Like many, we were sad to hear of the passing of legendary Cosmopolitan Editor Helen Gurley Brown today, at 90 years old. Having written her now-famous Sex and the Single Girl in 1962 -- one year before Betty Friedan would come out with The Feminine Mystique in 1963 -- Gurley Brown can rightly be credited with helping launch a revolution among women and female sexuality, even while being fundamentally at odds with Friedan, Gloria Steinem and second-wave feminists. Even though Gurley Brown's famous sex advice and opinions (and Cosmo's advice in general) was not without criticism from feminists in the '60s and '70s, just as they aren't c. 2012, many of her maxims still sound modern, fun and important today. Here are some of our faves: On maintaining a healthy, sexual relationship:
"Even if sex isn't great every time, it's a unique form of communication and togetherness that can help you stay together with a good degree of contentment."
On not having to choose a sex life or feeling sexy over motherhood:
"Welcoming a penis just seems more womanly to me than baking chocolate chip cookies or doling out money for a grandchild's college tuition." [Ed note: this quote is also a favorite to us because 'welcoming a penis' makes us think of asking a penis if we may take its coat or if it would something to drink.]
On not rushing into marriage:
"As for marrying to have children, you can have babies until you're forty or older. And if you happen to die before they are forty, at least you haven't lingered into their middle age to be a doddering old bore. You also avoid those tiresome years as an unpaid baby sitter."
And, of course, what tribute to Helen Gurley Brown could be complete without a revisit to her famous decision to feature a naked Burt Reynolds on a bearskin rug in a Cosmo centerfold?
