This week, Julia is joined by internet advicestress Eli Rallo to chart the history of the advice column. From Victorian agony aunts to the iconic twin-sister rivals Ann Landers and Dear Abby, they follow how advice became both moral instruction and mass entertainment. Plus, the girlies weigh in on history’s biggest dilemmas, like: is a ginger man doomed to be single forever? Is my dog gay? And is my hot wife allowed to be naked in our own home? Digressions include crowdfunding therapy for trauma candy salad victims, the female urge to visit a psychic, and advice for living your most slayful life.

This episode was produced by Julia Hava and Kylie Finnigan and edited by Livi Burdette.

Check out Eli's new book: Does Anyone Else Feel This Way?

SOURCES: 

A brief history of agony aunts

An Ode to Agony Aunts 

Birth of advice-givers Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren 

Coffeehouse Curiosities: Materiality and Musealization Strategies in The Athenian Mercury 

Confessions of an agony aunt: The people behind the advice columns 

How the Internet Changed Advice Columns 

"I Humbly Beg Your Speedy Answer" : Letters on Love & Marriage from the World’s First Personal Advice Column by Mary Beth Norton

The History of Advice Columns Is a History of Eavesdropping and Judging 

The Lady’s Magazine (1770–1832) And The Making Of Literary History