Genders are a funny thing because they are often at odds with human nature. For example, culture tells us, and there is some amount of biological evidence backing their claims, that the sexes act and think differently, each in their own particular idiom. However, lying at the core of human nature is the very strong compulsion to look at anyone who says you should be such and such and give them the finger.

My personal opinion is that many of the elements we associate with gender behavior are actually not biological in any way, but cultural. Meanwhile true biological differences lay buried beneath layers of learned behavior. For example, women are biologically superior marksmen due to the earlier maturation of their visual cortex, but since culture labels hunting and shooting as masculine, few Annie Oakleys actually develop. Archaeology also bears this out with evidence of cultures with gender roles backwards from what we understand. The prehistoric civilizations of Europe were almost certainly ruled by women due to the evidence of female pantheons and an artistic style which focuses entirely on feminine attributes, birth, nurturing, fertility. Hence the idea of men being the 'natural leaders' is completely fallacious. Also many graves have now been found filled with the military trappings familiar from Norse warrior tombs but housing female not male skeletons. Analysis of these bones showed in some cases the tell tale signs of a life lived in a saddle, the horse at these periods being the primary weapon of war. In other words, the myths about Amazons may have been far more than myths and the idea that only men can be warriors is completely fallacious.

In short, I think people have the power to create themselves but more often than not this power is commandeered by their culture making the genders reflect the values culture has given them rather than their inherent capabilities.

Oh and I usually play females because there is far more cultural baggage heaped upon their shoulders and I get a kick out of dismantling it.

Woo I'm in the minority!

I'm a guy who likes to play as females, mostly because I find them easier to make and play as. I would say this because I focus on women's personality more then men.(Because I'm straight lol) Also in my experience women are more interesting characters then men, simply because I live as a guy and getting into the head of a girl is always an interesting experience.

It must also be said that my male characters tend to either be based off my personality rather then their own (I respond to their experience how I would respond), or be what I wish I was like. Therefor my male characters are almost always "Gary Sues".

My Female characters tend to be a blend of two writing styles(She is a female version of myself and a girl I would like to know) which always ends up being a unique individual. I honestly couldn't tell you why this happens only that it does.

Does this make me strange?

I am a female who almost always plays females for the sole reason that it isn't a big deal and I avoid some minor problems by doing so.

Those problems being embarrassing typos of pronouns (Excuse me, when did he become a girl?) and the fact that I am a human who plays humans meaning that just like real humans my character's sex plays a role, sometimes subtle or minor, in their history or personality. It's all a part of making my character believable.

I've no problem with others who are more comfortable crossing that boundary. It's just not one I gain anything out of crossing most of the time.

Im revisiting this after someone remarked a fact of it.

I am a male and so far I think i have more female characters than males because the males more often than not share traits with myself on a much greater basis, more often than not they are good willing, strong and willful and badass in more than one way.

However with females I can explore more traits, be it wickedness, an oportunistic outlook on life or maybe something that I myself would not agree with.

It has come to my attention than on Videogames, my male characters are much more calm, centered and tend to look at the greater picture, while the women are much more emotional and have an explosive behavior they are fierce and more often than fair.

Just throwing my 2 cents there

In video games and Roleplays, I prefer female characters and I am a guy. I've done it since I was a little kid (boy did my friends make me fun of me) and I never really knew why i just liked female characters more.... o.O

As a roleplayer I do not possess a gender. I've been told I portray either fairly well.

This is silly I know, but upon seeing the results I realized that the females outnumber the males, at least in the playerbase.

The gender of my fellow RPers rarely affects their work as I have found, but it does has become an annoying sight to see the "Looking for 2 male chars" titles on some interest checks threads, as if the sex of a person was its most utmost and definitive characteristic

Roleplaying for me is different than writing a story. I'm a man and I play male characters when I"m a PC. Yet I also write and have extensive experience dealing with women. I will also do research thru the women I know in order to help flesh out the characters.

This is very interesting. *adjusts glasses* :B

I'm female, and I play majority females, but I have been easing towards males. I'm naturally dominant in life, so I find as I get older, I have more of a desire to play dominant/non-nice male characters. I've only played one male that was considerably 'normal', but he was no touchy-feely kinda guy. I don't think I'll ever play a touchy-feely character, to be honest. Maybe when I get old and uninteresting. Heh.

Another reason I started playing males was because all the places I used to RP were quite overrun with females. Ain't that the way the world goes? Gotta admit, it's fun to be the unobtainable male in a pit of squealing females. You guys have all the fun.

When I'm roleplaying, I don't usually pay attention to the gender of the roleplayers. But I don't think I've seen any male roleplayers with female characters until I joined this site.

Something I noticed: All the girls I roleplay tend to make their female characters strong, independent, and tomboyish (but sexy) while their male characters are quirky and funny.

As for me, I think I can play both genders just fine. I don't really have a preference. Like Queen of Ice, I just go with the gender that I think the story needs.

I am a male and often play female characters because there are more boundaries to break with a female character. Society generally accepts that men can excel at anything (apart from crying and childbirth) where as women, not so much. Its therefore fun to punch some much needed holes in societal preconceptions and score one for the unlimited potential of the individual. Also girls are sexier when swinging a broadsword around.

As much as I like to play strong, macho men I can't very well. I excel at playing the feminine male aka the 'trap'. In saying that I also play females as well and as people have stated above, I like to keep the balance between genders as equal as possible including a range of ages and personalities.

I have no problem with males playing female characters, as long as they're not grossly oversexualized. Other chats I've been to, this has been the case 9 times out of 10. At least here, with the limitations on romance and sexual content, you don't see that as much. And actually, the more blatantly sexist posts for female characters I've seen are by FEMALE players.

xiaotuanzi wrote:I have no problem with males playing female characters, as long as they're not grossly oversexualized. Other chats I've been to, this has been the case 9 times out of 10. At least here, with the limitations on romance and sexual content, you don't see that as much. And actually, the more blatantly sexist posts for female characters I've seen are by FEMALE players.

The core problem with the typical "male roleplayer playing a girl" is that to that type of person, a woman is some kind of exotic creature. Something that belongs in the "Monstrous Manual" rather than a playable race, so to speak.

Needless to say, that's the wrong sort of thinking.

In my opinion, It's your personal bussines if you are going to play the opposite gender. This depends on your personalities, and if you know you can play both genders it's good.Not everyone can do this, like me.I will roleplay female roles because i'm a girl but if I have to rp a boy, I'll give it a shot. You don't know, till you try..As i said , it's all about your personality..