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An agony aunt is an advice columnist at a magazine or newspaper. The image presented was originally of an older woman providing comforting advice and maternal wisdom, hence the name "aunt". A collection of magazines A magazine is a periodical publication containing a variety of articles, generally financed by advertising and/or purchase by readers. ...
An agony aunt answers readers' queries on personal problems, in particular giving advice about sexual problems. In many cases, the queries, as well as the answers, have been created in the office, and the agony aunt is actually a team of writers. Marjorie Proops's name appeared (with photo) long after she retired. The nominal writer may be a pseudonym, or in effect a brand name; the accompanying picture may bear little resemblance to the actual author. Sexual problems, also called sexual dysfunction or sexual malfunction, are defined as difficulty during any stage of the sexual act (which includes desire, arousal, orgasm, and resolution) that prevents the individual or couple from enjoying sexual activity. ...
Rebecca Marjorie Proops (née Israel) (10 August 1911-10 November 1996) was a British agony aunt, writing the column Dear Marje for the Daily Mirror. ...
A pseudonym (Greek: false name) is a fictitious name used by an individual as an alternative to his or her legal name. ...
The term is beginning to fall into disuse, as the scope of personal advice has broadened, to include overtly sexual matters - pioneered by the likes of Dr. Ruth - as well as general lifestyle issues. The hold of the individual has been reduced as the columnar "readers' questions" style has spread to almost every periodical publication. Dr. Ruth Karola Westheimer (born Karola rith Siegel June 4, 1928), or just Dr. Ruth, is a popular American sex therapist. ...
The genre has also spread to the Internet, with most of the major writers / teams having their own sites, or space on magazine and newspaper websites; new web-based columns have also appeared.
Typical format
A question is often asked in an anonymous form, with the name assuming the problem that is being expressed. For example, someone who is asking about erratic behaviour in their partner may sign off as "Confused, Johannesburg". Over the Internet, greater variation is often seen: the person's signature may still refer to the problem being expressed, but in a phrase, which the agony aunt abbreviates so as to spell an appropriate word, for instance, "Confused About My Partner" which would spell CAMP. Dan Savage uses this convention to comic effect in his Savage Love column. Savage Love is a syndicated sex-advice column by Dan Savage, appearing weekly in several dozen newspapers, mainly free city papers in the U.S. and Canada, but also newspapers in Europe and Asia. ...
Related fiction Inevitably the "Agony Aunt" has become the subject of fiction, often satirically or farcically. Versions of the form include: - An agony aunt who is really a man, and the complications that follow.
- An agony aunt whose own personal problems and issues are more bizarre than those of her correspondents.
A notable example of the latter is the British TV sitcom Agony created by Anna Raeburn, starring Maureen Lipman as the agony aunt with an overbearing mother, an unreliable husband, neurotic gay neighbors, and a career in media surrounded by self-promoting bizarros. Anna Raeburn herself works as an agony aunt on radio call-in shows, much as the main character of the sitcom does. Agony was a British TV sitcom broadcast in two series beginning in 1979. ...
Anna Raeburn (born 1945) is a British broadcaster and journalist who is famous for her role as an agony aunt giving advice on relationship problems. ...
Maureen Lipman (born May 10, 1946) is a British actress. ...
Another classic example of the agony aunt in fiction appears in Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathaniel West. Spoiler warning: Miss Lonelyhearts, published in 1933, is Nathanael Wests first great novel. ...
Nathanael West (October 17, 1903 - December 22, 1940) was the pen name of Nathan Wallenstein Weinstein. ...
Other uses of the term The Agony Aunts, Dotsie and Sadie, are the chilling elderly enforcers of the Street of Negotiable Affection in author Terry Pratchett's Discworld series of novels. Terence David John Pratchett OBE is an English fantasy author (born April 28, 1948, in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England), best known for his Discworld series. ...
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