If you have a Cosmopolitan magazine subscription then no doubt you'll have read the "Sex and the Single Girl" column which is in every issue. The original writer of the book of the same name was Cosmopolitan editor-in-chief Helen Gurley Brown who edited for Cosmo for 32 years.
Whilst the column may make an interesting and entertaining read nowadays, back in 1962 when her book was released it was quite revolutionary and became a huge best-seller. Just three years later when she took the helm of Cosmo, she helped a generation of women find liberation and a different way of life as opposed to just getting married and having babies.
After Gurley Brown passed away last week on 13th August at the age of 90, many have remembered how she taught them how to navigate through the single years - and a few home truths about life. One of the most remembered things from her book is her statement that nice girls have affairs too - which even now isn't a common thought process.
"Nice, single girls do have affairs, and they do not necessarily die of them! They suffer sometimes, occasionally a great deal. However, quite a few “nice” single girls have affairs and do not suffer at all," she said.
Other gems include how men always prefer women to wear make-up (despite what they may say), plastic surgery is amazing and well worth the pain and that it's not married men's wives that don't understand them, but the girlfriend who doesn't understand why he doesn't get a divorce.
Sex and the Single Girl paved the way for other books that have become guides for single women - like Men are from Mars, Women are From Venus and He's Just Not That Into You. It's safe to say that Helen Gurley Brown made her mark on the single girl.
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Posted by Claire Sharp.