Betty Friedan, author of "The Feminine Mystique", disliked what Brown had done in her book and in the magazine. Friedan said that what Brown was doing was "anti-feminist" and an "immature teenage-level sexual fantasy". Feminist views of the magazine were re-evaluated in the 1990s, however, with "New York Times" media reporter Randall Rothenberg writing, "In retrospect, the magazine played an important role in helping young women redefine their roles in society." Audie Cornish from NPR said that Helen "has been called a bad girl, a pioneer in Prada, a revolutionary in stilettos." Brown looked at herself as a feminist, but this description was contested by several others.