Sadie Hawkins dance - wikipedia Sadie Hawkins dance This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. ( Learn how and when to remove these template messages ) This school - related article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia 's quality standards. More verifiable information on this school is needed. Guidelines and editing help are available. ( April 2008 ) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( January 2015 ) In the United States and Canada, the Sadie Hawkins Dance is a usually informal dance sponsored by a high school, middle school or college, in which female students invite male students. This is contrary to the custom of male students typically inviting female students to school dances such as prom in the spring and Homecoming in the fall. Contents 1 History 2 Alternative names 3 Similar dance events 4 See also 5 References 6 External links History The Sadie Hawkins dance is named after the Li'l Abner comic strip character Sadie Hawkins, created by cartoonist Al Capp. In the strip, Sadie Hawkins Day fell on a given day in November ( Capp never specified an exact date ). The unmarried women of Dogpatch got to chase the bachelors and `` marry up '' with the ones that they caught. The event was introduced in a daily strip which ran on November 15, 1937. Unlike traditional dances, where the men chase the women, this empowers women to chase after what they want and not just wait for it to walk their way. In the U.S. and Canada, this concept was popularized by establishing dance events to which the woman invited a man of her choosing, instead of demurely waiting for a man to ask her. The first known such event was held on November 9, 1938. Within a year, hundreds of similar events followed suit. By 1952, the event was reportedly celebrated at 40,000 known venues. It became a woman - empowering rite at high school and college campuses, and the tradition continues in some regional American cultures. Alternative names Other names may be used regionally Ladies Choice Dance ( San Antonio, TX ) Morps or MORPs, which is prom spelled backwards ( Western U.S. ) Sponge Dance ( Dearborn, Michigan ) Harvest ( Rupert, Idaho ) Jobs ( Mankato, Minnesota ) SnoDaze ( Maple Grove, Minnesota ) Sadie 's Girls ' Choice `` Tolos '' ( Pacific Northwest ) The word 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. Turnabout ( Chicago, IL, Bettendorf, IA and Evansville, Indiana ) Vice-Versa ( Metamora and Washington, Illinois ) TWIRP ( The Woman Is Required ( or Requested ) to Pay ) Vice Dances or Vice-Versa Dances referring to the usual custom of males inviting females W.P.A. ( Women Pay All ) Girls ' Reverse Santa Switch ( Evansville, Indiana ) Backwards Dance ( Southern California ) King of Hearts Dance ( Valparaiso, Indiana ) Similar dance events Similar dances, sometimes called Spinsters ' Balls, have been organized for adults. The custom of holding Spinsters ' Balls has spread outside the U.S., and exists in countries such as Australia. If held during the winter months, the Sadie Hawkins dance may be called the Snow Ball or some other wintry name. In a variation on pure Sadie Hawkins custom, a particular song may be designated a snowball dance by the DJ or master of ceremonies. In that case, also known as `` speed dancing '' ( because of its similarities to speed dating ), the DJ picks two people to start dancing, usually to a slow dance. Periodically the DJ will shout, `` snowball, '' signaling that the dancers must find new partners, thus increasing the number of partners on the floor. Half of the people asking new dancers to come to the floor will be girls asking boys, Sadie Hawkins - style. By the end of the song, most of the people at the dance are on the dance floor. The `` snowball dance '' is typically used to get the dancing started, as school dances can be notoriously slow to start. In some areas, people chosen to dance can not refuse, thereby ensuring people get onto the dance floor, and thus the `` snowball '' gains momentum and grows. See also Leap year, for traditions on women proposing marriage Powder Puff, a football game pitting girls against girls Winter Formal, a formal dance that may be had instead of Sadie Hawkins dances from January through March References ^ Jump up to : Lewis, Casey. `` The History of Sadie Hawkins Dances ''. About.com. Retrieved 27 January 2015. Jump up ^ `` Tolo Chapter History -- University of Washington Mortar Board -- Tolo Chapter ''. External links Sadie Hawkins Day Sadie Hawkins biography at Steve Krupp 's Curio Shoppe Al Capp 's Li'l Abner Characters and elements Dogpatch Joe Btfsplk Fearless Fosdick Lower Slobbovia Sadie Hawkins Day Salomey Shmoo Adaptations and spin - offs Dogpatch USA 1940 film 1959 film The Flintstone Comedy Show Fred and Barney Meet the Shmoo Kickapoo Joy Juice Shelly Manne album Musical Sadie Hawkins dance Skunkworks project The New Shmoo Related articles Abbie an ' Slats Elliott Caplin Comic Strip Classics double - whammy Frank Frazetta Imagine : John Lennon Long Sam Bob Lubbers - nik Shmoo plot Toby Press Basil Wolverton Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sadie_Hawkins_dance&oldid=810394798 '' Categories : Gender School dances Li'l Abner Hidden categories : Articles needing cleanup from April 2008 All pages needing cleanup Schools needing cleanup Articles needing additional references from January 2015 All articles needing additional references Articles with multiple maintenance issues All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from June 2015 Talk More Contents About Wikipedia Add links This page was last edited on 15 November 2017, at 00 : 12. 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Question: what is it called when a girl asks a guy to a dance
Answer: Sadie Hawkins Dance