Editing Cosmopolitan (magazine) (section)

===Helen Gurley Brown arrives===
Cosmopolitan's circulation continued to decline for another decade until [[Helen Gurley Brown]] became chief editor in 1965<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Cosmopolitan-magazine|title=Cosmopolitan {{!}} magazine|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=August 23, 2017|language=en}}</ref> and radically changed the magazine.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal|url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/08/14/cosmo_covers_how_helen_gurley_brown_changed_cosmopolitan_s_cover_.html|title=A Brief History of Cosmo Covers|last=Jaramillo|first=Juliana|journal=Slate |date=August 12, 2014}}</ref> Brown remodeled and re-invented it as a magazine for modern single career women,<ref name=changed>{{cite magazine|author=Benjamin, Jennifer|title=How Cosmo Changed the World|magazine=Cosmopolitan|date=September 2009|url=http://www.cosmopolitan.com/about/about-us_how-cosmo-changed-the-world|access-date=January 13, 2013}}</ref> completely transforming the magazine into a racy, contentious, and successful magazine. As the editor for 32 years, Brown spent this time using the magazine as an outlet to erase stigma around unmarried women not only having sex, but also enjoying it.<ref name=":1">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/14/business/media/helen-gurley-brown-who-gave-cosmopolitan-its-purr-is-dead-at-90.html|title=Helen Gurley Brown, Who Gave 'Single Girl' a Life in Full, Dies at 90|last=Fox|first=Margalit|date=August 13, 2012|website=New York Times |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240115014515/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/14/business/media/helen-gurley-brown-who-gave-cosmopolitan-its-purr-is-dead-at-90.html |archive-date= Jan 15, 2024 }}</ref> Known as a "devout feminist",<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/17/living/helen-gurley-brown-legacy/index.html|title=Helen Gurley Brown's Complicated Feminist Legacy|last=Grinberg|first=Emanuella|date=August 19, 2012|website=CNN |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230204103622/https://www.cnn.com/2012/08/17/living/helen-gurley-brown-legacy/index.html |archive-date= Feb 4, 2023 }}</ref> Brown was often attacked by critics due to her progressive views on women and sex. She believed that women were allowed to enjoy sex without shame in all cases. She died in 2012 at the age of 90.<ref name=":1" /> Her vision is still evident in the design of the magazine.<ref name=":0" /> The magazine eventually adopted a cover format consisting of a usually young female model (or prominent female celebrity), typically in a low cut dress, bikini, or some other revealing outfit.

The magazine set itself apart by frankly discussing [[sexuality]] from the point of view that women could and should enjoy sex without guilt. The first issue under Helen Gurley Brown, July 1965,<ref>{{cite press release|url=http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20050816005220/en/Cosmopolitan-Celebrates-40-Years-Worlds-Favorite-Womens|title=Cosmopolitan Celebrates 40 Years as the World's Favorite Women's Magazine|website=Business Wire |date=Aug 16, 2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809211456/http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20050816005220/en/Cosmopolitan-Celebrates-40-Years-Worlds-Favorite-Womens |archive-date= Aug 9, 2017 }}</ref> featured an article on the [[birth control pill]],<ref name=changed/> which had gone on the market exactly five years earlier.<ref name="marks">{{cite book|last=Marks|first=Lara|year=2001|title=Sexual Chemistry: A History of the Contraceptive Pill|location=New Haven|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-08943-1|url=https://archive.org/details/sexualchemistryh00mark}}</ref><ref name="watkins">{{cite book|last=Watkins|first=Elizabeth Siegel|year=1998|title=On the Pill: A Social History of Oral Contraceptives, 1950–1970|location=Baltimore|publisher = Johns Hopkins University Press|isbn=978-0-8018-5876-5}}</ref>

This was not Brown's first publication dealing with sexually liberated women. Her 1962 advice book, ''[[Sex and the Single Girl]]'', had been a bestseller.<ref>Ouellette, Laurie. [http://mcs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/21/3/359 "Inventing the Cosmo Girl: Class Identity and Girl-Style American Dreams"]. ''[[Media, Culture & Society]]'' 21 (1999): 361. Retrieved August 19, 2012.</ref><ref>Scanlon, Jennifer. "Sensationalist Literature or Expert Advice?". ''[[Feminist Media Studies]]'' 9:1 (2009): 12. Retrieved February 14, 2010.</ref> Fan mail begging for Brown's advice on many subjects concerning women's behavior, sexual encounters, health, and beauty flooded her after the book was released. Brown sent the message that a woman should have men complement her life, not take it over. Enjoying sex without shame was also a message she incorporated in both publications.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gianoulis |first=Tina |chapter=Cosmopolitan |title=Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-Bottoms: Pop Culture of 20th-Century America |editor1-first=Sara |editor1-last=Pendergast |editor2-first=Tom |editor2-last=Pendergast |year=2002 |pages=867–868 |publisher=Gale Virtual Reference Library |url=http://0-go.galegroup.com.source.unco.edu/ps/start.do?p=GVRL&u=uncol }}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

In Brown's early years as editor, the magazine received heavy criticism. In 1968 at the feminist [[Miss America protest]], protestors symbolically threw a number of feminine products into a "Freedom Trash Can". These included copies of ''Cosmopolitan'' and ''[[Playboy]]'' magazines.<ref name=Greenfieldboyce>{{cite web|last=Greenfieldboyce|first=Nell|title=Pageant Protest Sparked Bra-Burning Myth|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94240375&from=mobile|work=NPR|access-date=February 6, 2012|date=September 5, 2008}}</ref> ''Cosmopolitan'' also ran a near-nude centerfold of actor [[Burt Reynolds]] in April 1972, causing great controversy and attracting much attention.<ref name="Willett2010">{{cite book |first=Julie |last=Willett |title=The American Beauty Industry Encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CljLw4sH2DMC&pg=PA77 |access-date=January 13, 2013 |date=May 11, 2010 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-313-35949-1 |page=77 }}</ref> The Latin American edition of ''Cosmopolitan'' was launched in March 1973.

In April 1978, a single edition of ''Cosmopolitan Man'' was published as a trial, targeted to appeal to men. Its cover featured [[Jack Nicholson]] and [[Aurore Clément]]. It was published twice in 1989 as a supplement to ''Cosmopolitan''.<ref>[http://www.magforum.com/mens/mens-magazines-a-to-z-2-carnival-club.htm "Men's magazines: an A to Z"]. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071121232506/http://www.magforum.com/mens/mensmagazinesatoz2.htm |date=November 21, 2007 }}. ''Magforum''. Accessed October 27, 2023.</ref>

In its January 1988 issue, ''Cosmopolitan'' ran a feature claiming that women had almost no reason to worry about contracting [[HIV]] long after the best available medical science indicated otherwise. The piece claimed that unprotected sex with an [[HIV-positive]] man did not put women at risk of infection and went on to state that "most heterosexuals are not at risk" and that it was impossible to transmit HIV in the [[missionary position]].<ref>{{cite web|date=June 5, 2006|title=AIDS in New York: A Biography |magazine=New York Magazine|url=http://newyorkmetro.com/news/features/17158/index2.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060719082645/http://newyorkmetro.com/news/features/17158/index2.html|archive-date=July 19, 2006|access-date=November 16, 2011}}</ref> This article angered many educated people, including [[AIDS]] and [[gay rights]] activists.<ref>{{cite web|title=Editorials & Opinion – Cosmo's Deadly Advice To Women About Aids |work=Seattle Times |url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19930731/1713646/cosmos-deadly-advice-to-women-about-aids}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Rossi|date=June 1, 1998|title=Cosmo Confessions|url=https://www.poz.com/article/Cosmo-Confessions-7133-9692|access-date=July 30, 2016}}</ref> The protests organised in response to the article's publication were turned into a 30-minute documentary titled "Doctors, Liars and Women: AIDS Activists Say NO to Cosmo" by two members of ACTUP, a New York City based collective of HIV/AIDS activists.<ref>{{cite web|title=Chronology 1988|url=http://www.actupny.org/documents/cron-88.html|website=ACT UP/NY }}</ref><ref>[http://www.jeancarlomusto.com/doctorsliars&women jeancarlomusto.com], actupny.org {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160821133558/http://www.jeancarlomusto.com/doctorsliars%26women.html|date=August 21, 2016}}{{full citation needed|{{subst:DATE}}|date=October 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Carlomusto|first=Jean|date=December 17, 2012|title=Doctors, Liars and Women:AIDS Activists Say No To Cosmo|url=https://vimeo.com/55793020|via=Vimeo}}</ref>

One of the articles in its October 1989 issue, "The Risky Business of Bisexual Love", promoted the '[[bisexual]] bridge' theory.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Gerrard |first1=Susan |first2=James |last2=Halperin |title=The Risky Business of Bisexual Love |magazine=Cosmopolitan |date=October 1989 |pages=202–205}}</ref> The 'bisexual bridge' theory suggests that heterosexual women are unknowingly put at risk for contracting HIV through sexual contact with bisexual men who [[Down-low (sexual slang)|covertly have sex with other men]] (colloquially described as being "on the down low").<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Malebranche |first1=David J.|last2=Arriola |first2=Kimberly Jacob|last3=Jenkins |first3=Tyrrell R.|last4=Dauria |first4=Emily|last5=Patel |first5=Shilpa N.|date=20 September 2011|title=Exploring the 'Bisexual Bridge': A Qualitative Study of Risk Behavior and Disclosure of Same-Sex Behavior Among Black Bisexual Men|journal= American Journal of Public Health|volume=100|issue=1|pages=159–164|doi=10.2105/AJPH.2008.158725|pmc=2791236|pmid=19910348|quote=This 'bisexual bridge' theory proposes that heterosexual women are unknowingly put at risk for contracting HIV through sexual contact with bisexual men who covertly have sex with other men. Such men are colloquially described as being 'on the down low'.}}</ref> The [[New York Area Bisexual Network]] performed a successful letter-writing campaign against ''Cosmopolitan''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Raymond|first1=Danielle|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BkjJAwAAQBAJ|title=Bisexual Politics: Theories, Queries, and Visions |last2=Highleyman|first2=Liz A.|date=11 June 2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1560238690|editor1-last=Tucker|editor1-first=Naomi S.|edition=1st|series=Haworth Gay and Lesbian Studies|chapter=Appendix A: Brief Timeline of Bisexual Activism in the United States|quote=New York Area Bisexual Network (founded 1987) initiates successful letter-writing campaign against a defamatory article in ''Cosmpolitan'' (October 1989) which had maliciously stereotyped bisexual men as dishonest spreaders of AIDS.}}</ref>