Is the Easter Bunny a Boy, Girl, or What?

Kids ask a lot of challenging questions.  And on Easter, parents everywhere probably dealt with their fair share.  Like, “Mom, which came first, the chick or the egg?”  And, “Why are eggs so expensive?”

Speaking of difficult questions, an online poll asked, “What gender do you think the Easter Bunny is?”  5,000 people weighed in, and here’s how it shook out:

32% said male.

5% said female.

And 64% said “neither” or “never thought about it.”

No one offered any ACTUAL evidence . . . although some did point out that the Easter Bunny is often personified as male in pop culture, including “Peter Cottontail,” and in movies like “Rise of the Guardians”.

There were some interesting “explanations” online, like these:

“I think there are multiple Easter Bunnies.”

“If gender isn’t explicitly stated, then just assume it’s male.”

“He’s a representation of Jesus.  So male, right?”

“It’s a bunny, so it doesn’t really have a gender.”

“Where do the eggs come from because rabbits don’t lay eggs?  Always wondered.”

“Everybody knows only female bunnies lay eggs.” 

(r/Polls)

For what it’s worth, the folklore of the Easter Bunny has been around for CENTURIES . . . dating back to at least 1692, when a German scholar wrote about an Easter Hare laying colorful eggs hidden in the garden and bushes for children to find.

That’s “laying” like PLACING on the ground, from a basket or something.  There doesn’t seem to be anything in the folklore about a rabbit laying eggs, reproductively.