Yet while Pratt's name may not be immediately recognizable, her influence is everywhere, in the lively, unapologetically feminism-powered prose of Jezebel and a slew of imitators. What made Sassy, and later, its grown-up sequel, the inevitably named Jane, unique in their days was their intimate, conversational tone. Sassy and Jane didn't dole out authoritative tips on how to make a guy like you or why that skirt makes you look fat. They didn't sound like magazines whose contents were entirely dreamed up by Vassar girls bunkered in the Conde Nast building with no idea of what real girls were wearing and listening to and talking about on the street right below. They spoke to females in the voice of friends. They were infectiously enthusiastic and unabashedly snarky. They said that stuff sucked, right on the coverlines. It was goddamn revolutionary.It WAS goddamn revolutionary. Magazine stands are still full of “women's’” magazines filled with drivel geared toward the diet-obsessed, dimwitted, creatively stunted, sexually immature creatures they consider grown women to be. F that, man. Viva, Jane!
Pratt’s just started a new online mag xojane and I’ll be curious to see where she takes it. You can check it out at www.xojane.com.
AWU post and comments at http://www.facebook.com/groups/343338393054?view=permalink&id=10150324292498055
