Reversing History: Behind the Sadie Hawkins/Reverse Tradition

By MAX SHAMBAUGH

Moapa Valley Progress

Sadie Hawkins, aka Reverse, is the one school dance a year when female students are expected to ask the boys to dance. This fun activity has been a staple at MVHS and other schools for many years. But where did this tradition begin?

Al Capp, an American cartoonist, published a comic strip called “Li’l Abner” from 1934 to 1977. One edition in 1937 featured the following story:

A man named Hekzebiah Hawkins was so worried that his daughter would never be married that he declared a holiday for her, Sadie Hawkins Day. On this day, unmarried women were permitted to chase after bachelors in their fictional town of Dogpatch. The cartoon shows Mr. Hawkins lining up the men of the town; at the firing of a gun, they were to take off.

The comic strip was meant as a joke and was never meant to become a reality. It sparked so much enthusiasm, however, that colleges and high schools across America began holding their own versions of “The Sadie Hawkins Day Dance.”

It isn’t such a relevant concept anymore, but it has become a time-honored tradition. Many schools have different ways of kicking off their own Sadie Hawkins, or Reverse, dances. For example, there is a tradition where high schoolers line up on either side of a gym and reenact the original Sadie Hawkins race.

MVHS teacher Jeff Keel comments that Reverse “gives females the opportunity to ask someone that they might like or would not normally talk to.”

No matter how you celebrate, it is a fun event to be a part of.

So get ready! Get set! Find yourself a man!