&gt; You&#x27;re the first person in this thread to use the word &quot;grandpa&quot; in this context.<p>That&#x27;s because it&#x27;s common to talk about &quot;grandma&#x27;s house&quot; and similar things with feelings of quaint comfort.  The reason to pick that arbitrary sex is not because of an -ism, it&#x27;s because it&#x27;s cliche.  It&#x27;s like using &#x27;he&#x27; for unknown gender.  It&#x27;s biased, and that bias is bad, but it&#x27;s not done out of <i>sexism</i>.  It&#x27;s not out of preference for people of either gender.<p>&gt; treating everyone as objects<p>It&#x27;s a rhetorical device.  You&#x27;re not <i>supposed</i> to be talking about real people.  The stronger the disconnect there the better.  That&#x27;s why &quot;clueless user&quot; is also bad.  It makes things a bit too personal.