R.I.P. Helen Gurley Brown (girl, tone, male, thin)

[shoegal111]

It was just announced: Helen Gurley Brown, former editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine, has died at the age of 90.

[Lilac110]

Helen Gurley Brown, Who Gave Cosmo Its Purr, Dies at 90

Cosmo saw its best days when she was editor, and, ummmm, let's just say I learned a lot from its pages back then. RIP, sassy lady!

[Bulldogdad]

She made a lot of teenage boys happy who couldn't get ahold of a Playboy or Hustler.

[calipoppy]

Helen Gurley Brown was the "original" Carrie Bradshaw (a la Sex in the City) with her book "Sex and the Single Girl" RIP

[shoegal111]

Originally Posted by Bulldogdad

She made a lot of teenage boys happy who couldn't get ahold of a Playboy or Hustler.

LOL bulldog dad. I remember Helen Gurley Brown once said her female readers bought and read Cosmo, but men eavesdropped in on the conversation.

[OngletNYC]

She really didnt do much for society so I dont understand the accolades.

[aspentree]

Originally Posted by OngletNYC

She really didnt do much for society so I dont understand the accolades.

Yeah, I'd agree.

Cosmo never seemed to be much more than a racier version of other women's magazines.

[jade408]

Originally Posted by aspentree

Yeah, I'd agree.

Cosmo never seemed to be much more than a racier version of other women's magazines.

This is your modern perspective. At the time she took over Cosmo (and when she wrote her book) women weren't allowed to be single past marrying age and think of sex as a pleasurable and fin experience and not just means for conception.

Here is a great summary actually: Bonnie Fuller: Why You and I Need to Thank Cosmopolitan's Helen Gurley Brown -- RIP

Cosmo actually paved the way for other magazines to be a bit more open minded, and portrayed single women as something outside of spinsters.

[aspentree]

Thanks for the link.

I'm not sure that what Bonnie Fuller talked about it though really translated into the copies of Cosmo I've read. I probably read more Cosmo while HGB was still the editor than not. It just struck me as attempting to be racy, but not necessarily in a way that seemed open minded. I'm all for the promotion of sex as pleasurable, but much of the tone seems about pleasing your partner.

Perhaps Cosmo lost its way at some point.