The gender-bigotry comes from the “what man needs to mark 28 days?” There’s snark behind the comment, and it’s unnecessary. That said, a woman could be just as likely as a man to mark moon phases. But saying “man” doesn’t mean “male” when talking about us as a species from my understanding. Seems like a broader term to use which includes the entirety of the homo-whatevers.
I’m just some guy here and am not educated in this stuff, though!
Yeah, like others have said, play them in order starting with 1. If you play them backwards or out of order, you aren’t very likely to finish the first one, maybe the second, the first is kind of a slog, but worth playing. This way they just get better each time you go to the next