Helen Gurley Brown, the author of “Sex and the Single Girl” and the editor of Cosmopolitan for over three decades has died. She was 90. Back in the 1960's when she wrote her book, apparently it came as a surprise to lots of people that women who were unmarried were not only having sex, but enjoying it. Cosmo was an extension of that and was the first magazine geared towards women that had open discussions about sex and would put just about any phrase on a cover or a barely dressed woman. These were all innovations that have since been copied. She was a legend.
I still have my Cosmo with Burt Reynolds as the centerfold. That was hilarious (1972). RIP, HGB
ReplyDeleteJohnny Pesky*Red Sox* RIP.XXXOOO
Cosmo was my preferred reading in my late teens/early twenties for all things fashion and dating. That's where I learned about downstairs grooming. Thank you, RIP.
ReplyDeleteIconic woman. Love reading all of the great quotes she's had through the years.
ReplyDeleteI read sex and the single girl, and thing that that stuck with me was her advice that if u go braless, put bandaid over your nipples. Wouldnt that show thru u r shirt? I never understood that advice. Otherwise, i spent 100's of happy hours pouring over cosmo, reading the horoscopes, which we disected like it was the Torah, and all the advice and tips. Eventually outgrew it, of course. Rest in peace, helen, and may may u always hv bandaids for those pesky nipples!
ReplyDeleteSorry, heavenly nipples, lol
DeleteLOL! Pesky nipples! I spit out my coffee. Thanks for the laugh auntliddy.
DeleteCosmo was also my magazine of choice in my teens/20's.
ReplyDeleteI was in my 16 year old daughters' room the other day and saw she had bought the latest issue. It brought back good times.
RIP
Sarah - I learned about Brazilians in Bazaar! Hah.
ReplyDeleteThank you for forcing me to ask all kinds of weird questions, Helen. RIP
I've never read an issue of cosmo but I appreciate what she did for women during that time. RIP Helen. I'm thinking about buying her book..pay day is tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteRIP, A life well lived....
ReplyDeleteShe was truly classy.
ReplyDeleteCosmo taught me much more than it should have, when I was a teenager, most of which I had to unlearn in my 20s. (Some of their advice is just god-awful, ridiculous s#!t)
ReplyDeleteShe wasn't Gloria Steinem, but she did a lot for us. RIP, Helen.
@EmEm, I agree about the bad advice. I remember she told women to sneak out of bed in the morning and put on mascara before their bed partner woke up. Age 18, I actually did that!
ReplyDeleteNot to mention she encouraged single women to seek out married men, and reinforced a totally unrealistic body image.
Personally, I believe Cosmo created a lot more bad sex - unhappy, insecur sex - than good, fun sex.
@Nutty Flavor, you are correct. Her emphasis was on "how to get the man".
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ReplyDeleteDid you hear the Yankees will honor a moment of silence tonight for Johnny? Damn them for doing the classy thing! I hope Johnny and Scooter are playing bingo together somewhere...
ooooh so that's every Cosmo magazine has a section dedicated to sex...RIP
ReplyDeleteRIP classy dame. Some people have said HGB wasn't a feminist. In my book she was one of the greats. What is more empowering than saying have fun, have sex, be safe and rule your own world? Also she was one of the 1st to come out and say her & David Brown were childless by CHOICE. Helen + David 4eva!
ReplyDeletethat's why*
ReplyDeletethat's why*
ReplyDeleteBack in the 80s Cosmo was a LOT of fun! I certainly enjoyed it. I loved her fashion sense too--she showed that older women CAN wear short skirts too, for one thing.
ReplyDeleteNow (post-HGB) it's nothing but articles teaching teenage girls to stimulate men's frenulum and the area between the balls and the anus.
And thats wrong why?? Kidding, lol
Delete@Dewie, I'll be watching! Husband is a Yanks fan so we will have a moment of baseball 'peace' tonight in his honor.
ReplyDelete@Agent**It,
ReplyDeleteCrap, it was last night - I didn't notice the stupid Boston.com article was from late yesterday :(
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1296649-new-york-yankees-show-tremendous-class-in-honoring-red-sox-great-johnny-pesky
@figgy: Even Seventeen magazine has articles about anal sex now. Isn't that magazine targeted towards teens?
ReplyDeleteI appreciate HGB for what she did, but I wish they had better articles in Cosmo. I've avoided that magazine for years.
@dia papaya, I know some bodybuilding men (with gynomastia or whatever it's called, it has a hideous slang name too) who could use that advice. I'll tell them it was Helen Gurly Brown's idea!
ReplyDeleteYeah, she gave dumb advice. I thought they had to basically cart her out of Cosmo. She did not give up her job willingly.
ReplyDeleteAlways loved the annual Bedside Astrologer. It's the only issue I'd buy and I'd save the BA insert all year. At the end of the year I'd see how much came true. Then I had kids....
ReplyDeleteauntliddy, you weren't referring to Johnny Pesky's nipples, I hope?
ReplyDeleteWho's seen the movie they made of "Sex and the Single Girl" with Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood? They were both very very chic, esp. Nat, but what an awful movie!
ReplyDeleterobert, dont even know who johnny is! i too remember the bedside astrologer, which, as i said before, we dissected like it as the torah! lol dopes we was!!
ReplyDeleteBarton - she was interviewed once and said it was okay for a woman to steal another woman's man. Boyfriend or husband. She's totally classless in my book.
ReplyDeleteI loved the annual BA, too. The whole magazine, really. I didn't see it as anti-feminist or encouraging single women to go after married men. I saw being a Cosmo Girl as just knowing what you want -- in life, at work, in love, ANYWHERE -- and going for it.
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't think that HGB's Cosmo Girl put men first. Men were just the cherry on what was hopefully an already delicious sundae.
OMG Popnursing BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Yep, me too! I still grab the BA issue for fun, because hubby and I *think* we will have a life when the kids are gone ;)
ReplyDeleteI remember reading my mom's cosmo before she came home from work every month.. I thought I was so grown up reading it. It may have been craptastic but it opened doors for many well loved magazines of today.
And didn't Cosmo have the 'engagement chicken' recipe in it?
And magazines for girls to read.. What happened to Young Miss and the few others we used to read? Not much out there for my daughter besides teeny pop stuff. No way am I letting her read seventeen right now! But she likes Teen Vouge.
RIP Ms. Brown. I still have my Burt Reynold's edition too!
ReplyDeleteif it weren't for HGB we'd all be in typing pools, married to serial cheaters, asking for permission for everything and waiting for pocket money from our hubby and MAYBE reading The Star.
ReplyDeleteHGB did a lot for us women and for those slagging her off, it was 1960 FFS. Some things weren't perfect yet, hell they still aren't. Gloria Steinem even got married in the end.
Engagement Chicken was from GLAMOUR.
ReplyDeleteI LOVED the Bedside Astrologer until they put all the ads in it.
ReplyDeleteI used to faithfully buy Cosmo when I was in my 20's. Then I realized it was the same stuff in it each month - how to get a man, how to keep a man, how to get over a man, I didn't like such emphasis on all of that.
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