Interesting.

For my part, if I'm being told a story about an actual person, whom I don't know, who is referred to as "him" or "her," I don't find it especially confusing to subsequently keep track of their gender.

Nor do I find it significantly more confusing if they are hypothetical instead of actual.

I hadn't previously realized there were people who differed from me in that regard. That's useful to know: thanks for clarifying.