Sadie Hawkins Day

Ladies choice. A character in Al Capp's Lil' Abner comic strip, Sadie Hawkins was reputedly the homeliest girl in the hillbilly town of Dogpatch. Eager to see her married off, her father instituted a footrace in which all of the town's unmarried girls pursued eligible bachelors— Daisy Mae's enticing Lil' Abner to the altar was an ongoing theme of the strip's plot. As is often the case, nature imitates art, and by the late 1930s real live Sadie Hawkins Day events took place at many colleges and high schools, with girls taking the initiative and inviting boys to dances, dinner, and other events. Even at proms, hops, and other social events, one or more “Sadie Hawkins” dances allowed women to ask any man to take a turn on the dance floor.