Yes, a focus on love lives still shifts plenty of copies of Cosmo, and its editor is proud of its position on Apple Newsstand – but, as it turns 40, how will it harness the new wave of feminism?

The covers of previous issues, enlarged and stacked up in the offices of Cosmopolitan, show how much has changed since the magazine was launched 40 years ago – and how much hasn't. The first issue, March 1972, features an interview with Michael Parkinson talking about his vasectomy – "the most beautiful thing a man can do for a woman" – which feels quite quaint, though there is also Jilly Cooper rating the bedroom skills of various men including David Niven and Roy Jenkins.