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Given that "Schatz" is a masculine word, I would use masculine modifiers with it, such as "der".
But suppose I were using "Schatz" to refer to a woman I was dating.
Would I then refer to "mein Schatz" because "Schatz" is masculine?
Would I say "meine Schatz" because my date is feminine?
Or should I refrain from using masculine words to refer to female dates?
Articles do never change. And it is not uncommon at all to say "mein Schatz" to a woman. Compare to the use of "das Mädchen" :)
Oh it is quite common to use Schatz for your girlfriend or wife / children.
You would always refer to her as mein Schatz as the word is masculine.
When this masculine word refers to a female it is still masculine, and thus requires masculine declension of adverbs and adjectives.
for the last. Schatz is more common with Girlfriend / Wife and i would deem it inappropriate for a date, as it suggests a deeper or even binding relationship when used as calling name.
Schatz is also sometimes used to thank someone you are close with,
even if it's not a binding relationship: "Bist ein Schatz, Danke"
Yes, it is always „mein Schatz“, grammatical gender trumps natural gender. It could only become confusing if you introduced her into your speech as „mein Schatz“ in the first sentence and would then continue to talk about her in the next sentence, because grammar would dictate that you then use „er“. Usually people will avoid this and switch to „sie“.
The same thing happens if someone is, say in a legal document, referred to as „die Person“. They would, regardless of natural gender, then have to be referred to as „sie“.
