. Stations lost
include powerful ones such as WABC_(AM)|WABC in
New York.
http://www.radiotalk.org/news/drlaura.html
As of Fall 2004, her audience is estimated at
eight million listeners.
http://www.talkers.com/talkaud.html
Call volume has also declined, as can be observed
by the number of callers invited to call back. At
the show's peak, with 60,000 attempted calls per
day, callers were told they only could appear
once.

== Television show ==

In 2000, Schlessinger signed a deal with Paramount
Television to do a Dr. Laura television program.
Thousands of critics, particularly led by gay
activist groups such as the Stop Dr. Laura
website, threatened to boycott sponsors in advance
of the show. This led to skepticism and reluctance
on the part of potential advertisers. When the
television show finally aired in September 2000,
many critics and viewers found it dull in format
and lacking the energy and interest of her radio
show.
  
In November 2000, most stations moved the show to
a less desirable time slot or replaced it entirely
after the show started with low ratings, which
then declined. There was also little sponsor
interest in the show during its first nine weeks.
The show was cancelled in March 2001 due to poor
ratings.
http://www.cnn.com/2000/SHOWBIZ/TV/11/07/dr.laura/

== Publications ==

Schlessinger has published a number of books. 
Several follow the mold of her successful Ten
Stupid Things Women Do to Mess Up Their Lives,
with similarly named books giving advice for men,
couples, and parents, others are more religious or
moral in orientation.  The later advice books
emphasize religion more than the earlier works,
until her announced departure from Orthodox
Judaism in July, 2003.

Her most recent book, The Proper Care and Feeding
of Husbands, has done extremely well.  Many calls
to the radio show discuss the new book and
Schlessinger often refers to it.  This latest work
is a departure from her previous advice books -
which tended to focus on pre-marital relationships
and children.   Proper Care encourages wives to
keep their husbands happy by providing sex and
meals cheerfully at all times. Its thesis is that
wives have the power to change their husbands'
attitudes by seeing to these needs, and then their
husbands will do anything they wish.  The book
proposes that wives have the power to prompt
feelings of care and commitment from their
husbands, which will create an atmosphere of
mutual respect and happiness.  Critical reviews
have been dismissive, but sales are very strong.

Advice Books
*Ten Stupid Things Women Do to Mess Up Their
Lives, February 1994
*Ten Stupid Things Men Do to Mess Up Their Lives,
September 1997
**portions repackaged as Damsals, Dragons, and
Regular Guys, March 2000
*Parenthood by Proxy: Don't Have Them if You Can't
Raise Them, April 2000
**repackaged as Stupid Things Parents Do to Mess
Up Their Kids, January 2001
*Ten Stupid Things Couples Do to Mess Up Their
Relationships, January 2001
*The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands, January
2004
*Woman Power, July 2004 (a workbook to use with
Proper Care...)

Religious Books
*How Could You Do That?! The Abdication of
Character, Courage, and Conscience, January 1996
*The Ten Commandments: The Significance of God's
Law in Our Everydays Lives with Rabbi Stuart
Vogel, September 1999

Children's Books, with Martha Lewis Lambert,
illustrated by Dan McFeely
*Why Do You Love Me?, April 1999
*But I Waaaaaaaant It!, April 2000
*Growing Up is Hard, April 2001
*Where's God?, April 2003

For several years, Schlessinger published a
full-color 16 page monthly magazine, The Dr. Laura
Perspective, but it has ceased publication.

She wrote a syndicated weekly column, carried in
many newspapers as well as Jewish World Review,
where archives are still available.  She currently
writes a monthly column for World Net Daily.

== Foundation ==

Schlessinger created The Dr. Laura Foundation,
which helps abused and neglected children, in
1998. Schlessinger asks her on-air audience to
donate items for "My Stuff" bags which go to
children in need (often children who must leave
their home with no possessions). A review of the
foundations 1099's (in alt.radio.talk.dr-laura)
shows Schlessinger's own donations to the
foundation are her name and the proceeds from the
necklaces she makes and then auctions. All other
donations comes from other people or groups,
usually in the form of donated items for the bags.
Per the foundation's reports, money not used for
operations is directed toward pro-life
organizations such as crisis pregnancy centers.

In September 2004, Schlessinger announced she was
closing down the foundation by the end of the
year. Her reason for ending the foundation's work,
as given on her website and in an announcement to
listeners, was to support adoption and abstinence.

== Moral opinions ==

Schlessinger often expresses her opinions on
social topics during her radio program. Some are
considered common sense, while others are
controversial.

The following are some of the opinions that she
has stated on the air at least five times (when a
year appears in parentheses after, it denotes the
first time she has held that opinion, and that she
did not address it prior to that year):

* Children should be put in day-care only if
absolutely no other options exist.
* Most two-paycheck couples work for luxury goods,
not survival.
* "Stay-at-home" moms make the best parents.  
* Fathers should work, while mothers should not
(1997).  (Earlier in her syndication, in 1996, she
advocated either parent staying home.)
* Divorce, when there are children, should not
occur without the presence of Abuse, Addiction, or
Adultery (her "three A's")
* Don't forgive those who wronged you unless they
evince Remorse, Responsibility, and Repair (her
"three R's")
* Live-in arrangements outside marriage
("shack-ups") are immoral.
* Couples who lived together before marrying are
more likely to divorce.
* Women who engage in sex outside marriage are
"presenting themselves virtually as unpaid
whores."
* All contraception is unreliable. Therefore,
couples should abstain from sex outside of
marriage.
* Teenaged girls who wear croptops and other
revealing outfits are "sluts." (1998)
* Dating should not begin until age 17 or 18.
* Couples should not marry until their late 20s.
* Pre-marriage engagements should be lengthy.
Couples should not marry unless they have been
dating at least 2 years.
* Parents who have divorced should not remarry
until all children are over 18.
* Adoption should be only by two-parent
heterosexual families, with a stay-at-home mother.
(1997 for the heterosexual part)
* Abortion constitutes murder, and should be
performed only when the mother's life is in
danger. (1996)
* The pro-choice movement, especially Planned
Parenthood, is "evil" and "deceptive."
* The National Education Association and the
American Library Association want to allow
children to access explicit materials online.
* The American Psychological Association (APA)
promotes pedophilia (See
Laura_Schlessinger#Rind_et_al.|Rind et al.)

== Criticism and controversies ==

=== Name of show and qualifications ===

Schlessinger is not a licensed medical doctor (she
does not have an M.D. degree). Schlessinger's
Ph.D. is in physiology, not psychology, and her
critics have characterized the show's name as
deceptive. She has mentioned that her degree is in
physiology and that she is a licensed marriage
therapy|marriage therapist on her web site and
during her show, however. Critics contend that she
rarely mentions these facts on her show. While she
claims that she does not do "therapy" and often
refers people to seek therapy outside the context
of her show, she has received additional criticism
because her California Marriage Family and Child
Counseling (MFCC) license has been inactive for
several years. Further criticism arises because
she often refers to herself as "a licensed
therapist."

There is a minor criticism over her describing her
MFCC studies, a Masters Degree, as "post-doctoral
studies." These studies indeed occurred after her
Doctorate, but in an unrelated field. Academics
typically use the term "post-doctoral" to refer to
additional work in the same field.

===View of homosexuality===
Prior to 1997, Schlessinger was very supportive to
gay callers during the show. In those years, she
took issue with Christian religious leaders who
were opposed to gay relationships, and said that
it was cruel to deny love and happiness to gay
couples. She renounced this view in 1997 and
embraced the view she had previously rejected. 
Soon, her monologues approvingly mentioned groups
who claimed they could help homosexuals "turn"
heterosexual, and she attacked the American
Psychological Association for condemning their
stance.

Afterwards, Schlessinger was frequently criticized
in the gay community for her view of homosexuality
as a "biological error" and for her opposition to
adoption by gay parents. On December 8, 1998 she
stated:


: I'm sorry — hear it one more time,
perfectly clearly: If you're gay or a lesbian,
it's a biological error that inhibits you from
relating normally to the opposite sex. The fact
that you are intelligent, creative and valuable is
all true. The error is in your inability to relate
sexually intimately, in a loving way to a member
of the opposite sex — it is a biological
error.

On, May 10, 2000, The Canadian Broadcast Standards
Council (CBSC) ruled that 
:her consistent characterization (in episodes
reviewed) of the sexual behavior of gays and
lesbian as "abnormal", "aberrant", "deviant",
"disordered", "dysfunctional", and "an error"
constituted abusive discrimination on the basis of
their sexual orientation. As a result,
Schlessinger's comments were determined to be in
violation of the human rights provision of the CAB
Code of Ethics.

The CBSC found similar fault with her generalized
statements that pedophilia is more prevalent among
members of the gay community. However, the CBSC
also ruled that, 
:in a number of other areas complained of, notably
the issues relating to the gay agenda, gay
culture, fatherless homes and the issues
surrounding the murder of Matthew Shepard,
Schlessinger's comments could not reasonably be
interpreted on these various episodes as being in
violation of either Clause 2 or 6 of the CAB Code
of Ethics.
http://www.ccnr.ca/english/cbscdocs/prs/2000/0005.
htm  

Over the next year, most Canadian stations
carrying the show dropped it.

Schlessinger attempted to repair the breach with
the gay community without success. Her March 2000
public apology on her radio show was withdrawn two
weeks later when it was not whole-heartedly
accepted. In October 2000, Schlessinger paid for a
full-page ad in the "Gay Hollywood" issue of
Variety (magazine)|Variety, as a Yom Kippur
apology for previous negative remarks. Most in the
gay community felt the apology was of the "too
little, too late" variety, and did not appreciate
her apologizing for "anyone feeling offended"
rather than for her previous statements
themselves. Schlessinger backed away from any
commentary on homosexuality after these incidents,
but she still bars gay callers on the radio show.

The controversy over Schlessinger's views on
homosexuality, and her religious-based defense of
them, eventually led to a widely-forwarded e-mail
questioning her positions on a number of
Bible|Biblical passages. The substance of that
e-mail was repeated on an episode of the
television drama The West Wing (television)|The
West Wing ("The Midterms"), which featured a
Schlessinger-like character.

=== Perceived hypocrisy ===

The fact that Schlessinger is herself divorced has
often led to allegations that she does not
practice the same high moral standards she
preaches. The nude photo controversy certainly did
not help this reputation (Laura Schlessinger#Nude
Photos|see below).

In December 2002, Schlessinger's mother Yolanda
was found dead in her condominium, her corpse
having been there for months. Controversy arose
because of Schlessinger's previous advice to
callers telling them to "honor thy father and
mother" was viewed by some as contrasting with her
not knowing her own mother had died months ago.
Some felt Schlessinger handled the situation
poorly, making statements that disrespected her
mother after her death. Schlessinger often said
that her not speaking to her mother was her
mother's choice.

Schlessinger has often observed that a hypocrite
says "Do what I say, not what I do" rather than,
as she says, "Do what I say, not what I did."
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?story
Id=1006548 Critics then found that despite her
claims to be an Orthodox Jew, she was entering
sailboat races on Shabbat|Saturdays, the Jewish
sabbath. When this information was shared on
Usenet, Schlessinger soon announced she was
leaving Orthodoxy (July, 2003).

=== Nude pictures ===

In 1998, naked pictures of Schlessinger were
posted on the Internet by ex-lover Bill Ballance,
who had given Schlessinger her start in the radio
business in 1974. At first she denied being the
woman in the photographs, but two weeks later she
sued him for copyright infringement. Schlessinger
ultimately dropped her lawsuit after failing to
obtain an injunction to stop Ballance from
displaying the photos.  This issue generated
considerable controversy in the media because of
her stance on premarital sex.

==Quotations==
*"And me, I am my kid's mom" - said at the
beginning of every show after introducing the rest
of the cast
*"I brought my son up to be a warrior"
*"I think what he’s doing is so important, and
so noble, that I’m willing to face what I need
to face. I’m so proud to have produced someone
with such character – willing to put his life on
the line."

==References==
# note|baneautobio
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0312
205309/104-5230749-6511108?v=glance Dr. Laura: The
Unauthorized Biography, by Vickie L. Bane. ISBN
0312205309 

==External links==
* http://www.drlaura.com/ Dr. Laura's website
* news://alt.radio.talk.dr-laura
alt.radio.talk.dr-laura (Usenet); show summaries,
transcripts, links
* http://www.stopdrlaura.com/ StopDrLaura.com
(inactive)
*
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/archives.asp?AUTHOR_
ID=204 Dr. Laura monthly columns at World Net
Daily
* http://www.jewishworldreview.com/dr/laura.html
Dr. Laura columns at Jewish World Review
(inactive)
*
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/drlaura/welcome
.shtml Dr. Laura columns at TownHall.com
(inactive)
*
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=
article&contentId=A9459-2000Sep14¬Found=true
Tom Shales review of Dr. Laura TV Show
*
http://www.forward.com/issues/2003/03.08.15/news2.
html Forward article on Schlessinger dropping
Orthodox Judaism
* http://tourettenowwhat.tripod.com/DrLauraTS.htm
Dr. Laura on Tourette Syndrome
*
http://www.tourettes-disorder.com/blogs/2004/11/dr
-laura-schlessinger-and-tourette.html Dr. Laura on
Tourette Syndrome Defense
*
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,98797,00.html
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - Dr. Laura Tells Women:
Just Do It
*
http://archive.salon.com/tech/feature/1999/05/27/d
r_laura/ Salon Technology | Dr. Laura targets the
new Sodom: Libraries
*
http://www.hillsdale.edu/collegian/127_20/news/hoo
kah.htm Hillsdale Collegian on Deryk
Schlessinger's Hookah Bar