It isn’t about personifying the cookie, at least for me. It’s tiring that the world is so often “male” by default, and this is an (extremely minor) example of that. I understand that most people are probably less bothered, and that’s fine. Cookies aren’t really that important, and I’m not the one scribbling on boxes.

What I don’t understand is why it’s a problem to change the name. Why is it so important that they be gingerbread men? The cookies don’t even look gendered. They’re just vague human shapes. And if it’s so important that we have gingerbread men, why don’t we have any other genders?

I agree with you that a gingerbread gender_of_choice sounds hot, but not if the cookies are just boring basic-ass human shapes, and not if there’s only one gender actually made. If that’s the way we’re gonna go, I’ll have 3 gingerbread butches, 3 gingerbread enbys with rainbow frosting and glitter, and 3 gingerbread catgirls with blåhajs. And yes, I will be eating them all in one sitting, so throw in a 25 count variety pack of gingerqueers to share.