# Sesame Street question
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-question/112834
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [June 7, 2002, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-question/112834 "2002-06-07T13:58:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2002, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-question/112834/1 "2002-06-07T13:58:33Z")
**DanielWithrow** and I have a little wager going, and we’ve decided to let our fellow Dopers decide the matter. On _Sesame Street_, is Big Bird male or female? I think male, but I can’t think of any instances where this is overtly stated. **DanielWithrow** thinks female, but again can’t recall any specific references. Help us settle this pressing matter, please!
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### Author:  [@Why\_A\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_A_Duck)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2002, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-question/112834/2 "2002-06-07T14:08:51Z")
Go [here](http://www.sesameworkshop.org/sesamestreet/bigbird/0,5835,,00.html) and click on Big Bird. You get:
> [@](#):
>
> The Friendliest Fowl on Sesame Street
>
> You could probably guess by his name that Big Bird is big. How big? He’s 8 feet, 2 inches tall! Wow! He should play basketball! Big Bird is a very curious creature who makes friends easily. He is six years old and shares his nest with Radar, his teddy bear.
I’ve always thought of him as a guy.
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### Author:  [@Why\_A\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_A_Duck)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2002, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-question/112834/3 "2002-06-07T14:08:51Z")
Go [here](http://www.sesameworkshop.org/sesamestreet/bigbird/0,5835,,00.html) and click on Big Bird. You get:
> [@](#):
>
> The Friendliest Fowl on Sesame Street
>
> You could probably guess by his name that Big Bird is big. How big? He’s 8 feet, 2 inches tall! Wow! He should play basketball! Big Bird is a very curious creature who makes friends easily. He is six years old and shares his nest with Radar, his teddy bear.
I’ve always thought of him as a guy.
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### Author:  [@Why\_A\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_A_Duck)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2002, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-question/112834/4 "2002-06-07T14:11:28Z")
There. Double the evidence.
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### Author:  [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2002, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-question/112834/5 "2002-06-07T14:16:59Z")
Since Big Bird (like Oscar the Grouch) was created and played by a man, Carroll Spinney, I always assumed he was a male bird.
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### Author:  [@crazy4chaucer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazy4chaucer)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2002, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-question/112834/6 "2002-06-07T14:31:31Z")
Big Bird’s a boy! I know he is–don’t the cast members refer to him as “him”? Maybe I’m having auditory hallucinations, but I’m positive he’s a he.
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### Author:  [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2002, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-question/112834/7 "2002-06-07T15:01:57Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by astorian \*
> \*\*Since Big Bird (like Oscar the Grouch) was created and played by a man, Carroll Spinney, I always assumed he was a male bird. \*\*
But surely you didn’t consider Peter Pan to be a female when Mary Martin was playing the part… Likewise, I’m sure you don’t consider Miss Piggy to be a male simply because Frank Oz provides her voice…
Zev Steinhardt
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### Author:  [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2002, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-question/112834/8 "2002-06-08T02:52:58Z")
And where does [“Roger”](http://www.theonion.com/onion3218/gaymuppet.html) fit into all this?
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2002, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-question/112834/9 "2002-06-08T03:23:04Z")
And Linda Hunt’s character in “The Year of Living Dangerously”.
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### Author:  [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2002, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-question/112834/10 "2002-06-08T12:15:00Z")
I think that the source of the problem is that the man who is inside the suit (most of the time–sometimes it’s another guy) has a name that is easily confused for a woman’s name.
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### Author:  [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2002, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sesame-street-question/112834/11 "2002-06-08T13:45:31Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Doghouse Reilly \*
> \*\*And where does [“Roger”](http://www.theonion.com/onion3218/gaymuppet.html) fit into all this? \*\*
Even though his lifestyle is too controversial for the letter D, it appears that Roger is a man. 😃