I actually have wondered that for quite some time now....I'm guessing because the writers didn't feel like a woman could function as anything other than just being cute

She had all the other females turned into that god awful blue cool aid.

yes, i have wondered that for years now! i hope somebody has a better answer than i do. the only thing i can figure out, is that women must not be needed for reproduction in the smurf society! either that, or they are immortal. that still doesn't explain why there is only one though. perhaps, females smurfs are like male elks: they are the only one of their sex within their group. smurfette may have had to battle off other female smurfs to have "ownership" of sorts over all the male smurfs in their village!

according to donnie darko smurfs are a sexual so, i guess they just didnt need anymore females

The smurfs are asexual. Smurfette is an artificial creation. The smurfs discovered females and quickly decided one was needed. They later discovered some of the disadvantages.

I always reckoned that they devoured the rest and kept her for reproduction

smurfs practice polyandry- one woman, many husbands. LOL

Yes I have, I ponder just about every thought that wanders into my immediate surroundings. My conclusion was that someone on the writing staff was sexist enough to think that if they were going to write in a female character, the fact that she was female would have to be her one distinguishing trait. And "-Ette" was the only female specific suffix the writers could come up with.

Here's what wikipedia thinks: "Smurfette was the only female smurf until the creation of Sassette. She has more delicate features than the other smurfs, with long blonde wavy hair, longer eyelashes, and wears a white dress and white high heels. She is the love interest of almost every smurf (eventually even Papa Smurf!). She first appeared in a story La Schtroumpfette, published in 1966. She was magically created from clay by Gargamel so that she would use her charms to cause jealousy and competition among the smurfs in order to cause their fall. He left her in the forest and a passing smurf took her to the smurf village, where she was kept out of kindness. Gargamel's plans didn't work well at first, as her appearance was flawed: she looked like just a male smurf but with long spikey black hair and a dress. She tried to be feminine and considerate, but was unattractive and proved to be more annoying than seductive. Papa Smurf took pity on her when she became depressed because the other smurfs teased her about being fat, so he practiced plastic smurfery on her for several days in order to make her the beautiful and appealing Smurfette the other smurfs know today. This time, she caused almost every smurf of the village to fall in love with her. Alas for them, it did cause violence and jealousy as schemed by Gargamel, causing chaos among the smurfs who competed, fighting against each other to win Smurfette's heart. She convinced Poet Smurf to open the water dam just to see the spurting water, but the dam got stuck and the village was flooded. After struggling to close the dam on his own, Papa Smurf showed his frustration towards the trouble-making nature of Smurfette, who, offended, announced that she would "return to the great sorcerer Gargamel's". The smurfs were shocked about this statement, and Smurfette was put on trial. The smurfs, blinded by their passion towards her, declared her not guilty, as Jokey Smurf, her attorney in the trial, claimed that Papa Smurf was the one who made her attractive. Brainy Smurf, as the prosecutor, was booed and pelted with tomatoes, just as much because of the audience's love for Smurfette as their dislike for him. Still, she felt sorry for the trouble she had caused and ran away into the forest. The smurfs got their revenge on Gargamel by using the same process that he had used to make the Smurfette, but in this case they built a man-sized, wart-covered, ugly old hag who talked smurf language and chased the horrified sorcerer all over the forest. Smurfette returned occasionally to the village though she found that her presence still aroused conflict. When the smurfs argued about which one should marry her she herself chose Grouchy Smurf who had customarily stated "I hate marriage". The smurfs then moderated their passion for her, worshipping from a distance, and she settled permanently in the village. She even learned to talk in smurf language when previously she had talked in straight human speech in accordance with Gargamel's magic. Smurfette is voiced in French by Céline Montsarrat and Lucille Bliss in English." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_characters_in_The_Smurfs#Smurfette)

I love it!Heck yeah I pondered that for years and I grin when I think about it.When I think about it,makes me wonder why there were harems,females are way more emotionally and physically capable of having a male harem than visa versa,think about it.Just look how happy they all are!!!Between her and handy smurf,everyone is taken care of.lol. Or it could be the mushrooms.;) Smurfette,you are my little blue hero,YOU GO GIRL!

Dunno, but I found a picture of three female smurfs, but I only remember Smurfette and Sassette. I don't recall Nanny Smurf. Here's the photo, two are cartoon pictures, one is manufactured toy of some kind....My conclusion when I was a kid is that the smurfs came from nothing, or maybe a wizard created them. I really didn't think about it all that much...