I also think there's been a shift in the way the magazine addresses the idea of sexuality - instead of articles suggesting how to please yourself, these days it appears to be all about how you can please others.
The cover stars these days might be showing less flesh, but in a way, in terms of the advice offered, the whole Cosmo package now is more of a step backwards for women's sexual expression.
So when I look at those old covers, I see a magazine that doesn't insist women accept being constrained by having to be some 'perfect machine' that scores A grades while giving the best oral sex while having immaculate blonde highlights while planning the perfect dinner party. Such is the Cosmo timetable in 2007.
Those covers belong to a time when you had to fight more for your rights. So I see a certain pride in those covers, an encouragement to women at the time that they could take on the world and still be deeply female, and unashamed of their own sex appeal. Not the case in this more neurotic day and age, where the worries are trivial in comparison (and so are the covers).
)
) !And as a woman i thank god for that.
