Times have certainly changed from the 1920s up to now for women. We have plenty of women to thank for this change, but there is one woman who I reference nearly every day of my life. February 18th would have been her 91st birthday, but she passed away last year. Helen Gurley Brown is more than the former Editor-in-Chief of Cosmopolitan—although she was for 32 years and is the one who initially began the strides to make Cosmopolitan the number one selling magazine in the country that it is today. Helen Gurley Brown was a woman, who despite being born in the 1920s, believed that women deserve everything that men do, and more!
Brown wrote her how-to manual, “Sex and the Single Girl,” to give women power to take control of their sex life and to prove that talking about sex is not taboo. When she took over Cosmopolitan, she engraved those values into the magazine and expanded it to be something that women everywhere turn to once a month with the motto that, “Good girls go to heaven, bad girls go everywhere.” Cosmopolitan has certainly evolved into more than sex—every issue covers topics including: relationships, beauty, fashion, health, fitness, education, politics and careers, but you will always see those legendary headlines featuring sex and how to make it better. Brown became an icon for women the day she presented herself to the world and every Editor-in-Chief, Cosmopolitan contributor and reader will be a part of her message for the rest of the life of Cosmopolitan.
The beauty in Brown’s story is that she did not always have it all together. Before the fame, Brown was just like every other woman. She was a young, struggling, and poor girl from Little Rock. She started out the same as everyone else and evolved into the strong woman who made her own money, never rested on her laurels, and never failed to fight back. While there was controversy in the beginning about the objectification of women in Cosmopolitan, Brown brushed it off and ignored the protests. Naturally, her response was: “If you’re not a sex object, you’re in trouble.” She took a stand for her lifestyle and look where it brought her in life—look where is brought Cosmopolitan.
Helen Gurley Brown had a feministic courage that not everyone has the power to possess, but she passed away with the dream that her image will live-on through women for decades and centuries to come. She saw feminism in herself and in others: “How could any woman not be a feminist? The girl I’m editing for wants to be known for herself. If that’s not a feminist message, I don’t know what is.” Brown practiced what she preached and lived for her desire to strengthen women–something that came ever so naturally to her.
“What you have to do is work with the raw material you have, namely you, and never let up.”
-Helen Gurley Brown
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Quotes from: http://www.thedailybeast.com/a…