Though it was originally founded in 1883 as a general interest periodical, Cosmopolitan magazine was revamped in 1965 as a journal devoted to the interests of the modern young career woman. Since that time, it has become one of the nation's most successful magazines. The "Cosmo girl," as the magazine refers to its readership, is confident, independent, glamorous, and sexual. Though many feminists have criticized the magazine for projecting an image of modern womanhood that is shallow and stereotyped, Cosmopolitan's sassy style still attracts readers in the twenty-first century.

Cosmopolitan was the creation of Helen Gurley Brown (1922–), who in 1962 wrote a controversial bestseller called Sex and the Single Girl. Daring for its time, the book openly discussed women as sexual beings and asserted that women could choose to remain single and still be happy and sexually active. Based on the success of the book, Brown and her husband, David...