Issue #1

Hello and welcome to the very first issue of Pretty Ugly (formally known as ‘Kill the Real Grrrls’). This issue marks the transition of the zine from the personal endeavour of Kelly Elizabeth to the official publication of the Pretty Ugly Collective. I’m really excited about the new and improved PU zine with the added bonus of a swag of cool people to infect the pages of the zine with their rants and raves.

The Pretty Ugly Collective is a group of fun lovin’ women and men with feminist heads on their shoulders who love to write, create, be active and inspire. Feminism is the banner under which we came to together, it is also the philosophy under which this zine is produced – with the diversity of contributers many different feminisms may surface throughout the zine, which is exactly what we want!

One of the reasons I started this zine is that I’m scared that as time goes on feminism is being viewed as increasingly more irrelevant. I fear that it will be soon considered a 20th century phenomena and not relevant to the 21st century and feminists will be accused of being ‘behind the times’. Apparently some people think equality for women and men has been achieved!?! When you open your eyes and have a look around you, you can see feminism is still relevant to the big issues as much as every day life. From how your doctor treats you to whether a lesbian couple can have access to the IVF program. So in short, one of the reasons for this zine is to keep feminism and feminist ideas out there. For people to express themselves and share ideas, enlighten, debate and most importantly THINK. We are kept so busy these days with being a good little consumer, watching TV, workin’ for the man etc, that it is easy to forget or hard to find the time to take a step back and THINK about stuff. Any stuff, what you’re doing with your life, how to maintain the rage, remain active and keep those idealistic dreams alive and work to turn them into a reality. I think I’ve mentioned this before but I heard that every morning Germaine Greer thinks for an hour before she gets up. I found this so intriguing, I mean I’m thinking all the time, but usually on the run. To take time out of your day, everyday to collect your thoughts and use your brain… so simple, but so cool!

Pretty Ugly is sending a call out to writers all over Australia of all persuasions to contribute to this zine. Whether you are already an active zinester or are giving this writing thing a go for the first time, send in your work to Pretty Ugly! We will be showcasing people’s work, not only in this zine but on our website as well. The Collective recently received a government grant from the Australian Arts Council Literature Board to assist the production of this zine and setup and promote the website – that’s how into this thing we are!! So why don’t you get involved too!

While we unashamedly state this is a feminist zine, as you’ll see, not all the content or contributions must be related to feminism, so if you’d like to contribute to PU but don’t feel like writing on the subject, that’s fine . We have a prize pack to give away for the best contribution received for the next issue of the zine, so get your entries in quick! Thanks to all those who donated items to the prize pack (Porcelain, APITO, Ooze Zine, PDR, FIAB, Brand Bland).

We’d really like to get a letters section started where people can write/email in and express their love or hate for us, pose questions, suggestions for issues to talk about/comment on, books, web sites we might like to check out. Or just write to tell us what your up to in your zine, music, writing, artistic endeavours.

Thanks for logging on or picking up a copy of Pretty Ugly. Your support is appreciated and warms our gRRrly heads to know that people are interested in reading this kind of zine. You all rock.

- Kelly