Helen Gurley Brown, Revolutionary Editrix of Cosmopolitan Magazine, Is Dead
The New York Times is reporting on the passing of Helen Gurley Brown, the woman who transformed Cosmopolitan magazine from a literary periodical into a sex-centric women's magazine:
Helen Gurley Brown, the former editor of Cosmopolitan who transformed the magazine in the 1960s into a source of sexual empowerment for women, died Monday morning.
A spokesman for the Hearst Corporation, which publishes Cosmopolitan, said that Ms. Brown, 90, died after being hospitalized briefly at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia hospital.
For those interested, I've covered Cosmo and Brown's legacy before:
Ironically, Cosmo was founded as a family magazine in 1886. It later became a literary magazine, featuring contributions from Jack London, Rudyard Kipling, Upton Sinclair, George Bernard Shaw, and Sinclair Lewis.
But, by the late 1960s, riding the tide of the Sexual Revolution–and contributing to it–it transformed into a women’s magazine under the editorship of Helen Gurley Brown, who wrote the 1962 book Sex and the Single Girl. She believed that women could have it all, ”love, sex, and money,” a point of view that reverberated through the articles she commissioned for Cosmopolitan and still does today. By the time Brown left the magazine in 1997, the magazine ranked sixth at the U.S. newsstands and number one at college book stores. Even back then, in the late Nineties, I remember the articles being as sexually explicit–and repetitively so–as they are today.
It’s obviously a formula that works. The magazine’s circulation is over 3 million in the United States alone. By way of comparison, Newsweek‘s circulation is 1.5 million and its audience is much broader than Cosmo‘s narrow base of young female readers. The question that puzzles me is why does that formula work? I understand that sex sells, but don’t women get tired of reading the same article over and over again? When I tried to look into this question–by Googling “Why are all issues of Cosmo about sex?”–the first hit that came up was, of course, an article from the very magazine in question on the topic of “75 Crazy-Hot Sex Moves.” Go figure.
Continue reading here.
When I received the New York Times newsflash in my email inbox about Brown's death, I quickly navigated over to Cosmo's homepage to see if they were reporting more details on it. They weren't. Instead, the lead story was (and still is, as of 4:50pm on 8/13/12): "Now It's Your Turn: 8 Moves That Target Your G-Spot." Typical!
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Jun '10
Re: Helen Gurley Brown, Revolutionary Editrix of Cosmopolitan Magazine, Is Dead
At least Sandra Fluke has arrived to grab the baton.
May '10
Re: Helen Gurley Brown, Revolutionary Editrix of Cosmopolitan Magazine, Is Dead
Flagged for unintentional violation of the Ricochet COC.
May '12
Re: Helen Gurley Brown, Revolutionary Editrix of Cosmopolitan Magazine, Is Dead
An era has passed, and I am glad it has.
May '12
Re: Helen Gurley Brown, Revolutionary Editrix of Cosmopolitan Magazine, Is Dead
An era has passed, and I am glad of it.
Too many women were taught that they could wait too long to marry (when most of the men worth marrying had found someone who was willing to say yes) or have children (there really is a Biological Clock, and it ticks, mercilessly and relentlessly).
Too many boys were taught they weren't needed, and felt no pressure to grow into men.
Too many chemicals were introduced that slowly reduced fertility.
Edited on August 15, 2012 at 12:54amToo many lives (including my own flesh and blood) have withered from too much false freedom.
[EDIT: Comment redacted for CoC violation]
Aug '11
Re: Helen Gurley Brown, Revolutionary Editrix of Cosmopolitan Magazine, Is Dead
I was never into Cosmo, I have to say. Looking at the supplied link to this month's Cosmo, it really hits me that the magazine has become even more surface and mindless. I don't think Helen Gurley Brown would have approved. She wanted to be modern, topical, as well as edgy while she sold style to the newly liberated female. Today's copy is trashy, isn't it? It wouldn't have been good enough for publication even 20 years ago!
Re: Helen Gurley Brown, Revolutionary Editrix of Cosmopolitan Magazine, Is Dead
Helen Gurley Brown's success is a commentary on what sophisticated young American women have become.
Jul '12
Re: Helen Gurley Brown, Revolutionary Editrix of Cosmopolitan Magazine, Is Dead
And how easily and cheaply it is to get the masses to lower themselves.
Aug '10
Re: Helen Gurley Brown, Revolutionary Editrix of Cosmopolitan Magazine, Is Dead
So what's-her-name made a fortune off of the new, cold, social dynamics of the sexual revolution. I.e., increasingly confused, depressed young women, desperately competing for attention from increasingly noncommittal, irresponsible young men. [EDIT: Redacted for CoC violation]
Edited on August 15, 2012 at 12:56amAug '10
Re: Helen Gurley Brown, Revolutionary Editrix of Cosmopolitan Magazine, Is Dead
Re comment # 7Masses ? No offense, but they were (and are) young people whose lives were damaged--sometimes destroyed-- by a delusion this witch encouraged for money.
May '11
Re: Helen Gurley Brown, Revolutionary Editrix of Cosmopolitan Magazine, Is Dead
I subscribed to Sports Illustrated from 1968 until last year when I finally admitted that there was little in it that I had not already read on the Internet. I am sure most of Cosmopolitan's sales come from the grocery store checkout line when there is nothing interesting on the front of the National Enquirer but I wonder how long the average subscription is. I bet Sports Illustrated smokes them. Heck, My Weekly Reader probably smokes them.
May '10
Re: Helen Gurley Brown, Revolutionary Editrix of Cosmopolitan Magazine, Is Dead
She was emblematic of her type - The value of her life summed up in this paragraph from The Times:
So there you have it. In the end, she didn't "have it all." She died alone, with no family, surrounded only by people who were paid to care for the old woman. She may have had admirers, maybe a few friends, but no one in the end to call her own. How sad.
Dec '10
Re: Helen Gurley Brown, Revolutionary Editrix of Cosmopolitan Magazine, Is Dead
I'm sorry to be ungracious (nah, not really), but why hasn't anyone asked the question, "How can we be sure?" Have you seen the woman lately?
Dec '10
Re: Helen Gurley Brown, Revolutionary Editrix of Cosmopolitan Magazine, Is Dead
Edward Smith: An era has passed, and I am glad of it.
Too many women were taught that they could wait too long to marry (when most of the men worth marrying had found someone who was willing to say yes) or have children (there really is a Biological Clock, and it ticks, mercilessly and relentlessly).
Too many boys were taught they weren't needed, and felt no pressure to grow into men.
Too many chemicals were introduced that slowly reduced fertility.
Too many lives (including my own flesh and blood) have withered from too much false freedom.
[EDIT: Comment redacted for CoC violation] · 13 hours ago
I'm not sure what, if any, creed you follow, but mine says condemn the action, love the person. This is not always easy to do, and I do not claim complete adherence, but try not to stoop to the level of the Left.
Edited on August 15, 2012 at 1:00amMay '12
Re: Helen Gurley Brown, Revolutionary Editrix of Cosmopolitan Magazine, Is Dead
I pray for her soul the way people prayed for the soul of the John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester.
It doesn't mean I like the lady, or what she did. And it was in her hands to sort out her own afterlife.
Foxman
Edward Smith: An era has passed, and I am glad of it.
Too many women were taught that they could wait too long to marry (when most of the men worth marrying had found someone who was willing to say yes) or have children (there really is a Biological Clock, and it ticks, mercilessly and relentlessly).
Too many boys were taught they weren't needed, and felt no pressure to grow into men.
Too many chemicals were introduced that slowly reduced fertility.
Too many lives (including my own flesh and blood) have withered from too much false freedom.
[EDIT: Redacted for Coc Violation] · 13 hours ago
I'm not sure what, if any, creed you follow, but mine says condemn the action, love the person. This is not always easy to do, and I do not claim complete adherence, but try not to stoop to the level of the Left. · 1 hour ago
Dec '10
Re: Helen Gurley Brown, Revolutionary Editrix of Cosmopolitan Magazine, Is Dead
E Smith
You said: [EDIT: Quote redacted for CoC violation]
Not : "I pray for you, Cosmo Girl"
Edited on August 15, 2012 at 12:58amMay '12
Re: Helen Gurley Brown, Revolutionary Editrix of Cosmopolitan Magazine, Is Dead
Foxman:
Up till a few minutes ago, I thought it was Robespierre who answered, when asked if he was going to ask God to forgive him for his sins: "Of course God will forgive me, that's his job."
Actually, it was Heinrich Heine, the German poet, who said it.
I don't know enough about Heine to know if he was as monstrous as Robespierre.
I do know that Forgiveness of Sins and Prevenient Grace are a half an embrace, with God waiting for us to make it complete.
I do not know if Helen Gurley Brown ever fully admitted or apologized to the women of the world whose lives she helped to twist into something misshapen and regretful.
If she did, then I am gladder of this news than knowing that the era she (and Hugh Hefner) helped create has passed.
Foxman
I'm not sure what, if any, creed you follow, but mine says condemn the action, love the person. This is not always easy to do, and I do not claim complete adherence, but try not to stoop to the level of the Left. · 1 hour ago
May '12
Re: Helen Gurley Brown, Revolutionary Editrix of Cosmopolitan Magazine, Is Dead
Yes I did. You have not met my sister. Who now talks about her cats, and the children her friends from high school had (soon enough, she will be talking about their grandchildren). Because she wasted her college years on casual drinking and drug use, and on boys she would not let near her unless they were wearing condoms. Boys over whose dead bodies I am quite certain she could trip over on the street without recognizing.
So yes, I am not inclined to forgive [EDIT: Redacted for CoC violation] Helen Gurley Brown, or pray for her. Not just yet.
Foxman: E Smith
You said: [EDIT: Quote redacted for CoC violation]
Not : "I pray for you, Cosmo Girl" · 2 minutes ago
Dec '10
Re: Helen Gurley Brown, Revolutionary Editrix of Cosmopolitan Magazine, Is Dead
This reminds me of people trying to debate DWS.
It's pointless. I give up.
May '12
Re: Helen Gurley Brown, Revolutionary Editrix of Cosmopolitan Magazine, Is Dead
Debbie Wasserman Schultz is lying and she knows it. This makes it easier to dismiss her, provided you don't let you anger rule you. She is a gnat, to be swatted away, and crushed if she persists in lingering in the room.
You want me to be Detached. I cannot be. I have skin, my own flesh and blood, in the game.
I always did like Dietrich Bonhoeffer over the wan withdrawn mysticism of Dorothy Day. Unlike Francis of Assisi, she never really did give up her creature comforts. She had multiple homes, in Staten Island and upstate New York that she could retreat to when the grime of the Lower East Side and homeless people coughing up Mycobacterium tuberculosis got to be too much.
I am not Debbie Wasserman Schultz. And you are not Gerald Keith Chesterton.
Foxman: This reminds me of people trying to debate DWS.
It's pointless. I give up. · 0 minutes ago
Dec '10
Re: Helen Gurley Brown, Revolutionary Editrix of Cosmopolitan Magazine, Is Dead
Dietrich Bonhoeffer? Are you sure you don’t have this name confused? The only reference I can find is to a German male.
I compare you to DWS because you attempt to defend the indefensible. [EDIT: redacted quote] is not defensible in the tradition in which I was raised, or in any Christian tradition I know. I do not know in which tradition you were raised. Perhaps it allows hate.
Edited on August 15, 2012 at 1:04am