Pratt, Jane

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Jane Pratt

Personal

Born c. 1963, in San Francisco, CA; daughter of university art professors; mother's name, Sheila Blake; companion of Andrew Shaifer; children: Charlotte Jane Schaifer. Education: Oberlin College, B.A., 1984.

Career

Journalist. Former intern at Rolling Stone; McCall's, New York, NY, former assistant editor; Teen Age, New York, NY, former associate editor, Sassy, New York, NY, editor-in-chief, 1988-93; Dirt, editorial director, 1991; Jane (talk show), host, WNYW-TV, 1992, and Lifetime, 1993; Jane (magazine), editor-in-chief, 1997—. Co-producer of documentary The Anne Frank We Remember. Television appearances include In the Shadow of Love: A Teen AIDS Story, Public Broadcasting System/American Broadcasting Company, 1991; guest on Donahue, Good Morning America, First Person with Maria Shriver, Good Day New York, A Closer Look, Geraldo!, To Tell the Truth, and MTV's House of Style.

Member

YWCA of New York's Academy of Women Achievers.

Awards, Honors

Named Adweek Magazine Editor of the Year, 2002.

Writings

(With Kelli Pryor) For Real: The Uncensored Truth about America's Teenagers, Hyperion (New York, NY), 1995.

Beyond Beauty: Girls Speak out on Looks, Style, and Stereotypes, edited by Antoinette White and Alexandra Arrowsmith, Clarkson Potter (New York, NY), 1997.

Young Beauty, Three Rivers Press, 1997.

Contributor to magazines, including TV Guide, Esquire, New Woman, Rolling Stone, and USA Today Weekend.

Sidelights

In a position that is less than coincidental, Jane Pratt is the editor of Jane, a magazine venture that premiered in September of 1997. With its trendy, somewhat sarcastic take on women's magazines, Jane targeted the lucrative 18-to-34-year-old female market; it offered less celebrity fawning and tips on man-hunting and more entertaining yet practical pieces for a generation of independent women used to having their own money, making their own decisions, and stepping through life with a bit of an attitude. Pratt surely had the pedigree for such a task, having breathed life into the 1988 startup magazine Sassy, a now-defunct teen publication that startled many with its blunt attention to timely topics involving teenagers, including hot-button issues like abortion and AIDS. It also included articles on news topics, refusing to believe that readers were unmotivated slackers who cared little about world events. When Sassy's popularity finally waned, Pratt hosted a couple of short-lived talk shows before devising the idea for Jane.

Born in San Francisco, Pratt spent most of her childhood in Durham, North Carolina. Both of her parents were college art professors, and although her parents were divorced when she was thirteen years old, Pratt told Anne V. Hull in an interview for the St. Petersburg Times: "I feel I had a totally normal childhood." When she reached adolescence Pratt, in equally normal fashion, developed an interest in teen magazines, and would eagerly await her monthly copy of Seventeen, a popular magazine that would later be one of the major competitors of Sassy. "I read Seventeen religiously," said Pratt in her interview with Hull. "But I never felt like I could like the girls in Seventeen."

Troubles as a Teen

Although Pratt's childhood was, by her own estimation, pretty normal, she did experience problems as a teenager. She was enjoying a relatively carefree existence at the Quaker-run Carolina Friends School when she decided to opt for a more academically challenging environment and transferred to Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. Unlike the Friends school, which Susan Hovey described in Folio's Publishing News as a place "where popularity was of no significance, where grading was done on a pass-fail basis and where Jane could be 'the absolute worst' on the basketball team without having to worry about being kicked off," Phillips Academy had her "learning about the art of social competition and not liking it one bit." After a disastrous first year, Pratt spent the summer changing her looks and training for the cross-country team so she could go back to school early and meet new students. "It's one of the few times in her life when she stepped out of character and conformed," Hovey related. "When you're a teen," Pratt explained to Hovey, "you do what you have to do to get by and be happy. Those years are so hard for kids."

Following high school, where she had "conformed" to the point of becoming editor of the Academy yearbook, Pratt enrolled at Oberlin College in Ohio. During her junior year she met Michael Stipe, lead singer of the alternative band R.E.M. "They didn't even have an album out," she recalled to Hovey. Pratt got free tickets from a friend and decided to check Stipe's band out. "After the concert, I went backstage and talked to them, and it just went from there," she added. This early interest in the "cutting edge" of music would later prove useful in her interviews for Sassy. Pratt also entered the world of magazine publishing while still in college. She worked as an intern for Rolling Stone one summer; and following graduation she began as an assistant editor for McCall's, and then worked as an associate editor for Teen Age before interviewing for the editor position at Sassy in 1987. While other candidates interviewed in power suits, Pratt dressed up in a thrift store jacket and clunky men's shoes, her image conveying the exact attitude her bosses-to-be were seeking to lead the edgy, youthful publication.

Sassy Is Launched

"Attitude" is what characterized Sassy's approach. When the magazine entered the teen market in 1988 it faced three established competitors: Seventeen, 'Teen, and YM. Because of the nature of its competitors, Sassy caused quite a stir when it burst onto the scene, because even with its first issue it covered topics that the other, more traditional teen magazines usually avoided. "We knew that we were entering a market that did not, until now, have a teen magazine that gave really complete information on birth control, rape, abortion, incest, AIDS, or one that would tackle other hard-hitting topics such as teen suicide, runaways, and drug or alcohol abuse," Pratt explained in the Journal of Youth Services in Libraries. "So Sassy's premier issue in March, 1988, had a story called 'Losing Your Virginity: Read This before You Decide.' This article discussed AIDS and birth control, as well as answered questions such as 'Will it hurt?' and 'Shall I talk during sex?' It addressed the questions we had gathered from fifteen- to sixteen-year-old girls. We also had an article in the first issue on teen suicide. The issue did very well." Subsequent editions included articles focusing on teenage homosexuality, and how male bodies mature and grow.

"While Sassy's startlingly frank approach caused a furor in the trade press, inflamed major advertisers (who were feeling the heat from certain self-proclaimed 'family' organizations), and eventually led to the resignation of the first publisher, it won the hearts and minds of readers," related Hovey. Sassy also managed to attract the attention of some parents. Only a couple months after Sassy hit the market, a woman from Wabash, Indiana—who had no daughters—rounded up other concerned women in an attempt to boycott the magazine. They managed to get a few local stores to stop carrying Sassy before Focus on the Family, a California-based Fundamentalist group, got involved. Urging its members to read a copy of the "offensive" magazine, the organization instructed supporters to send letters to both the Sassy offices and the offices of the magazine's major advertisers.

Hundreds of letters poured into the Sassy offices over the course of the next few weeks, but "no one at Sassy took the boycott or the letters very seriously," explained Jonathan Van Meter in Teen Beat. However, Pratt did respond to the pressure by writing to the Fundamentalist group's monthly newsletter, the Citizen: "Sassy in no way intends to take the place of parents or to undermine their values. We only hope to be a source of entertainment, companionship, and information for teenagers at a time when such information is potentially a matter of life and death. . . . In the end, our goals are probably not so different." This letter had little effect, however, and within seven business days five of Sassy's major advertisers had pulled out, leaving the magazine to begin to rethink its editorial stance.

"I guess it's OK to show a woman, who is quite often a teenager, on the cover of a magazine with her cleavage exposed down to her belly button, but it's not OK to talk about teens who are having sex," exclaimed Pratt in an interview with Sarah Keller for Mother Jones. "The idea in Sassy is that you can make your own decisions, and that all kinds of individuality are acceptable." After its run-in with parents and advertisers, Sassy toned down its content, adding articles like "Virgins Are Cool." She still managed to continue including controversial issues, however, albeit in a less volatile manner.

In addition, Sassy was a hit with teens because it spoke their language. Its conversational tone and liberal use of slang made it accessible and acted as a sly wink to readers, as if to say, "We understand each other." Another way this came across was the magazine's practice of having staff members reveal their own personal experiences and allowing their distinct personalities to shine through on the pages. Pratt addressed her readers at the beginning of the magazine in what she called her "diary" page. In this note, she discussed what was going on at the Sassy office and included "candid snapshots of herself and the other staffers dancing at a party, piled on a couch, eating Chinese food or having their hair styled," noted Hull. Pratt even used the column to ask her young readers whether or not she should get her nose pierced, and had the piercing done when they voted for it.

Readers were also able to contribute to the magazine, sending essays on real-life events as well as poetry and fiction. They even got to produce two full issues themselves, from writing to layout and photography; Pratt chose the "staff" from hundreds of applications. Sassy obviously connected with teens, who sent mail at a rate of 15,000 letters a month. Circulation was given at 650,000. The magazine was also known for its bold graphics and its diverse array of models of all colors and sizes. Pratt thought it was important to young girls to identify with a range of beauty types, rather than having before them as an example the looks of a person who was completely different than them, such as the quintessential, thin, "all-American" blonde. Sassy was particularly careful not to emphasize thinness, instead concentrating on promoting good health in general, and paid attention to social causes in addition to clothing and appearance. Despite the media's constant focus on "slackers" and the era's apathetic teen generation, Pratt believed her readers were indeed interested in the world around them. Consequently, Sassy addressed them as intelligent, thoughtful young women. In 1991, Sassy began producing a spin-off magazine for teenage boys, called Dirt.

Pratt's stint as Sassy editor led to appearances on talk shows, and she even began hosting a television show called Jane in March of 1992, its theme song written and performed by R.E.M. As a television host, she again riled advertisers with racy topics such as "X-Rated Ways of Working Your Way through College." After Jane ended, the Lifetime cable channel signed Pratt to host the Jane Pratt show, but it was canceled after five months. Sassy eventually folded, and by 1996, Pratt was pitching a new idea to Time Publishing Ventures. She explained the concept to Mark Adams in Mediaweek as "less of a fashion/beauty magazine, though we want to call it that for advertisers." She planned to take the traditional formulaic women's magazine and update it, focusing less on beauty tips and landing boyfriends and more on entertainment, lifestyle, and sex; she planned to pattern it after Details, a successful men's magazine. As for the new magazine's market, Pratt told Jeff Gremillion in Mediaweek, "I get lots of letters from old Sassy readers, now in their 20s, who say there's nothing out there for them." She aimed to fill that gap.

Jane Hits Newsstand

In September of 1997, Pratt launched the first issue of Jane, a straightforward, slightly irreverent postmodern conglomeration that offered practical advice and tips to female readers, such as how to make
a week's worth of meals for under $50. Though women's-magazine staples cropped up, like fashion and beauty coverage, they were given a twist. For example, Jane sent a bona fide brain surgeon to cover a fashion show and began featuring monthly "make-unders," makeovers for women who needed to learn that less is more. It also delved into entertainment, but eased up on the star worship, asking Friends television star Courteney Cox not for her diet and exercise regime, but for her secret to taking water stains out of wooden tables (a pat of butter or dollop of mayonnaise). As for the eponymous title, Pratt initially balked at the idea and wanted to call the publication Girlie, but it did not do well with test groups. She told Cathy Hainer in USA Today, "It's a little weird (having a magazine named after you), but I try to separate Jane the magazine from Jane the person."

Much of Sassy's "pajama party" feel bled over to Jane, perhaps because Pratt assembled a new editorial staff with many of the original Sassy names. It was also criticized for touting itself as a new option for female readers, but not offering enough of a difference from the typical "anorexia, runaway narcissism, and sexual exploitation," seen in women's magazines, as Susan Douglas related in the Progressive. Douglas also criticized Jane's penchant for including the words "duh" and "whatever" in articles, as well as its lack of political journalism, and dubbed the fledgling project "Valley Girl feminism."

Initially, Pratt's new magazine captured a healthy dose of market share. "As the follow up to Sassy, Pratt's feisty teen title, Jane's blend of humor, pop culture and fashion was equally groundbreaking," Lisa Granatstein noted in Mediaweek, "and readers in search of something uniquely different embraced it fully." By 2004, however, the magazine's irreverence had lost step with its readers, and Jane was refocused to better appeal to a more mature, more established readership. As Pratt told Granatstein, within Jane's readership "there's less defensiveness, less rebelliousness, and I felt it was false pretending that twenty-somethings are alienated."

In addition to her extensive magazine editing work, Pratt has written two books. First, with Kelli Pryor, she wrote For Real: The Uncensored Truth about America's Teenagers, a selection of stories told to Pratt during interviews she did with teens while editor of Sassy. "Pratt's respect for teens is clear," Merri Monks wrote in Booklist. Characterizing the teenagers Pratt interviewed, Monks found that "the overall sensibility of these youngsters is a combination of resiliency and hope." Pratt's Beyond Beauty: Girls Speak out on Looks, Style, and Stereotypes is a similar collection of profiles of young women that is geared toward middle-school readers.

If you enjoy the works of Jane Pratt

If you enjoy the works of Jane Pratt, you may also want to check out the following books:

Tony Bolden, Thirty-three Things Every Girl Should Know, 1998.

Bunny McCune, Girls to Women: Women to Girls, 1998.

Sara Shandler, Ophelia Speaks: Adolescent Girls Write about Their Search for Self, 1999.

Having become somewhat of a celebrity herself thanks to the success of Sassy and Jane, Pratt lives in New York, where her socializing often makes the gossip pages of the local papers. In 2002 she and companion Andrew Shaifer had a baby daughter, whom they named Charlotte Jane. While Jane's readers want to know even more about Pratt's personal life, she has resisted the idea. "I keep resisting because I don't want to seem like I'm different from anybody else," Pratt explained to Granatstein in an article for Adweek. "I'm not. I'm like the readers, and that's the whole point."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Advertising Age, June 11, 1990, p. 41.

Adweek, February 17, 1992, pp. 28-29; March 4, 2002, Lisa Granatstein, "Forever Jane," p. SR30.

Booklist, October 1, 1995, Merri Monks, review of For Real: The Uncensored Truth about America's Teenagers, p. 238; February 1, 1998, Stephanie Zvirin, review of Beyond Beauty, p. 908.

Business Wire, August 6, 1998. Columbia Journalism Review, March-April, 1990, pp. 40-41.

Daily News (New York, NY), March 7, 1991, pp. 18, 20.

Dallas Morning News, September 24, 1997, p. A37.

Detroit Free Press, March 20, 1992, p. F1.

Detroit News, April 8, 1992, pp. D1, D12.

Folio's Publishing News, April 15, 1991, Susan Hovey, pp. 30-32.

Inside Media, January 6, 1993, Regina Joseph, "Jane on Jane, Sassy Editor in Chief Readies for Second Try at TV," p. 16.

Journal of Youth Services in Libraries, summer, 1991, pp. 383-388.

Magazine Week, April 15, 1991.

Manhattan Ink, July, 1988, pp. 85-87.

Mediaweek, May 1, 1995, p. 6; January 8, 1996, Mark Adams, "Jane Pratt, before Time," p. 6; October 28, 1996, Jeff Gremillion, p. 35; August 10, 1998, p. 20; July 12, 2004, Lisa Granatstein, "Seven-Year Itch: After Flying in a Holding Pattern for the Past Few Years, Jane in September Will Unveil an Extensive Redesign," p. 26.

Mother Jones, April, 1989, p. 14.

NEA Today, October, 1989, p. 21.

Newsweek, March 30, 1992, p. 70.

Phoenix Gazette, November 7, 1990.

Progressive, November 1, 1997, p. 17.

Reuters Business Report, September 2, 1997.

St. Petersburg Times, May 13, 1991, Anne V. Hull, interview with Pratt, pp. D1-D2.

Sassy, December, 1991, p. 10; February, 1992, p. 40; April, 1992, p. 8.

Spin, May, 1991.

Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN), August 23, 1997, p. E10.

Teen Beat, August 16, 1989, pp. 12-15.

Time, May 16, 1988, p. 77; September 19, 1988, p. 45; October 21, 1991, p. 92.