A panty raid (sometimes pantie raid) is a social prank in which a group of male college students intrude in a female college student housing to steal their "panties" (undergarments) from drawers as trophies. The notion of a panty raid dates back at least to the mid-1940s, though the term dates to February, 1949. ^{[citation needed]} There was a "legendary panty raid that occurred in February 1949" at Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois. ^[1] This kind of prank faded away at the end of the 1960s.

The first fully documented incident occurred on March 21, 1952, when a large group of male University of Michigan students raided a female dormitory; this led to a widespread increase of panty raids across the nation.^[2] Penn State's first panty raid involved more than 2,000 males marching on the womens' dorms on April 8, 1952, cheered on by the women, who opened doors and windows as fast as the matrons could lock them, and tossed lingerie.^[3] By the end of the 1952 spring term the "epidemic" had spread to 52 campuses, despite stern warnings, the use of tear gas by police, arrests, and expulsions.

Generally, the girls welcomed the raiders, and in some cases themselves raided the campuses of mens' colleges such as Georgetown University. At the University of Washington, though, panty raiders broke windows at sorority houses, and coeds at Christian College and Stephens College fought to repel raiders from the University of Missouri using mops and Coke bottles as weapons.

It was the first college craze in the post-World War 2 era, following on the 1930's crazes of Goldfish swallowing or seeing how many could fit in a phone booth.^[4] Raiding continued, perhaps diminished a bit in following years, such as the raid by Princeton University men on Westminster Choir College in the spring of 1953.^[5] The University of Nebraska was credited with the first panty raid of 1955, when hundreds of men raided the women's dorms to grab panties, resulting in 7 suspensions.^[6] The University of California, Berkeley had a 3,000 man panty raid in May 1956, which resulted in $10,000 damage.^[7] At the University of Michigan panty raids were associated with fall football pep rallies in addition to being a spring ritual in the 1950's and early 1960's.^[8][9] The spring ritual continued in the 1960's. Three students were expelled from the University of Mississippi for panty raids in 1961.^[10]

As the 1960's turned to the 1970's, the prevalence of coed dorms, less inhibited attitudes toward sex on campus, and the anti-war movement led to a fading away of panty raids as a spring ritual.^{[citation needed]} In 1969, then-Governor of California Ronald Reagan decried permissive attitudes toward protesters on the Berkeley campus during the People's Park riots, saying "How much farther do we have to go to realize this is not just another panty raid?"^[11]

Popular culture

Panty raids have been depicted in:

• Revenge of the Nerds

• Some episodes of Ranma ½, particularly when Happosai makes an appearance.

• In an episode of Reno 911!, the male officers stage a panty raid to boost their female coworkers' morale, but are shocked and slightly disturbed to find a nude (and pregnant) Deputy Trudy Wiegel happily asking if this is the annual panty raid.

• In an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants, Mr. Krabs believes he is becoming old, and wants to feel young again, he remedies this by going on a panty raid with Spongebob and Patrick.

• In the 1992 film Love Potion No. 9, the leading man is put in jail for what he says is "the little-known panty raid law, prohibiting any male from being in a sorority after 9:00pm."

• In the episode Mars University of Futurama Bender Bending Rodríguez leads Robot House on a failed panty raid.

References

External links

• "Panty Raids", Bad Fads Museum