I’m visiting the Pacific Northwest this week with my mom and sister. Last night, we were playing the game Heads Up! (check out the app if you haven’t heard of it–so much fun!).
I was trying to get my sister to guess “Tooth Fairy” and gave her the clue “the man who comes into your room and puts money under your pillow.” She heard the first part and guessed “Santa.” After she’d guessed correctly, she asked me, “what did you mean, man?”
And that’s when I discovered my mom and sister imagine the tooth fairy as female while I’ve always thought of him as male.
What do you think? Is the tooth fairy a dude or a lady?
Sarah Zureick-Brown 
I have always thought of the tooth fairy as a female. I used to try to set traps for her. This was very upsetting for my mother.
Now I’m fretting about why I made such an assumption. I guess, as a child, I equated that sort of bizarre generosity with females. Hmmp.
I want to hear more about these traps! Also, I think I associated bizarre generosity with males as a child because of Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny (also male for me).
This is the funniest thing—really set me to thinking—just like most of your posts. But the simple question of what sex I assigned to the tooth fairy has an answer—-my tooth fairy was androgenous- I guess–maybe a combo of Peter Pan and Tinker Bell.
When I get home, I might have to do a more definitive search of representations of the tooth fairy. I like the notion of an androgynous Peter Pan/Tinker Bell mash up.