cosmo girl

Helen Gurley Brown is the woman who was behind the image of the Cosmo Girl, an image she invented when she became Cosmopolitan’s editor-in-chief in the 70’s. According to Ouellette in “Inventing the Cosmo Girl,” Cosmo, which targeted white heterosexual women, mainly portrayed females as sexy, pink-collar workers. Generally a part of the working class, the female readers were encouraged to act the part of being in the upper class so they can become the kind of women that rich men are attracted to. If a woman wasn’t particularly attractive or socially savvy, Cosmo encouraged her to change her style and her image so she could impress people (namely these wealthy men). If the readers acted and looked a certain way, the idea was that no one would suspect they were from a lower, working class.


I looked through this month’s Cosmo magazine, and I didn’t easily find what was described by Helen Gurley Brown. There wasn’t so much content on the social status or jobs of the women, but it is mostly sex, relationship, and makeup advice. I could hardly get away from all of the ads in Cosmo- probably half of the pages are ads- and this is opposite of Ms. magazine which is the only women’s magazine that I know of that is ad-free and supported by readers, because it was so challenging to find ads that did not demean women or companies who wanted their ad to target a female audience.
Cosmo didn’t necessarily address the topic of striving toward success or wealth, until one article that stood out to me titled, “Be the Smartest, Sexiest Girl in Town.” Based on an interview of the author of Sex and the City, it gives advice on how to look stylish and appropriate to impress people at work, how to move up in your job, and what to expect from romantic relationships. Hitting a few different topics, overall the three pages targeted an audience of working women who depend on their own confidence and ability to be successful, but who also need relationships in their lives. So, based on this article, the Cosmo girl is still a symbol for a sexy, working woman, but now she isn’t looking for a man to pull her out of the lower class but she can use her own style and attitude to impress her superiors in the workplace and be promoted.