Sadie Hawkins dance explained

A Sadie Hawkins dance or turnabout[1] is a usually informal dance sponsored by a high school, middle school or college, to which the ladies invite the gentlemen to be their dates.[2] This is contrary to the custom of the guys typically inviting the girls to be their dates to school dances such as prom in the spring and homecoming in the fall. These dances are primarily a United States event.

History

The Sadie Hawkins dance is named after the Li'l Abner comic strip character Sadie Hawkins, created by cartoonist Al Capp.[3] In the strip, Sadie Hawkins Day fell on a given day in November, on which the unmarried women of Dogpatch would chase the bachelors and "marry up" with the ones that they caught. The event was introduced in a daily strip that ran on November 15, 1937. By 1939, Sadie Hawkins events were held at over 200 colleges, according to Life magazine.[4]

The date for Sadie Hawkins Day most commonly reported is November 13, two days before the first appearance in the comics,[5] but the exact date was never actually specified by Al Capp until he finally set it as November 26 in his last Li'l Abner daily strip on November 5, 1977.[6]

Similar dance events

The Tolo Dance in the Pacific Northwest began several decades before Capp's comic strip. The word tolo comes from the University of Washington's Mortar Board, which began as an all-women's honor society called the "Tolo Club", from the Chinook word for success and achievement. To raise funds, the group held a dance where women asked men.[7]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Twersky, Carolyn (November 16, 2022). "What Is a Sadie Hawkins Dance and Where Did It Come From?". Seventeen. Hearst Magazines. Retrieved December 23, 2022.
  2. News: Lewis. Casey. The History of Sadie Hawkins Dances. 27 January 2015. LiveAbout. 22 February 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170222053933/http://prom.about.com/od/introtopromsformaldance/p/sadiehistory.htm. dead.
  3. Web site: Sadie Hawkins Day . 13 February 2013 . Li'l Abner . 12 December 2018.
  4. Book: McComb, Mary C.. Great Depression and the Middle Class: Experts, Collegiate Youth and Business Ideology, 1929-1941. 2006. Taylor & Francis. 978-0-415-97970-2. 106. en.
  5. Web site: The Ugly Truth Behind Sadie Hawkins Day. November 13, 2015. Women You Should Know.
  6. Web site: First and Last – Li'l Abner. 29 October 2018.
  7. Web site: Tolo Chapter History – University of Washington Mortar Board – Tolo Chapter.