Decades before Sex and the City, there was Sex and the Single Girl. Written by the late Helen Gurley Brown in 1962, the book was revolutionary for the time, with advice encouraging young women to prioritize their careers and experiment with sex before getting married. Fueled by its success (it was on the bestseller list for over a year and published in 28 countries), Brown became the editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan in 1965 when the publication was still a literary magazine.