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Happy Leap Day. Today is a day that comes around only once every four years, and traditionally, because it was so shocking to imagine a woman ever proposing to a man, today would have been the day for that sort of funny business. If you're not that into commitment, you could also just ask a guy out without fearing the wrath of the whole town upon you for your harlot-like ways. Freedom and equality and acceptance on one day in every four-year set: That's what Sadie Hawkins Day is all about, except you had to wear a scarlet petticoat to warn any unsuspecting blokes of your intention to do what was considered aberrant. You can debate amongst yourselves whether the designation of such a day marks strides for women's lib (hm) or is really just a reinforcement of sexist tropes (you can be crazy for one day, ladies, then back to the conventional methods), but the point is, now that we're in the the techno-futuristic 2010s, even the mere acknowledgement of such a day seems rather quaint and ironic and harmless. Tee hee, how far we have come!
Yet, sexist tropes persist. People, for instance, were absolutely up in arms recently over the idea that women could decide not to take their husbands' last names in marriage and not be censured for it. People have been very angry that women might choose not to get married at all, if they didn't feel like it. And people -- especially men -- seem to have had very strong opinions about a woman's right to choose what she wants to do with her body in recent days. So when we laugh about Sadie Hawkins Day being such an old-fashioned concept, we should remember that we're not all the way there yet in terms of male-female equality. And it's questionable whether we ever truly will be. Social mores are deeply engrained, after all.