Sassy magazine was a general interest teen magazine aimed at young women. Now defunct, it covered a wide variety of topics, and was intended as a feminist counterpoint to Seventeen and YM magazines. Sassy existed between 1988 and 1996.

History and profile

The magazine was founded in March 1988 by an Australian feminist, Sandra Yates, CEO of Matilda Publications, who based it on the teen magazine Dolly.

Women Aglow, an evangelical women's group, boycotted Sassy due to its content about sexuality immediately following its start.

Editorial staff

Sassys founding editor was Jane Pratt. The magazine's original main writers were referred to by Pratt as "Sex" (Karen Catchpole), "Drugs" (Catherine Gysin), and "Rock 'n Roll" (Christina Kelly) because of the topics they covered. Executive editor Mary Kaye Schilling became editor-in-chief in 1990, when Pratt went on to host a daytime talk show. The fashion department was headed by Mary Clarke, Jacinta Dobson, and Andrea Lee Linett, who discovered Chloë Sevigny on the street and hired her as an intern. The distinctive look of the magazine was created by Cheryl Collins, who had worked at Australia's Dolly. When Collins left, Schilling hired Noel Claro to art direct the magazine. Petersen Publishing officially took over with the February–March 1995 issue, and its editorial offices were moved to Los Angeles from New York City. It then stopped publishing as its own title in 1996, when editorial sections (and staff) of Sassy were absorbed into another magazine published by Petersen called Teen <!--`TEEN is the accurate form of the magazine's title at that particular time--> beginning with the January 1997 issue.

Dirt magazine

In 1992, Sassy spun off a short-lived title for teen boys called Dirt: Son of Sassy. It was created by Mark Lewman (words), Andy Jenkins (art direction) and Spike Jonze (photos), who went on to direct music videos and feature films. They were collectively known as "the Master Cluster." According to Canadian author Douglas Coupland, "Dirt was a funny and smart magazine for young people".

Reader-produced issues

Sassy anticipated "crowd sourced" content by over a decade, starting with their "every single little thing in this issue is reader-produced" December 1990 issue. Originally conceived by Alan Goodman's and Fred Seibert's Fred/Alan Inc., Sassy advertising agency.

Sassiest Boy in America

Sassy conducted an annual search for the Sassiest Girl in America, and in 1990, Sassy magazine conducted a search for the Sassiest Boy in America. Over 150 entries were received, with the eventual winner being Ian Svenonius of Nation of Ulysses.

Chia Pet

Sassys in-house band was named after the Chia Pet, The band once opened for The Lemonheads at iconic now-closed New York City rock club CBGB.

Releases

  • Hey Baby — CD single of original songs
  1. "Hey Baby"
  2. "Lunch"
  3. "Blind Date"
  • Tannis Root Presents: Freedom Of Choice — various-artists pro-choice fundraising CD of 80s cover songs

16. "Don't You Want Me Baby"

<!-- the song numbers accurately refer to the track numbers on the actual albums. please do not change. thanks. -->

Book: How Sassy Changed My Life

In April 2007, Faber and Faber released a tribute to and history of Sassy by former Teen Vogue editor Kara Jesella and Marisa Meltzer called How Sassy Changed My Life: A Love Letter to the Greatest Teen Magazine of All Time.

The podcast Listen to Sassy, hosted by Pamela Ribon, Tara Ariano, and David T. Cole (all formerly of Television Without Pity), has since 2021 discussed each issue of Sassy in detail.

See also

  • Jane magazine
  • Dolly magazine
  • "Sassy's Sassiest Boys"

References

  • The Sassy Era at WWD
  • Sissy Magazine at Blairmag: the lost December 1994 issue -- Sassy's Last Issue Ever
  • Too Young to Know: The Selling of Sassy
  • KICKING SASS -- sassy's dead. R.I.P. Sassy. And it's about damn time.
  • Why Jane Pratt's "Jane" never quite lived up to Jane Pratt's "Sassy"
  • The New York Review of Magazines: We Still Love Sassy
  • Interview with Jane Pratt in The Oberlin Review
  • Cute Band Alert: How Sassy magazine created a new sex object.
  • Sonic Youth 7" info
  • Issue 8 of Dirt, never published (archived site that went offline in 2006; may contain dead links and broken images)
  • Wired.com article on Dirt
  • Hawaiian youth magazine also entitled Sassy
  • Some of the articles Marjorie Ingall wrote for Sassy (as Margie Ingall)
  • Recent articles by ex-Sassy writer/editor Marjorie Ingall
  • Confessions of a Sassy Girl article by writer Mengly Taing
  • NPR's Talk of the Nation on Sassy, April 25, 2007
  • February 1990 cover: The Sassiest Girl in America
  • Exploring Sassy Magazine's Role as a Pioneer of Social Media