I thought about gender normalizations earlier in the school year and gave it a try to ask a boy to the homecoming dance last fall. I had already been good friends with this guy from Sunny Hills, so I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to break the social norm.

Fortunately, he said yes. He was happy to go together as friends, and I received many comments from my peers about how bold it was of me to take the initiative.

Ironically, I found out on Thursday, May 4, through the Associated Student Body [ASB] Instagram account that it planned to organize its first Sadie Hawkins dance in nearly a decade, though still giving students the chance to go stag to the event. According to a September  2019 Accolade article, SH’s Sadie’s event was billed as “Girl Date” until it got replaced by a stag dance after the 2015-2016 school year because of low ticket sales.

Because of Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate testing this month, morning announcements weren’t broadcast for most of May, and so the ASB had to rely on social media as the only means to promote it. 

“It’s official! Our end-of-the-year Sadie’s/stag dance will be on Friday, May 19,” one Instagram post read.

Though this event would seem like another perfect opportunity for me to ask the same guy or another boy to another dance, I’m going to skip out on this one because of its timing and its concept to mix a Sadie’s with a stag.

For those who don’t know, the formal opportunity for girls to ask a guy out to a dance stems from a 1937 comic strip from American cartoonist Al Capp titled, “Li’l Abner.” Capp created the Hawkins character, who’s the daughter of a wealthy man. Because she remained single at age 35, the father decides to organize a race of single men with his daughter given a chance to find her spouse by catching up to the first guy.

“American college students started to honor the idea of gender role reversal by holding Sadie Hawkins dances and other events,” according to nationaltoday.com, a website that keeps track of notable holidays or events in the calendar year. “By the winter of 1939, Life magazine had published a two-page spread with the headline, ‘On Sadie Hawkins Day Girls Chase Boys in 201 Colleges.’ Thus, the tradition was born.”

Even though it’s a tradition at our campus for the ASB to host an end-of-the-year social that’s open to everyone on campus to attend after prom, which is limited to upperclassmen and the dates they invite, I don’t plan on making it to this one because I prefer to focus on my studies before final exams.

It might benefit others who want to let it all hang out and get some relaxation before hitting the books to study for their tests, which for some teachers are held before final exam week. And even though I know a Sadies/stag dance calls for informal attire, it’s still not worth it for me to stress over the process of getting ready for it — choosing what kind of clothes should I show up in. Jeans or shorts? T-shirt or a blouse? Sneakers or sandals?

More so, the ASB should consider combining the annual homecoming dance and Sadie’s. That could garner better results. Both have a tradition of one person coming up with clever ways to ask another to the event.

Combining Sadies with stag would more likely result in more students going on their own than seeing girls take the lead in brainstorming of a creative and fun asking, and then seeing it played out somewhere on campus like the quad.

Unlike me, many of my gender are hesitant in taking the initiative to ask guys to a dance because of reasons such as fear of rejection or conforming to what is normalized. That’s especially true if they know they can go to the social by themselves without having a date. With a combined homecoming and Sadie’s dance, girls will not feel the burden that the whole event depends on them doing the asking or else everyone will end up going stag.

Instead, they would more likely feel secure seeing other genders — traditionally males — doing the asking in public or getting that date to say yes through some other memorable means.

Some might say this could cause more drama in teens’ lives. What if a guy asks a girl out first, but another girl wanted to ask that same boy to the traditional fall formal? Wouldn’t she feel disappointed that she’s lost that chance and will have to find another boy to ask out with the hope that he hasn’t asked another female classmate to the homecoming dance?

So if those situations were to develop, it would actually be a good thing. Better to create a situation to force people into action than inaction. That’s the benefit of first come, first serve.

And even if the ASB opts not to heed my suggestion, girls don’t have to wait for an organizer of a social to call it a Sadie’s to lead them to ask a guy out.

I certainly didn’t wait during asking season for the homecoming dance. In fact, I may be already considering this other boy …