Steal a Level: gender specific?

[Jiir]

When I used a Steal a Level card yesterday, the player I stole the level from claimed I could not do so because the card text uses a masculine pronoun ("he loses a level"), and her character is female.

I'm pretty sure that's not correct -- usually any such gender-specific effects are spelled out unambiguously, and English allows us to arbitrarily use "he" or "she" when the gender is not known. But I'd like clarification on this in case it comes up again.

Thanks!

[MunchkinMan]

As I was taught it back in the '70s, '80s, and even into the '90s, English officially uses male pronouns when gender is unknown and appropriate to use (inanimate objects don't have gender in English). There has been a concerted effort to change that, but I don't know if it is technically correct to say that the selection is arbitrary. It's now, certainly the common use to use whichever, but in either case, your friend's argument is invalid.

[Andrew Hackard]

SJ Games house style uses "he" in all cases where a person's gender is unknown. It should never be construed as saying that effects apply only to men or to male characters.