|
Legend has it that the tradition of the Panty Raid
began on the night of March 21, 1952 at the University
of Michigan, when about 600 male students stormed the
women's dormitory confiscating their lingerie. Soon
male college students across the country began to participate
in this custom. After achieving their goal, the raiders
would parade around the entrance of the dormitory boastfully
holding up the "stolen goods." Some students went to
extremes to accomplish their mission.
One group, from
the University of Miami, actually tore down a large
wire fence to access the women's dormitory. It was not
uncommon for women to exact their revenge. Five-hundred
women from the University of Michigan snuck into the
men's dormitory and stole the boxer shorts and "tighty
whities" of their enemy. Soon after, the men of Georgetown
University were invaded by a horde of young women in
search of underwear.
Although
the panty raids were seemingly harmless, some more serious
students felt it disrupted their studies. Others felt
that their privacy had been invaded, and the police
were called in on several accounts. Despite complaints,
panty raids continued on throughout the 1950s. The practice
finally seemed to die out with the 1960s. It has been
speculated that panty raids lost their thrill with the
onset of the sexual revolution. |