“I feel like the proudest mom of all time.” Jane Pratt on her enduring publishing legacy

The former 'Sassy' magazine editor and Gen X icon is back with the community-centric publication 'Another Jane Pratt Thing.'

Jane Pratt. Photo by Casey Steffens

“I want to start a magazine (with friends),” Jane Pratt wrote in her journal when she was 15. A decade later she did just that, as the founding editor of the pioneering teen magazine Sassy, which launched in 1988 and became known for its often frank coverage of sex and sexuality. “I had that dream because when I was looking at the magazines then I wasn’t seeing myself in them,” Pratt tells Depth Perception. “I wanted to start one that would make people like me feel like they had a place to go that was welcoming.”

She went on to found a women’s print magazine, Jane, and an online publication, xoJane, best known for its confessional essays. In September, Pratt returned with a Substack publication called Another Jane Pratt Thing. “It is a no-judgment zone where you can go and be whoever the heck you are, and get applauded for it by the community, who are the writers as well,” she says. “I think it’s the most inclusive, supportive place on the internet.” She points to the contributions of Judith Hannah Weiss, a disabled writer, as an example of this inclusivity.

Pratt says that she’s known some of the people in the Another Jane Pratt Thing community for more than 35 years. “The number of letters I’ve gotten since doing Another Jane Pratt Thing from people saying that I literally saved their lives through what I did with Sassy… I mean, if everyone could hear that even just once — and I’ve gotten to hear it so many times — it’s phenomenal,” she says. “And then to see how these people have thrived in their lives since then, I feel like the proudest mom of all time.”

Pratt, who is based in New York, recently spoke with Depth Perception via phone. The following interview has been condensed and edited for length and clarity. —Mark Yarm

What story of yours are you proudest of?

In issue three of Sassy, we did a story called “And They’re Gay,” with photographs of gay teenage couples. Now it would be nothing. But at the time, it was radical. I edited it, and we presented them as very normal, loving couples. Consequently, that was the story that caused the Moral Majority to start a boycott against Sassy. We lost most of our advertising and got taken off newsstands. But that was a proud story for sure.

What story of yours do you most regret?

Probably the same one, because it was the one that almost killed Sassy. But we lived through it. There was a story that was written about an actress who still hates me for it, even though it’s been maybe 25 years or so. I do regret that I ran that story, because she was having a hard time with her addiction, and the person who wrote it exposed all of that. That was not helpful.

What’s the best journalistic career advice you ever received?

Maria Shriver interviewed me when I was doing Sassy magazine. She kind of took me under her wing, because I was just getting started, and she said, “You’re on a real high right now. You’re on a roll, you’re on an upswing, but you are going to face failure, and that’s when it’s really going to matter how you continue to stick with it and how you hold up.”

What’s the worst journalistic career advice you ever received?

I think every bit of journalistic career advice I ever received other than that was horrible. I feel like I spent my whole career just putting my fingers in my ears and going “Nah nah nah.” I didn’t listen to advice to stay in my lane, to not propose stories to the editors that they may hate, to not speak out in meetings because I was so young. I was constantly told not to publish things, and I would, as much as possible, publish them anyway.

Which of your articles should be made into a movie?

There’s a series we have going on right now on Another Jane Pratt Thing that has just taken off like fire. This writer, Sarah Swinwood, just started writing about this kind of alleged stalking incident. These two exes of her boyfriend allegedly were using crazy tactics to kind of stalk her and try to make her go crazy, and it just unspools as you read it. We’ve run three parts, but now it’s growing because the people who allegedly were stalking her are now in the comments. The FBI has gotten involved, so that’s gonna be part four. That’s pretty riveting.

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What longform nonfiction writer do you envy the most?

I want to say Studs Terkel. I don’t know why he just came to my head, but boy, he has just been a model for beautiful, simple journalism. I also love writers that are not writers. Like when Diane Arbus would write alongside her photography, that was really inspiring to me. People who don't think of themselves as writers write in often simple ways that are so captivating because they're not using those journalistic norms.

What’s the best media party you ever attended?

Oh, that’s actually hard, because I’ve been to so many. I went to every Met Gala while I was editing Jane magazine. I always got in trouble because I used to try to get out of them at the last minute. Though I love parties, you were expected to act somewhat appropriate at the Met Galas, and that was not ever my favorite thing. My boss would get mad, and he’d say, “We paid for your place at the table.” And he’d force me to go.

Then there were the semi-media parties that I used to host every year with my two friends, Michael Stipe and Julie Panebianco. We hosted them first in my apartment, and then it got too big. They were crazy fun. We always had an interesting dress code. Just the array of celebrities there was astonishing, the mix of people. 

I don’t think I’ve told this one before. So the cops came to a party that I was having in my 12th Street apartment. Kate Moss was there, and Cameron Diaz was also there. But when the cops came, Cameron Diaz went into my bedroom to hide. The weirdest thing was, the cops saw Kate Moss, and I guess maybe someone had mentioned that Cameron was there. So they thought she was Cameron Diaz, and they were so excited. They took pictures with her and everything, and then they left us alone.

“It’s almost impossible to believe that, after doing this for almost 40 years, I’m still hearing brand new stories that I’ve never heard before and new perspectives that I’ve never considered.” —Jane Pratt

If you could write an all-access profile of anyone in the world, who would it be?

I would say Obama. What a complex and wonderful individual he is. He is one of two living U.S. presidents I haven’t met yet. And because I’ve been forced to meet Trump multiple times, back when he was a realtor, I think I deserve to meet Obama once.

What would you do if you didn’t have this career?

Make documentary films. I did make a couple, but I didn't finish them necessarily. I had a little Bolex camera, and I traveled around for a little while just before starting Sassy. I made a documentary down in the South that I really loved, and then I made one about Anne Frank. I knew all of her living relatives and friends, because my grandfather had brought her diary over to be published here. I went and interviewed all of them, but now we can’t even find the footage. It’s so sad.

What makes you hopeful for the future of journalism?

What makes me hopeful is the number of people on Another Jane Pratt Thing that write in and and have incredible stories they want to tell. It’s almost impossible to believe that, after doing this for almost 40 years, I’m still hearing brand new stories that I’ve never heard before and new perspectives that I’ve never considered. I’ve already published a lot of those writers and want to continue to do that. So that gives me a ton of hope.

Further reading from Another Jane Pratt Thing

• “I Am Not Okay” by Jolie Doggett (Nov. 9, 2024)

• “Fat Guy Fashion 101” by Charlie Connell (Sept. 25, 2024)

• “I’m So Happy My Daughter Has a Good Boyfriend” by Jane Pratt (Oct. 24, 2024)

• “Turns Out I Did Want to Have Kids After All” by Christina Kelly (Sept. 25, 2024)

• “It Happened To Me: Jane Pratt Saved My Life” by Cat Marnell (Sept. 25, 2024)