Helen Gurley Brown (born February 18, 1922) is an American author, publisher, and businesswoman. She was editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine for 32 years.
Brown was born to parents Cleo and Ira Marvin Gurley. Her mother was born in Alpena, Arkansas and died in 1980. Her father was once appointed Commissioner of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. The family moved to Little Rock, Arkansas after Ira won an election to the Arkansas state legislature. He died in an elevator accident on June 18, 1932. In 1937, Brown, her sister Mary, and their mother moved to Los Angeles, California. A few months after moving, Mary contracted polio. While in California, Brown attended John H. Francis Polytechnic High School.
After Brown's graduation, the family moved to Warm Springs, Georgia. Brown attended one semester at Texas State College for Women and then moved back to California to attend Woodbury Business College. She graduated in 1941. In 1947, Cleo and Mary moved to Osage, Arkansas while Brown stayed in Los Angeles.
Cosmopolitan is an international magazine for women. It was first published in 1886 in the United States as a family magazine, was later transformed into a literary magazine and eventually became a women's magazine in the late 1960s. Also known as Cosmo, its content as of 2011 included articles on relationships and how to have proper sex, health, careers, self-improvement, celebrities, as well as fashion and beauty. Published by Hearst Magazines, Cosmopolitan has 63 international editions, is printed in 32 languages and is distributed in more than 100 countries.
Cosmopolitan began as a family magazine, launched in 1886 by Schlicht & Field as The Cosmopolitan.
Paul Schlicht told his first-issue readers that his publication was a "first-class family magazine", adding, "There will be a department devoted exclusively to the interests of women, with articles on fashions, on household decoration, on cooking, and the care and management of children, etc.There was also a department for the younger members of the family."
Sex and the Single Girl was written in 1962 by Helen Gurley Brown, as an advice book that encouraged women to become financially independent and experience sexual relationships before or without marriage. The book sold 2 million copies in 3 weeks, was sold in 35 countries and has made The Los Angeles Times, New York Times and Time bestseller lists.
In 1960, Gurley Brown’s husband, David Brown, suggested she write a book that discusses “how a single girl goes about having an affair.” The book was rejected by several publishing houses until it was accepted by Bernard Geis of Bernard Geis Associates.
The original title was Sex for the Single Girl, but this was changed because “it sounded like [it] was advocating sex for all single girls.” Gurley Brown had also written a section on contraceptive methods that was omitted from the final publication. The book was advertised through a large scale campaign created by Letty Cottin Pogrebin of Bernard Geis Associates in conjunction with Gurley Brown. The campaign involved print ads as well as television, radio and bookstore appearances; however, Gurley Brown was often barred from saying “sex” during her television appearances. Cottin and Gurley Brown also attempted to have the book censored or banned in the United States as a marketing technique, but they were unsuccessful. The book was also endorsed on the jacket by Joan Crawford and Gypsy Rose Lee and the 2003 edition is endorsed on the back cover by Sex and the City’s Kim Cattrall. Following the success of Sex and the Single Girl, Gurley Brown became the editor of Cosmopolitan in 1965, and went on to publish several other books which include Sex and the Office (1965), Helen Gurley Brown's Single Girl's Cookbook (1969), and Sex and the New Single Girl (1970).