I know the reasoning. Das Mädchen is one of my pet peeves, largely because of personal cultural bias. Portuguese has no neutral gender, and I got introduced to neutral genders when learning English. Because of English, my association is that neutral is for inanimate stuff (and, strangely, pets). It fits poorly on little girls :-)

Now, imagine the fun in Portuguese, without neutrals: Every noun is either masculine or feminine, with near zero rules. A bike is feminine, a car is masculine, as is a plane or a boat, but a speedboat is feminine. Bottle is feminine, but glass isn't. Fork is masculine, unlike knife. I couldn't learn this today if I hadn't learned as a toddler.

For all the cursing I say at German when learning, we're in no position to criticize...