A list of topics discussed on daytime television talk shows, compiled by the Heritage Foundation in Policy Review, May/June 1996. While the purpose of the list was to demonstrate the trashiness of these shows, don't you think they're still being a bit too judgmental?

Jenny Jones (Warner Bros. Television)

Guests have included: a woman who said she got pregnant while making a pornographic movie; a husband who had been seeing a prostitute for two years and whose wife confronted him on the show. Selected show titles: "A Mother Who Ran off with Her Daughter's Fiance," "Women Discuss Their Sex Lives with Their Mothers."

Sally Jessy Raphael (Multimedia Entertainment)

Guests have included: a 13-year-old girl who was urged to share her sexual experiences, beginning at age 10; a person who claimed to have slept with over 200 sexual partners; a man who appeared on stage with roses for the daughter he had sexually molested, and revealed that he had been molested when he was five. Selected show titles: "Sex Caught on Tape," "My Daughter is Living as a Boy," "Wives of Rapists," "I'm Marrying a 14-year-old Boy."

Jerry Springer (Multimedia Entertainment)

Guests have included: a man who admitted to sleeping with his girlfriend's mother; a 16-year-old girl (wearing sunglasses to disguise her identity) who said she buried her newborn baby alive in her backyard; a 17-year-old who had married her 71-year-old foster father (with whom she first had sex when she was 14) and had borne four children by him; a husband who revealed to his wife on the show that he was having an affair after which the mistress emerged, kissed the husband, and told the wife that she loved them both.

Montel Williams (Paramount)

Guests have included: a pregnant woman who boasted of having eight sexual partners during her first two trimesters; a 17-year-old girl who boasted of having slept with more than a hundred men; a man claiming to be an HIV-positive serial rapist of prostitutes. Selected show titles: "Married Men Who Have Relationships with the Next-Door Neighbor," "Promiscuous Teenage Girls."

Maury Povich (Paramount)

Guests have included: a young mother who had no qualms about leaving her sons in the care of her father, a convicted child molester, because the father had only molested girls.

Geraldo (Tribune Entertainment)

Guests have included: a gold-chained pimp who threatened to "leave my [expletive] ring print" on the forehead of an audience member, while scantily clad prostitutes sat next to him. Selected show titles: "Men who Sell Themselves to Women for a Living," "Mothers Try to Save Their Daughters from Teenage Prostitution," "Women Who Marry Their Rapist."

Richard Bey (All American Television)

Guests have included: a woman who said her 16-year-old sister had slept with 15 men; two sisters who hate each other and who mudwrestled while the show played pig noises; a man who wanted to have sex with his girlfriend's sister before he and his girlfriend got married. Selected show titles: "Housewives vs. Strippers."

Ricki Lake (Columbia Tri-Star Television)

Guests have included: a woman who boasted she once pulled a gun on her boyfriend's wife; a man who explained to his surprised roommate that he had revealed the roommate's homosexuality to the roommate's mother. Selected show titles: "Women Confront Exes Who Cheated and Then Warn New Girlfriends," "Now That I've Slept With Him, He Treats Me Like Dirt!"

Rolanda (King World)

Guests have included: a woman who revealed her love for her female roommate, whose response was, "Now I know why she comes in the bathroom every time I take a shower"; a woman serving as maid of honor to her best friend who alleged that she had slept with the groom a week before the wedding. Selected show titles: "I Use Sex to Get What I Want," "Get Bigger Breasts or Else."

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