9 Women Who Exist In Pop Culture Because Of Helen Gurley Brown

In 1962 Helen Gurley Brown, who died earlier this week, wrote a book called Sex and the Single Girl. It was a guide for the modern woman. One who didn’t have to have a husband and could make her own way. She also may have slept around a bit and showed a little cleavage in the office and maybe she had a drink every night at 6 pm. Today this character is nothing new, but back then, it was revolutionary. Helen, who went on to become the legendary editor of Cosmopolitan Magazine,  was one of the first to believe that women could have a great job and a fabulous (and kinky) sex life, that didn’t necessarily include children. “Carrie and her friends couldn’t have lived the lives they did without Helen,” said Bonnie Fuller, the celebrity editor who succeeded Brown at Cosmopolitan in 1997. “She was the first woman to say you could have it all _ and by that she meant a career AND a man AND a hot sex life. She was a visionary. She created the modern woman.” She did invent a new kind of feminism. ”In all the years I have edited Cosmo, I have not been influenced by the feminist movement, even though I am a feminist,”  said Brown. We took a look at 9 women in pop culture which were clearly influenced by the original single working girl, Helen Gurley Brown.