The “neutral” seems to have existed in a very exceptional and regional way, in the form of personal pronoun “Zou”, employed till the end of XIX century in the center of France, particulary the Berry region…
And it also seem that “Philippe” is a name that can be used for both men and women.
Hey les frenchies, c’est un peu ambitieux de ma part parce que j’ai même pas de pc pour le moment, mais qui trouverait que ce serait intéressant que je me fasse un side avec mes nouvelles, mes textes et mon avis hautement éclairé et indispensable (*tousse*) sur la littérature en langue française.
literally how hard would it have been for jkr to say something like “listen I was writing it in the 90s, I was inexperienced, I was writing from my own point of view, I didn’t realise how underrepresented a lot of people are, I wasn’t thinking about anything other than the plot, I accept that it’s a little sparse on the diversity front, I can try to be more self aware with my future works” etc etc instead of.. this nonsense
