One of Bustle's Best Books of May

A feminist anthology inspired by legendary Cosmopolitan editor Helen Gurley Brown’s Sex and the Single Girl, featuring twenty-four new essays on the triumphs and heartbreaks of modern singlehood from acclaimed and bestselling authors, including Kristen Arnett, Morgan Parker, Evette Dionne, and Melissa Febos.

Sixty years ago, Helen Gurley Brown's Sex and the Single Girl sent shockwaves through the United States, selling more than two million copies in three weeks. Helen’s message was radical for its time: marriage wasn’t essential for women to lead rich, fulfilling lives.

Now, in these critical, wry, and expansive essays, twenty-four writers reconsider Helen’s advice and how it applies to their own paths, fielding topics that she couldn’t—or wouldn’t—conceive of in 1962: contraception and abortion (an omission demanded by her publisher), queer and trans womanhood, polyamory, celibacy, interracial dating, bodies of all kinds, consent, sex work, IVF, and the pop culture that both saves and fails us.

Eliza Smith and Haley Swanson’s revisionist anthology honors Brown’s irreverent spirit while also validating our modern experiences of singlehood, encouraging us all to reclaim joy where it’s so often been denied.

What does it mean to be a single woman today?

• Women’s Voices: Twenty-four acclaimed and bestselling authors, including Kristen Arnett and Melissa Febos, get deeply personal about their own paths to independence, fulfillment, and joy.
• Sexuality and Identity: Candid discussions on topics Helen Gurley Brown never could—or would—touch, including polyamory, IVF, sex work, consent, and interracial dating.
• Queer and Trans Experiences: Moving beyond the heteronormative, these essays explore queer relationships, trans womanhood, and what it means to find love and partnership outside of traditional expectations.
• Modern Feminism: A critical and wry look back at the legacy of Sex and the Single Girl, honoring its irreverent spirit while carving out a necessary, inclusive, and expansive new space for today's woman.

“Sex and the Single Woman is essential reading for anyone who has experienced—or is currently experiencing—all the joys, pains, and complex beauty of their own singlehood era. Rather than painting one’s status as a single or childfree woman as something to be pitied or glossed over or devalued, this book takes singlehood seriously, and does not contain its exploration to one voice, but rather passes the mic around to paint a much more interesting picture."