Cosmo at the 50 and Fabulous Gala For the Pill

by Colleen Barrett 16

Cosmo magazine was the guest of honor Monday night when celebrities, the media, and pro-choice people who attend galas gathered to celebrate the pill's 50th birthday. Its magazines covered the walls, and its editor spoke but not before comedienne Samantha Bee took a stab at the old rag. It's the "publisher of all the hard news that other magazines are afraid to touch," she said. "Like, 'The Dumbest Thing You Can Do to Your Boobs.' And 'Are You Enough of a Bad Girl?'"

We've already discussed how Helen Gurley Brown turned Cosmo into feminism for the working girl in the '60s. She advised women to use their looks to get ahead, because that was better than the alternative of depending on men. She had a point, but it's no longer valid.

So what did Cosmo's current editor, Kate White, have to say? Find out below.

I'm very proud of our efforts. When Helen Gurley Brown relaunched Cosmo in 1965, one of the cover lines on her first issue was, "The New Pill That Promises to Make Women More Responsive." She told me years later that she wanted the line to read, "The New Pill That Promises to Make Women More Responsive in Bed," but her boss made her change it. That guy probably rolled over in his grave when he saw me put the word "Va-Jay-Jay" on the cover.

Clearly, White believes the magazine's a changed woman. But while the words may have changed, the message hasn't. Besides, isn't the media's fear of saying vagina just the 2010 version of the same censorship?