Tag Archives: cosmopolitan

RIP: Cosmopolitan Editor Helen Gurley Brown Has Passed Away

Julie GersteinAugust 13, 2012 //
HGB: Feminist
HGB was a revolutionary in stilettos. Read More »
Helen Booted From Cosmo
How Helen Gurley Brown got booted from Cosmopolitan mag. Read More »
Cosmo Sex Advice
Can you tell the real advice from the fake BS we made up? Read More »

The most famous editor of Cosmopolitan magazine, Helen Gurley Brown, has died at the age of 90, according to a press release from Hearst. The controversial editor, who was also the author of the groundbreaking Sex and the Single Girl, passed away at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia after a short hospitalization. Brown was in charge of Cosmo for 32 years, and is credited with the mag’s sexually frank tone. She made news earlier this year when she donated $30 million to Columbia’s School of Journalism and Stanford’s School of Engineering. [The Wrap]

Cosmo‘s Very First TV Ad Was Kind Of Sexist

StyleiteMarch 4, 2012 //

What can we say about Cosmopolitan today that wasn’t true about Cosmopolitan in the past? According to the very first commercial that promoted the magazine brand in the UK, not much.

The 1972 commercial, unearthed by Copyranter, features a number of women talking to men. Specifically, the men are asking women how they managed to pull off things like affording nice cars and cooking delicious meals (things women totally couldn’t do at all in the 70s, or something), and the women respond with a page from Cosmpolitan. Then a male announcer says that women can learn all sorts of things from Cosmopolitan. Things about men. Read more and watch the video here…

Dakota Fanning’s Cosmopolitan Cover Went Out To Advertisers Sex- and Vagina-Free

Jessica WakemanJanuary 11, 2012 //
Dakota Too Young?
Dakota Fanning is on the cover of Cosmo at 17 years of age. Read More »
Dakota's Ad Banned
Dakota Fanning banned Marc Jacobs ad
Dakota Fanning's ad for Marc Jacobs was deemed too provocative. Read More »
Project Anti Cosmo
An angry lady wants Cosmo to clean up all its smut. Read More »
Dakota Fanning's Cosmopolitan cover

Dakota Fanning’s Cosmopolitan cover raised some eyebrows because the “Twilight” actress is 17-years-old and we all know your hymen magically becomes open for business at midnight on your 18th birthday. Presumably, Cosmo‘s ad sales department knew this fact, which is why it sent out a sample mock-up cover to advertisers scrubbed of all the naughty stuff. The sample mock-up cover (at left) received by the NY Observer newspaper promises articles on “Spring Clothes, Hair, Nails” and how to “Feel Close After A Fight.” The actual cover (at right)? Sex! Vaginas! More sex! I guess the articled entitled “Um, Vagina, Are You Okay Down There?” wasn’t deemed advertiser-friendly. I can’t imagine why. [New York Observer] Keep reading »

Smutty “Cosmo” Needs To Clean Up Its Act, Says Project Anti-Cosmo Crusader

Jessica WakemanJanuary 6, 2012 //
Dakota Too Young?
Dakota Fanning is on the cover of Cosmo at 17 years of age. Read More »
Cosmo Sex Advice
Can you tell the real advice from the fake BS we made up? Read More »
Weiner In Cosmo
Politician Anthony Weiner was once a "Cosmo bachelor." Read More »
Adele On Cosmo
Adele on the cover of "Cosmopolitan." Read More »

Imagine, if you will, a world in which Cosmopolitan magazine is covered in a non-transparent wrapper and only available to readers ages 18 and over. If you want to read a “Sexy Vs. Skanky” charticles about how purple nipples are out but purple nail polish is in, you need to show some ID.

This is the world model Nicole Weider is trying to inhabit with her crusade, Project Anti-Cosmo. The ex-model, who became disillusioned with the world of modeling, now seeks to rid the world of “pornographic” content one drugstore magazine at a time. “As a former reader of the magazine, I happened to pick up an issue [of Cosmo] and was reading it and was completely shocked at how pornographic and explicit the content had become,” Weider huffed to Fox News. “I immediately thought of my young teenage brothers and it horrified me to think that they and their friends could be reading this material, and the damage it would do to them if they did. So I decided to do something about it.” Her young brothers are reading Cosmo, what what what? Also, HAHAHAHAHA.

Keep reading »

Is Dakota Fanning Too Young For Cosmo?

Amelia McDonell-ParryJanuary 4, 2012 //

That’s the question some may ask upon discovering that 17-year-old Dakota Fanning is on the cover of the sort of raunchy women’s magazine next to headlines like “Um, Vagina, Are You Okay Down There?” and “His Best Sex Ever.” The actress — who turns 18 next month — is introduced inside the mag with the headline, “Welcome To Your Cosmo Years, Dakota,” which I guess means she’s on the precipice of adding words like “manhood” to her everyday vernacular, using her thong as a hair tie during oral sex, and taking terrible sex advice? Ugh, growing up sucks. [NY Mag]

Adele Covers Cosmopolitan

Amelia McDonell-ParryNovember 1, 2011 //
Adele Airbrushed
Our least favorite celebrity airbrushing scandals. Read More »
Airbrushing Scandals
Tina Fey Marie Claire cover
Back away from the Photoshop sl-o-o-o-w-ly. 7 Photos »
Plus-Size Models
plus-size models on vogue italia
Vogue Italia features three plus-size cover models. Read More »
Adele's Ex
Adele is forming a friendship with the ex she sang about. Read More »

Consider me pleasantly surprised to see the immensely talented — and full-figured — singer Adele gracing the cover of December’s Cosmopolitan. I mention the full-figured thing only because of all the lady mags on stands, I would venture to guess that Cosmo has likely had the least amount of not-stick-thin cover models. Not only is it nice to see Adele on the cover, but it’s also worth noting that December issues tend to be packed with advertisers; additionally, it doesn’t appear that Adele has been airbrushed to hell and back. (Whether or not she was asked to answer inane questions remains to be seen.) [Cosmopolitan]

Kim Kardashian Feels Like A Zoo Animal

Kate Torgovnick/Kate-Book.comJuly 10, 2011 //

“Sometimes I feel like a zoo animal. I’ll be at a restaurant, and someone will put their phone in front of my face and take a picture without saying hi.”

—Kim Kardashian talks to Cosmopolitan about what it’s like to be a tabloid star. Wait, she’s surprised when people snap picks of her? Isn’t that exactly what she courted by televising the mundanities of her life? But the real question is—if Kim were a zoo animal, what would she be? I’m going with lemur. [Huffington Post] Keep reading »

Anthony Weiner: A Cosmopolitan Eligible Bachelor In 1996

Kate Torgovnick/Kate-Book.comJune 8, 2011 //

Wow, Cosmopolitan sure has a knack for featuring politicians in embarrassing interviews and photos before they made it big on the national stage. Not only did they snap Senator Scott Brown in the nude back in the day, they also apparently featured Anthony Weiner as one of their “101 Gorgeous Real Life Bachelors” in 1996. In the interview, he said, “I was born September 4, 1964—the same day ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand,’ by the Beatles, was released.” He also revealed what he wants in his future “First Lady.” “Someone smarter than me. I want to be sucked back into the the throes of love.” Hmmm, I think he better focus on sucking his wife back into the throes of love after it’s come to light that he sexted with six women, sending one the infamous photo of his bulge in gray boxer briefs. Keep reading »

Quiz: Can You Tell Real Cosmo Sex Advice From Fake BS We Made Up?

Amelia McDonell-ParryApril 11, 2011 //
Quiz: Can You Tell Real Cosmo Sex Advice From Fake BS We Made Up?
My standard response to reading the vast majority of sex advice printed in Cosmopolitan: “Oh, come ON!” I don’t think I could come up with more ridiculous sex advice if I … oh hell, I’ll give it a shot. In this quiz, each slide contains a piece of advice that either appeared in the pages of Cosmo or was pulled from the ass of a Frisky staff member. Can you tell the REAL Cosmo advice from the sex tips we just made up? (Answers revealed on the slide that follows and so on…) Tell us how you did on my little quiz and then feel free to share your own ridiculous and potentially dangerous FAKE Cosmo advice in the comments.
View Gallery »

Cosmo Tip: Hide Your Vibe In His Lucky Charms!

Amelia McDonell-ParryMarch 14, 2011 //

“You know those treats you used to find at the bottom of a cereal box? One morning I hid the new vibrator I’d just gotten in my guy’s cereal for him to discover.”

– An actual tip from a Cosmopolitan reader, deemed one of “50 Ways To Seduce Him In Seconds.” Our friends over at The Gloss have all the questions I’m too dumbfounded to ask. [The Gloss] Keep reading »

  1. < BACK
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. ...
  7. NEXT >