The History of Sadie Hawkins

By: Olivia Aragon

Illustrated by: Carla Cieza Espinoza      

On Feb. 19, George Fox University (GFU) hosted its annual Sadie Hawkins dance. Sadie Hawkins-themed dances are designated for women to ask men to the dance as opposed to the traditional man-asks-woman.

The history of Sadie Hawkins dates back all the way to November 15, 1937, when cartoonist Al Capp debuted a comic strip about a very wealthy man and his very ugly 35-year-old unmarried daughter, Sadie Hawkins. The man, terrified that his daughter would suffer the humiliation of being unable to land a husband, decides to make a Sadie Hawkins day; on this day all single men would compete in a race where they would be chased by Hawkins. If Hawkins caught one of them, they would be legally-bound to marry her— somewhat of a misogynistic flip on the myth of Atalanta, a notoriously fast runner in Ancient Greece, who said she would marry any man who could outrun her.

In Capp's comic, the spinsters in the town loved the idea so much that they declared Sadie Hawkins day to be an annual event that would take place every November. During this event, spinsters would chase eligible bachelors. This comic was recreated every November for 40 years. 

Two years after the first strip of this comic was released, Life Magazine recorded over 200 colleges holding Sadie Hawkins day events. The college and high school traditions of having Sadie Hawkins-style events then morphed into the annual dance familiar to students today.

In recent years, many high schools and colleges have stopped having Sadie Hawkins dances as they have received some backlash for being sexist. Typically the argument for this is that schools having a Sadie Hawkins dance inherently implies that women cannot normally ask men to dances. 

Though the origins of Sadie Hawkins dances began with the assumption that a woman could not normally ask a man to marry her, go on a date, or what have you, the normalization of Sadie Hawkins traditions could indicate the normalization of women who are empowered to make the first move at any time. GFU's advertising of the Sadie Hawkins dance has downplayed the twentieth century spinster-shaming and instead highlighted the event as part of Student Activities "Reality TV Month" with the Sadie Hawkins Dance theme being "Dancing With the Stars." 

GFU's Sadie Hawkins dance was held on Feb. 19 and sold out tickets the week before. It traditionally takes place on the Portland Spirit Boats. 

Illustrated by Carla Cieza Espinoza