Sex and the Office by Helen Gurley Brown

Sex and the Office Reviews

• 
  Cera

  Let me be clear: this is a 4-star book not because I find the hilariously outdated advice terribly useful for real human beings, but because it is incredibly funny while giving an eerie picture of office life for a working woman in the early 1960s. Brown's matter-of-fact acceptance of sexual harassment from men and sexual manipulation by women galls me, but she's telling it like she sees it, and her eagerness for women of all ages and conditions to enter the working world was radical for a time in which, despite 24 million working women in the US, the common wisdom was still that "a woman's place is in her home." I think at the very least a chapter or two of this would be a worthwhile read for any young woman to understand just how spectacularly far we've come in the last 30 years.
  
  
• 
  Alexa Oliphant

  I un-apologetically love Helen Gurley Brown. Sex and the Single Girls is to me, as important a feminist text as The Feminine Mystique. Women want careers, sex, happiness, intellectual fulfillment, and good clothes. Yes to all, thanks.
  
  This book specifically looks at how a single, unmarried woman (and how married ones can and should) pursue a career. It's a great concept, but the content isn't anywhere near as sharp as it's predecessor. The aim and scope of the book are disjointed, the advice is essentially work hard. Hey, that's good advice, but it's a little vague. Then there are some bits about how to cheat your office expense account (whatever) or how to have a discreet affair in the office (don't shit where you eat girl). Amidst that pseudo chaos, there's a chapter on how hookers work. What?
  
  The theme though, that women should have fulfilling careers, that they contribute, that it fulfills them, is a quick shot to my heart. However, I can smell a publisher's attempt to capitalize on success with a sequel a mile away. This book reeks of it.
• 
  Turbanlady

  First publish... 1965.
  Un - con los ojos de hoy - irónico manual de cómo mantener relaciones infieles con hombres en la oficina. Tal cuál lo menciona el título. No todo es literal, a veces es simplemente mantener una relación de coquetear, sin embargo ningúna indicación aporta mucha información para perpetuar esa relación.
  También hay tips sobre belleza ( que refiere a todo tipo de alimentos y frutas procesadas para aplicar en el rostro, pelo, manos y cuerpo entero ). Es medio nostálgico y a la vez es bello imaginar a mujeres comprando este manual, y haciendo al pie de la letra lo indicado en busca de resultados que pretende ofrecer. Sin duda uno de mis preferidos.
• 
  Sophia

  Fun, flirty and motivational.
• 
  Reading with Cats

  To be fair, I've never really gotten Cosmo and it's hysterical worship of all things male. And I think I could've taken all of this *extremely* dated book's male-worship with a lot more of a sense of humor if the current political climate were less of a hate-fueled dumpster fire. As it was, I made it to about chapter six before I started skimming (and by skimming I mean: see small Kindle page filled with about 100 references to grown ass women as "girls" (or the even-more-patronizing "tycooness") and swiping to the next page). Ugh...this just made me mad.
• 
  Angie

  This very dated book was pure entertainment. Famous author Helen Gurley Brown discusses how a modern woman (of the 1960s) should behave in the office, how to meet men, have affairs, balance work and family, etc. There was so many times when I thought, "um, you totally could not get away with that now." The chapter about balancing work and family was the best and most applicable. Very charming and entertaining light reading faire.
• 
  Margot Note

  Not as good as the original, but still helpful in seeing how far women have come in the workplace.