> IIRC the main character of To Kill a Mockingbird was Atticus Finch, who is male. The story is told from the perspective of his daughter Jean Louise Finch, wh

> IIRC the main character of To Kill a Mockingbird was Atticus Finch, who is male. The story is told from the perspective of his daughter Jean Louise Finch, who ambiguously introduced herself by her nickname "scout". > would "not bat an eye to learn that there are female surgeons" I can see where I miswrote "learned". I meant that in the context of reading a story, as in reading that in some particular context (like this riddle) that a surgeon is female. > hearing otherwise would be news to you, which of course would be hugely biased. Of course that is not the case. I am well aware that there are totally competent female surgeons. That is what I mean by saying "I would not bat an eye". The context in which I would be surprised is the context of this riddle: Since I am male, and since English grammar has historically assumed a male descriptor, my first assumption in this riddle is that the surgeon is male. My point is that that assertion does not stem from the word surgeon, and the historically significant gender gap with surgeons. The assertion that the surgeon is male stems from the ambiguity of "surgeon". The riddle does not state, or even directly call into question the gender of the surgeon. In order to answer the riddle, the gender must be assumed to be either male or female. The answer to the riddle is the most likely conclusion, but because of the grammar used, it is not my first conclusion. My first conclusion (that "father" meant someone with children other than the "son"), was in fact not incorrect, but was indeed less likely.