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Author Miriam Parker on Ani DiFranco

The First Time I Heard “Not a Pretty Girl”
By Miriam Parker for Paste –

People born in the late 1970s and early 1980s don’t really have a generation label. A little too young to be a Gen X-er, a little too old to be a Millennial. We’re between. There have been a few essays written about this trying to name us—Generation Catalano. Generation Y. Xennials. The Oregon Trail Generation. The Between Generation. But one thing that defines most of the women that I know from this era is a shared love of Ani DiFranco. Yes, you have to be a certain type of woman born in these years, probably middle to upper-middle class, with liberal parents and access to music not normally played on the radio. You considered yourself a feminist, but were a little bit appalled by Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan. Maybe you were gay, maybe you weren’t. (Ani kind of was and kind of wasn’t.)

But we were connected by a love of Ani. When the lyrics “I am not a pretty girl/ That is not what I do” exploded out of your CD player, it struck a chord in your heart more than any other lyric that had been sung to you in all your life. Ani DiFranco spoke to women of The DiFranco Generation in a way that nobody ever had or would again.

I learned about Ani Difranco when a new girl moved to town sophomore year of high school. Megan brought with her the ethos of New York City and a huge collection of feminist music, most notably Ani’s Out of Range. We were friends immediately and collaborated on ladymixes featuring songs from that album, as well as Liz Phair, Sarah McLachlan and Bikini Kill. My Nirvana and Red Hot Chili Peppers CDs collected dust in the back of my closet. I suddenly owned a pair of overalls and brown Doc Martens. Not a Pretty Girl came out in 1995, when I was about to start my senior year. I was hooked.

I had never been a true devotee or fan of anything in my life. But I went her concerts, bought the merch; I even volunteered at an outdoor folk festival and slept in a tent so that I could see her for free. (Sleeping in a tent is not exactly my M.O. but I would do anything for Ani.)

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