Tuesday, April 26, 2005

The Big Yellow Controversy

Continuing the Sesame Street theme begun in yesterday's post, I now present a question to you, my esteemed audience. Lunger and I have debated this particular topic on and off for the last two weeks. The argument usually boils down to my, "YES, he is!" and Lunger's "NO, she isn't!" So, here goes:

Is Big Bird male or female?

Lunger, of course, believes that Big Bird is female. He argued thusly: Big Bird has pink striped tights; Big Bird has purple eyelids; Big Bird has big, poufy girl-hair; and the very compelling, "she just sounds like a girl."

My argument consists of the following evidence: Big Bird's voice is done by a guy; usually, Muppets have bows on their heads to indicate whether or not they're girls if it is not immediately obvious; all the websites on which I could find information about Big Bird use the article "he" in sentences about Big Bird; and my equally compelling, "NO, he just sounds like a guy!"

Lunger contends that I have tainted some very important childhood memories with visions of gender-swapping, sex changes, and ambiguous sexuality in general. So you see, this issue ranks high on my list of things to resolve. I'd like to have a vote. Please weigh-in on the comments section. Include any reasons for your opinion, or factual information that pertains to the gender of the tallest six year old in the world. This could save Lunger's childhood or destroy it. If you believe in fairies, clap your hands! Um. Nevermind. Just vote, ok?

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

You raise a good question. In fact, Big Bird is hermaphorditic, and consequently, asexual.

Yes, I was surprised as well.

omar said...

Interesting question, but it is obvious that Big Bird is male. How many women do you know who would have the word "Big" be part of their name? (The correct answer is "zero.") Offhand, I can think of a few men:

-Big Perm -- i mean, Big Worm (from the movie Friday)
-Big Willie (Will Smith)
-Notorious BIG
-Mr. Big (from Sex & the City)

Anonymous said...

To further add to the mystery, the name of the person who provides Big Bird's voice is the androgynous Carroll Spinney.

I guess my question is, "What difference does it make?" Is the Message of the Bird diluted by its being one gender or the other? Would you believe in him/her any less if you discovered she/he were of the opposite gender?

To ask the same question another way, "How many angels could dance on the head of a pin?"

Anonymous said...

Well, there was Big Momma Thornton, but that's a whole nother thing. Big Bird is just a Big Freak of Nature. Frogs Rule!

girlspit said...

Pip: Thank you. Are all hermaphrodites asexual, or just muppets?

Omar: excellent argument. Women generally do not refer to themselves as "big" if it can be avoided.

Dad: you just don't care about Big Bird because he wasn't in The Great Muppet Caper

Mad: If Big Bird weren't quite so big, would he be less offensive?

cadiz12 said...

big bird is transsexual. a female trapped in a manbird's body. he can only do so much to express his real identity, because they haven't perfected the procedure for full conversion yet.

he's just waiting so he can get with snufalupagus.

Sarah Cate said...

Big Bird is a dude. Please stop messing with the sureties of my childhood.

mymomdatedspike.blogspot.com

Jon said...

What? No question, Big Bird is absolutely, positively, without a shadow of a doubt… probably a guy.

Anonymous said...

Big Bird is clearly male. His close platonic relationship with Snufalufagus is very similar to the relationship between the guy who lives downstairs from me and his best friend. Interestingly, my downstairs neighbour also has a rather androgynous voice.

neena maiya (guyana gyal) said...

Omar...some gals do have Big in their names. Big Bertha. Big Mamma.

I think I heard the Sesame St. gang say 'he', referring to Big Bird.

The question is...what is the purple tellytubby, the one with the handbag...

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