"It's spring and it's time for panty raids or going nude through parks."- Tony Sands (Cincinnati's WLWT chief meteorologist), 1978
This comment was made on live television from the first local guy to ever use a color weather map on TV. By '78 panty raids were largely a thing of the past - but streaking (i.e. "going nude through parks") was still alive and well.
According to Wikipedia,the first documented panty raid occurred on February 25, 1949, at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. (Who says Retrospace isn't an educational site?) Evidently, panty raids were quite a concern by the 1950's. This quote from TIME (6/2/1952):
The newest and noisiest college craze—the pantie raid—reached the epidemic stage. Night after night from coast to coast last week college boys leaped and howled like Comanches under the windows of squealing coeds; by week's end, despite arrests, expulsions, editorial blasts, and the best efforts of police riot squads—a few of whom even used tear gas—pantie raiders had made night hideous at 52 different colleges and universities.In fact, panty raids became a real problem on campuses during the 50's. Reading articles in college newspapers from Texas, Berkley, USC, Michigan State, etc. one gets the impression that horniness was out-of-control during this decade. If any sociology graduate students are reading this, you may want to consider this for your thesis. What was going on with mid-century men that stealing women's panties became such an epidemic?
By the end of the 1960's, panty raids were almost nonexistent. With co-ed dorms and free love, who needed a panty raid? Also, as the article states at the top of the post, students could be arrested for "aggravated burglary" or "criminal endangering". Plus, the new "liberated woman" wasn't likely to view a bunch of horny guys breaking into her residence to steal her undergarments as fun and games anymore. Would-be panty raiders might just wind up with a cap in their ass.
