[patrickdavey]

I'm actually sorry to see this down voted.

I have a daughter, and it is just crazy once you start reading books how much is needlessly male focussed.

From the first farmyard books where the boy is driving the tractor and the girl is in the cart on the back. To fantastic Mr fox and his four small foxes (all male) etc etc. It's just extremely unbalanced.

In our community, there's every reason not to use a male default everywhere. It would not have changed the original commenters meaning at all to have said "they" instead of "him" and would have been more inclusive. Surely that's a good default?

[theonething]

Here I've seen female and male defaults used as well as "they". I haven't noticed any prevalence for one other the others, probably because it makes no difference to me. I understand from the context that the text is applicable to any gender.

[AlecSchueler]

I'm curious, if it makes no difference to you then why not extend your sympathy to those who feel they are affected by it and simply use a gender neutral pronoun?