How ‘Dear Abby’ Changed the Way We Talk (and Think) About Relationships

Before Abby, advice was usually a reflection of social norms; you confessed your situation to an agony aunt, and she doled out whatever response that common knowledge dictated. Abby tossed all of that aside. She was approachable, relatable, and utterly honest. She was enough like the rest of us that we knew she spoke our language, but she was just a little bit wiser, her comebacks a little more clever. She was someone, as opposed to some set of rules to follow.