# Why was Smurfette, the only female Smurf? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 3, 2001, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-smurfette-the-only-female-smurf/53008 "2001-02-03T14:46:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sk8rixtx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/858c86/32.png) [@sk8rixtx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sk8rixtx)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2001, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-smurfette-the-only-female-smurf/53008/1 "2001-02-03T14:46:29Z")
Watching re-runs of the Smurfs, I notice that Smurfette is the only female Smurf. Why is this? ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2001, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-smurfette-the-only-female-smurf/53008/2 "2001-02-03T14:52:24Z")
IIRC, Smurfette was orginally created by Gargamel as a temptress to lure the Smurfs into a trap, but she turned good and joined the Smurfs instead. Originally, there were NO female Smurfs at all. Apparently, Smurfs reproduce asexually. ---
**Author:** ![Mousseduck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@Mousseduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mousseduck)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2001, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-smurfette-the-only-female-smurf/53008/3 "2001-02-03T14:52:25Z")
Didn’t Gargamel(sp?) create Smurfette to try to catch Smurfs? Then later on he created little girl smurf. So they are the only females. What always bothered me was where Baby Smurf came from. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2001, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-smurfette-the-only-female-smurf/53008/4 "2001-02-03T14:58:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diceman \* > \*\*IIRC, Smurfette was orginally created by Gargamel as a temptress to lure the Smurfs into a trap, but she turned good and joined the Smurfs instead. > \*\* That is correct. Interestingly, the original evil Smurfette had black hair. When she turned good she went blonde. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2001, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-smurfette-the-only-female-smurf/53008/5 "2001-02-03T18:24:59Z")
The answer is probably because the original comic strip (called “The Schtroumpfs”) never had any females. It was created by Belgian artist Peyo in 1957 and was a hit in Europe. Since the Schtroumpfs were elves, they were probably considered asexual, with neither male or female members. When they moved it to the U.S. (and evidently watered it down considerably), they added Smurfette. She may have even been added after complaints that there were no female Smurfs. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2001, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-smurfette-the-only-female-smurf/53008/6 "2001-02-03T18:58:36Z")
There are not female smurfs. Smurfs are men and smurfettes are females ---
**Author:** ![jb\_farley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jb\_farley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jb_farley)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2001, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-smurfette-the-only-female-smurf/53008/7 "2001-02-03T19:11:18Z")
didn’t Smurfette start off as some clockwork abomination? Like she was a fake robo-girl-smurf sent to lure the smurfs back to Gargamel. But then she turned real by the light of the moon or something. Gez, these memories are hazy. Too smurfin’ hazy. jb ---
**Author:** ![mighty\_maxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@mighty\_maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mighty_maxx)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2001, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-smurfette-the-only-female-smurf/53008/8 "2001-02-03T21:36:53Z")
Go to this siute and have all your smurfy answers. [http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Cinema/3117/sociosmurf2.htm](http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Cinema/3117/sociosmurf2.htm) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2001, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-smurfette-the-only-female-smurf/53008/9 "2001-02-04T04:09:49Z")
I’d presumed all the Smurfs were gay, and Smurfette was just a drag queen. ---
**Author:** ![Arken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@Arken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arken)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2001, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-smurfette-the-only-female-smurf/53008/10 "2001-02-04T05:47:32Z")
Smurfette was _not_ the only girl Smurf. Later, when the annoying Smurf Kids became part of the show, there was a little girl smurf with red pigtails. What disturbs me far more than Smurfette is that no matter how many new smurfs were added (Smurfette, Baby, Grandpa, etc.), there were ALWAYS 101. That leads to the SDMB question: Did the Smurfs practice Smurfy Sacrifice? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2001, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-smurfette-the-only-female-smurf/53008/11 "2001-02-04T06:16:16Z")
> [@](#): > > _ **Arken** said:_ > …annoying Smurf Kids… \ “annoying Smurf Kids”??? More annoying than regular Smurfs? AAAIIIEEEEEEEEE… \ \ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![beergeek279](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@beergeek279](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beergeek279)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2001, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-smurfette-the-only-female-smurf/53008/12 "2001-02-04T07:30:15Z")
> [@](#): > > Go to this siute and have all your smurfy answers. > > [http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Cinema/3117/sociosmurf2.htm](http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Cinema/3117/sociosmurf2.htm) For God sakes…goddamn liberal arts majors!!! Now we know why Papa Smurf always wore red 😉 > [@](#): > > I’d presumed all the Smurfs were gay, and Smurfette was just a drag queen. Personally, I always thought that Smurfette came home sore after all them Smurf parties 😉 ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2001, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-smurfette-the-only-female-smurf/53008/13 "2001-02-04T11:35:03Z")
The Smurf kids were called Smurflings. I didn’t watch many of those ones, they’d lost any sense of originality by then, and anyway, _Gummi Bears_ was so much better.