Link was used to establish that this concept is usually called “gender”. (I felt there was a dispute on that; might be my projection)
Regarding anecdotes:
In my native language all objects have grammatical gender (feminine and masculine).
If I would write a children book natively, about objects that come to life, I would automatically assign their social gender based on grammatical gender.
Because language hints it that way. Pronouns, adjectives, participles, all must be adjusted based on objects gender (exactly like it would be done when talking about a person).
Regarding anecdotes:
In my native language all objects have grammatical gender (feminine and masculine).
If I would write a children book natively, about objects that come to life, I would automatically assign their social gender based on grammatical gender.
Because language hints it that way. Pronouns, adjectives, participles, all must be adjusted based on objects gender (exactly like it would be done when talking about a person).