The Martlet

In the early 1960s, an annual week-long event was hosted at UVic known as TWIRP Week. “The Woman Is Required to Pay” Week was an early attempt at turning the tables on patriarchy where the “women wear the trousers and the men wear the flowers.” Women across campus engaged in activities usually reserved for their male counterparts, including carrying books, buying coffee and participating in sporting events.

The grand finale of TWIRP Week was a Campus Queen and Bachelor of the Year competition, complete with a pep rally and co-ed dance. The Martlet printed photos of the candidates and encouraged students to come vote for their favourites: “The [Bachelor of the Year] candidates range from 5′7″ to 6′2″ and come in blonde, brunette and red-headed varieties; there’s a bachelor for every taste.”

The dance wrapped up with the announcement of the Campus Queen and Bachelor of the Year, as well as other choice awards such as the “Lovingest Couple Award.” The TWIRP Dance in 1963 was held at the Crystal Garden and featured a performance by The Traveller’s 3, a folk group made up of an alumni trio that had achieved enough success to be launched on a tour from “Honolulu to the Far East to Broadway” as “one of the top folk song groups in the country.”